What is Red Velvet Cake? Red Velvet Cake or Mahogany Cake or Red Devil Cake is a cake of the American Southern States in light to dark-red or dark-brown colour. It is layered cake with mild cocoa flavour, tangy buttermilk, vanilla and butter. There are many versions of Red Velvet Cake some with buttercream and others with cream cheese frosting.
My recipe is a rich (3 layers cake), soft, juicy, fluffy, red cake with a little touch of chocolate flavour combined with a sweet cream cheese frosting and walnuts. In my opinion, the combination of red velvet sponge cake, cream cheese frosting and grated walnuts is a hit!!!
Ingredients for 8-10 pieces
130 gr. Butter in room temperature
40 gr. Unsweetened Cocoa Powder, sifted
200 gr. Granulated Sugar
2 Eggs
2 tbsp. Vanilla Extract
3 tbsp. Liquid Red Food Colouring
1 teaspoon Salt, sifted
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Soda, sifted
280 gr. All Purpose Flour, sifted
230 gr. Buttermilk (1 cup)
1 tbsp. White Vinegar
Ingredients for cream cheese frosting
500 gr. Cream Cheese, room temperature
1 cup Butter, room temperature
4 cups Powdered Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Garnish
100-130 gr. Grated Walnuts (optional)
Method Steps
For Cream Cheese Frosting
In a mixer fitted with a whisk, beat butter on medium high speed until smooth, about 2-3 minutes.
Add cream cheese and whisk until homogenised, about 3-4 minutes.
Add sugar, vanilla extract and whisk very well until everything homogenised and the mixture looks creamy enough. It should be soft but not runny. (Tip: Add more powdered sugar in case the mixture isn't thick enough and add 1 pinch of salt if it is too sweet)
Put your cream cheese frosting in a bowl, cover with a wrap and set in your fridge until you continue with the sponge cake.
For Sponge Cake
Preheat oven in 160 degrees.
Prepare 3 oven pans 20 cm (i used disposable oven pans). Spread oven pans with butter and sprinkle with half of the sifted cocoa powder.
In a mixer add butter and sugar and beat together on a medium to high speed, until becomes smooth, like a thick cream.
Add eggs, one by one, mixing the first egg waiting to be combined and then add the second egg.
Mix the rest half of the cocoa powder with the red liquid food colouring and add it to the mixture.
Gradually and alternately add flour and buttermilk, while whisking on a low speed.
Mix white vinegar with baking soda and add it to the mixture.
Mix until combined and split evenly to oven pans.
Add pans in preheated oven and bake for 20-30 minutes. (Tip: Do not bake over 30 minutes, because the cake will become dry).
Remove sponge cakes from oven and let them cool for 10 minutes.
In a rack or in an oven pan with a baking paper, turn cakes upside-down and let them cool completely.
If cakes are not equal in size, then use a 20 cm bowl to cut them wraparound and keep crumbs for decorating your cake at the end.
To assemble:
Choose a dish, where you will place the cake.
Cut 3 stripes of baking paper and place them circumferential on the dish with a vacancy in the middle, shaping a kind of a triangle. (This will help you assemble the cake without making a mess on the dish and at the end you can easily take them off)
Add in the the vacant space 1 tbsp. of the cheese cream frosting.
Place one sponge cake and add 1 layer of the cheese cream frosting (approx. 1/5 or more). Apply frosting without pressing too much.
Place the second sponge cake and 1/5 of frosting in the same way.
Place the last sponge cake and add 1/5 cream cheese frosting on the surface and and straighten it with a spatula.
Put the cake (and the rest of the frosting) in the fridge for approximately 3 hours or for a whole night.
Add the rest of the frosting on the top and on the perimeter of the cake and straighten it with a spatula.
Garnish the cake with crumbs and walnuts.
Tips
Be sure that the ingredients are in a room temperature.
Sift all dry ingredients.
In case you don't have buttermilk, then you can combine a cup of milk (full fat) and a tbsp. of lemon juice or white vinegar. Stir and set aside for 10 minutes. Ready to use!
Let the sponge cakes cool enough before using them to assemble.
Be sure, that you let the cake enough hours in the fridge before completing it.
Enjoy this recipe and feel free to send me comments/ questions/ feedback either here on the comment box or send me a message on my Instagram account!