Interruption for cake

The cake table

Upside-down berry maple cake

I interrupt the regularly scheduled dinner party posts for some wedding cake pictures (by our photographer, whose site I will link to once it’s set up).

Vanilla sponge cake with lemon curd,
pastry cream and vanilla buttercream

       

Hazelnut torte

Classic baked cheesecake

Chocolate chiffon cake with
chocolate buttercream

The red velvet cake that we used for cake-cutting photos and to feed the obligatory bite to each other has been my most popular cake while I’ve been a caterer. Whether as a large cake or as cupcakes, I’ve had countless red velvet orders. (Not true. I could go through all my invoices and count them, but I’m not going to.) On finding out I’d be making a variety of cakes to take the place of a separate dessert and wedding cake, many of the wedding guests hinted hopefully that there would be a red velvet cake. So there it was.

Red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting

Honestly, I’m confused by the widespread devotion to red velvet cake. I think it’s the cream cheese frosting that people like so much, and maybe also the velvet factor (the cake is very moist but still soft and light). The red part, being just red food colouring and a little bit of cocoa powder to make the red darker, is a bit of a gimmick. Nevertheless, here is the red velvet cake recipe, in all its red gimmicky glory.

Red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting

Makes one large two-layer cake

The recipe is easily adjustable to make a very good classic yellow cake, just by replacing the cocoa powder with flour and the red food colouring with more water. I’ve also tinkered further with the recipe to create all sorts of other version – coconut, lemon, orange and more. It’s worked well every time and is probably my favourite basic non-chocolate cake recipe.

A stand mixer or hand-held mixer is a big help and makes this an easy recipe. You can definitely do it all by hand, it’ll just take longer and be a bit more of an effort.

¾ c butter, softened

2 c sugar

3 eggs

2 bottles red food colouring (I just use ordinary food colouring, but you can use natural super-concentrated beetroot-based colouring, if you can find it and afford it)

3 tbsp warm water

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 ½ c flour

3 tbsp cocoa powder

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 c buttermilk

1 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar

Preheat the oven to 170 C. Butter two standard cake tins, line with baking parchment, butter again and dust with flour. Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar together till light and fluffy – this will take a while, up to ten minutes with a mixer. You might need to stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl a few times. When the mixture is light and fluffy, add the eggs one by one, beating as you add them and making sure to incorporate them well.

Add the colouring, vanilla and water and beat again to combine. The mixture will probably split, but don’t worry about it. Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder, add the buttermilk and beat to combine, no longer than ten seconds. The batter consistency should be smooth and it should drop easily from a spoon – if it seems too thick, add a bit more warm water and beat for a few seconds to combine.

In a small bowl, mix the baking soda and vinegar – it will fizz and bubble. Pour this into the batter and beat until just combined, no more than ten seconds.

Divide the batter between the two prepared pans and bake for 25 – 35 minutes, until the cake is firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and cool in the pans for about fifteen minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

(Alternatively, make cupcakes, filling each cupcake container 2/3 to the top and reducing the baking time to approximately 15 minutes. This recipe makes quite a lot of cupcakes, about 30 depending on how much of the batter you eat)

Frost with cream cheese frosting (recipe below). It’s a good idea to halve each layer lengthwise so that you have four thinner layers – it means the frosting is more evenly distributed, and it looks pretty when you slice it. Sadly, I’m lazy and usually just have two big layers of cake with one very thick layer of frosting in between. Further proof of laziness: I rarely trim the top of each cake to make them perfectly flat. When each layer is perfectly flat on both sides, the layers fit together well and your cake won’t be uneven and lopsided. It also probably won’t slide apart when you try to lift it, which is spectacular but disheartening.

Cake table again

Classic cream cheese frosting

Makes enough to generously fill and cover one large layer cake

2 x 250g blocks of cream cheese, Philadelphia or Lancewood (not the tubs, they’re too soft), left at room temperature to soften

¼ c softened butter

2 – 3 ½ c sifted icing sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

Juice of a small lemon

Beat the cream cheese and butter together until the mixture is completely smooth, with no lumps or streaks of butter. Add a cup of sifted icing sugar, the vanilla and lemon juice, and beat to combine. Now taste and add more sugar bit by bit, beating well after each addition. Stop adding sugar when you think it tastes sweet enough - some people like this frosting very sweet, others like it barely sweet. I'm somewhere in the middle and usually add around 2 cups.