baby rambutan

have you? had red velvet cake? have you been curious about it at all?

i really find that baking is the most therapeutic activity for me.
much much stress and sadness, and i didn’t want to think, and dwell, so i brought out the mixer and cake pans and cookie sheets and bowls and measuring cups and spoons.
it’s not good to cry into the batter though.

i think it was from Ellen DeGeneres that i first heard about it.
it reminded me of deep-red roses, and Chinese lacquer, probably because it’s also Chinese New Year.
i mean, just look at all that deep crimson.

problem was, my kids don’t like the traditional cream cheese frosting, so i used Swiss meringue buttercream from The Sweeter Side of Amy’s Bread.

the cake recipe itself, i used from The Sweet Melissa Baking Book, because it called for the most of cocoa powder (alkalized Droste brand…i just was very wary about the other recipes that only called for a minuscule 1 to 2 tbsps. of cocoa.)

you’ll need an unholy amount of red food color! i used 1/4 cup. i think the recipe origins are from red beet juice or beet puree, which would almost certainly be healthier.

the cake layers bake up high and moist, with a very mild hit of cocoa and tangy buttermilk. i guess it is a sentimental novelty, much appreciated by folks who grew up in the South. i’d like to try it with the cream cheese frosting next time.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 14th, 2010 at 8:54 pm and is filed under sweets for my sweets. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.