Homemade April-Red Velvet Cake

First I feel I must tell you that I had the idea to make Red Velvet cake before PW posted hers.  I love PW but she took the jewels out of my bedazzler on this one.  So...I didn't use her recipe...although in most cases I would have.  Instead I used Cooks Illustrated because they are my first love when it comes to anything amazing.  I wanted to make this because I have only ever made the boxed kind and it's a tradition for me to make it for Valentines day in a cute heart shape with pink and red sprinkles on top.

Here we go!  Let's make a mess of your kitchen!

You're going to need:

Cake:

11 ¼ ounces (2 1/2 cups) unbleached all purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
Pinch (less than 1/8 t) table salt
1 cup buttermilk (i always have buttermilk in the fridge because i use it at least once a week but you could do a tablespoon less than 1 C milk and add either 1 T vinegar or lemon.
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 tablespoons or 1 ounce bottle red food coloring ( read this three times slowly like I did and then have a small panic attack.
12 tablespoons unsalted butter that has been softened
10 ½ ounces (2 1/3 slightly heaping C) granulated sugar

Frosting: (you can use canned cream cheese frosting and I won't think any less of you)16 tablespoons unsalted butter that has been softened
16 ounces (1 lb) confectioners’ sugar
16 ounces softened cream cheese
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
Pinch table salt

1.  Get out your butter and cream cheese now to soften and preheat your oven to 350-making sure your baking rack is in the middle oven position.  You could put your butter and cream cheese over the oven to speed the process along.

2.  In a medium bowl, add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix.

3. In a 2 C or large measuring cup, add the buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla, and eggs. Whisk.

4. In a small bowl, add the cocoa powder and food coloring. Mix until it forms a smooth paste.

5.  NOW here this.  If your Kitchen Aid has broken down and you cried about it for a week straight and can't make cookies easily any more you can still make this with your hand mixer.  

6.  In a large bowl OR in your Kitchen Aid mixer with the whisk attachment.  Whisk together/Blend the sugar and butter.  2-3 minutes should make it creamy.

7.  Now things get ridiculous.  Scrape down your bowl in between all of these next steps.

8.  Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter bowl-mix.  Add 1/2 the liquid stuff to the butter bowl-mix.  Add another 1/3 of the flour, mix.  Dump in the last of the liquid-mix.  Then the rest of the flour stuff-mix that all up.  

9.  Get out a spatula and scrape out the red cocoa paste into your bowl.  Mix until no streaks remain scraping down your bowl. 

10.  Butter and flour two 9 inch cake pans.  

11.  Pour the batter into the cake pans and put in the oven for 25-30 minutes.  (Check at 20 with a toothpick just to make sure).  

12.  Let them cool in their little warm homes for 10 minutes and then put them on a wire rack for 20 more minutes of cooling while you make the frosting.

Transition to Frosting Directions

13.  Beat up the butter and powdered sugar with either your stand mixture or your hand mixer.

14.  Cut in the softened cream cheese ( I used a knife and sliced in 5 slices per CC rectangle).  Mix it up.

15.  Add the vanilla and salt.  Mix.  

16.  Spread on your cooled cake!!!

Thoughts: While it's not a to die for cake because it's not grossly chocolate; I like that it's different and I like that it's pretty.  I like the frosting A LOT.