Just in time for Valentine's Day, "Emily's Test Kitchen" (as we call it around here) tried its hand (okay, I tried
my hand) at some yummy homemade red velvet cake.
This recipe is from Magnolia bakery and after I share it with you, I'll share how I plan to tweek it for next time.
Red Velvet Cake
3 1/2 cups cake flour (Don't have any? Don't worry! I'll share how to make your own in just a minute)
3/4 cup butter, softened
2 1/4 cups sugar
3 eggs at room temperature
6 Tbsp red food coloring (I opted for a good smear of food coloring paste - available at Michael's, etc.)
3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk (Again, never fear. I'll show you a handy dandy way to supplement)
1 1/2 tsp cider vinegar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees and greasing 3 round cake pans.
*Now, if you don't have cake flour (or don't buy it because, like me, you have trouble finding unbleached cake flour), you can make a simple substitute. Using all purpose flour, measure out the amount of cake flour that the recipe calls for. Then, for each cup of flour, remove 2 Tbsp. from what was meaured. That means that for this recipe, I would measure out 3 1/2 cups of all purpose flour. Then, I would put 7 Tbsp of flour back in the bag (2 x 3.5 = 7). Then, I would replace those 7 Tbsp of flour with 7 Tbsp of cornstarch. That means I would measure out 7 Tbsp of cornstarch and pour it into my bowl of flour.
The trick with this method is that you have to sift the cornstarch and four together a few times (I actually did use a sifter) so that it is evenly distributed and so that the flour gets aerated. And tada! You're done!
**For the buttermilk substitute: First of all, can you believe my grocery store was out of buttermilk? Insanity! Now there are a couple of substitutes for buttermilk out there. The 2 main ones involve lemon juice or vinegar (and if you're going to use one of those, for heavens sake use the vinegar!). My preferred method of substitution (and I really like to use real buttermilk unless it's unavoidable) is to use cream of tartar. You will need 1 3/4 Tbsp cream of tartar for every cup of milk.
What you do is slightly warm the milk over low heat in a saucepan (just barely warm - think baby bottle). Then whisk in the proper amount of cream of tartar. Make sure it is well combined. You may have to whisk it more than once. When using any method of buttermilk substitution, I try to let my milk substitute sit for about 5-10 minutes before use. That way it really has time to "sour" (in a good way of course!). So for this recipe you would need to mix 2 1/8 Tbsp of cream of tartar into your slightly warm milk.
Also, when baking, it is actually a good idea to let your butter/cream cheese/eggs/etc. come to room temperature, or soften - unless, of course, you are using a recipe that specifically calls for cold butter/eggs/etc. Here are my eggs, hanging out and waiting to warm up.
*Note: I am not above putting eggs in my pocket to use body heat to help them come to room temperature more quickly.
Now that all of that is out of the way, let's bake!
In a large bowl, combine your butter and sugar using an electric mixer. Beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Add your eggs one at a time to this mixture, beating well after each egg to make sure it is fully incorporated.
Add your cocoa powder, food coloring (again, I used paste vs. liquid because paste goes much farther in much littler quantities), and vanilla to the butter mixture and mix well.
Add the salt to the buttermilk and add this mixture to the butter mixture in 3 parts, alternating with your flour. (In other words: buttermilk, flour, buttermilk, flour, buttermilk, flour - done!) Beat until the ingredients are well incorporated but do not overbeat.
In a small bowl (or measuring cup), stir together your cider vinegar and baking soda (Remember those volcanoes from science class? Oh yes, it's going to happen). Add this to your batter, making sure that you beat until smooth.
Divide your batter among your 3 cake pans and bake 30-40 minutes (until a toothpick comes out of the center clean).
Cool
Frost
Enjoy!
If you're wondering about the texture difference in the icing, we were testing out whether we perferred buttercream or cream cheese with this cake. Buttercream was our winner!
And also, because I said I would, when I make this cake again, I will make the following adjustments:
-2 eggs and 2 egg yolks room temperature (instead of 3 eggs)
-4 Tbsp cocoa powder (instead of 3)
Enjoy!
