baby rambutan

i wanted to have another go at red velvet cake. trying to recall any distinct flavor memory from that first time, well, i couldn’t.
it was featured as the “cover girl” (she does kind of look like a girly kind of cake doesn’t she?) of this month’s Saveur magazine, so i got enticed into making it again. besides, as with my first try at it, i was feeling low and blue, and baking almost always lifts me up to a better place.

2 bottles of red food coloring…i watched too much of a vampire tv series! Being Human, UK original. that’s why.

i used a lot more cocoa than called for but followed the rest of the recipe accurately.
it was unbearable for the kids, having to wait for the layers to cool and for me to frost with lightly sweetened whipped cream.verdict: YES, finally, i love red velvet cake.
Saveur recipe…
Ingredients
FOR THE CAKE:
16 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pans
2 1/2 cups cake flour, plus more for pans, sifted
2 tbsp. Dutch-processed cocoa powder, sifted
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp. red food coloring
1 tbsp. distilled white vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs

Heat oven to 350°. Butter and flour two 8″ cake pans, and set aside. Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt in a bowl; set aside. Whisk together buttermilk, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla in a bowl; set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. On low speed, alternately add dry ingredients in 3 batches and wet ingredients in 2 batches. Increase speed to high and beat until batter is smooth, about 5 seconds. Divide batter between prepared pans, and smooth top with a rubber spatula; drop pans lightly on a counter to expel any large air bubbles. Bake cakes until a toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let cakes cool for 20 minutes in pans; invert onto wire racks, and let cool.
click here for the first try.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 26th, 2012 at 9:38 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.