Homemade Red Velvet Cake – AKA Heaven on a plate

When I first saw this recipe at work, I knew I had to try it. Being from the south, Red Velvet Cake is a staple – it’s one of my all-time favorite cakes to eat and since most of the cakes I eat either come from a box or come from a bakery, I was anxious about making my very first homemade Red Velvet Cake.

I’ll admit, in advance, I’m no cake decorator. I’d love to be able to make beautiful cakes to share with my friends and family – but they’re just going to have to settle for ugly cakes that taste like heaven.

So, without further ado – Red Velvet Cake, from scratch:

Red Velvet Cake

Prep: 15 Minutes | Bake: 18 – 20 Minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of butter, softened
• 2 ½ cups of sugar
• 6 large eggs
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa
• ¼ tsp. baking soda
• 1 (8-oz.) container of sour cream
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 (1-oz.) bottles of red food coloring
• 1 ½ recipes 5-Cup Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe below)

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Beat butter, at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.

2. Stir together flour, cocoa, and baking soda. Add to butter mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla; stir in red food coloring. Spoon cake batter into 3 greased and floured 8-inch round pans.

3. Bake at 350° for 18 to 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks, and cool completely (about 1 hour)

4. Spread 5-Cup Cream Cheese Frosting between layers and on the top and sides of cake.

Note: Try as I might, I could NOT find an 8-in Round Cake Pan – so I ended up using three 9-inch pans. It seemed to work fine. This is a LOT of not-real-wet ingredients to mix together. It’d be great if you could get someone to help you pour them in as you use your hand mixer to slower mix it all together. It took closer to 28 minutes for my cakes to cook.

5-Cup Cream Cheese Fosting

Prep: 10 Minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 (8-oz) packages of cream cheese, softened
• ½ cup butter, softened
• 1 (32-0z) packaged of powdered sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

Beat cream cheese and butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating until fluffy. Stir in vanilla.

Note: Again, I suggest you get some help adding the sugar while you mix. It took a while – again, this is a lot of dry/not real moist ingredients to mix.

I’ve decided – I’m going to try to make a series of these kitchen experiments – I enjoy it. Also? Y should know – I started writing this post before I even tried the cake. I knew it was going to be good – I wasn’t sure how good though. I edited the title of this post to give you a better indication.

Final Thoughts: It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. I’d love a stand mixer, I think that might make it easier. The cake? It’s divine. It’s a very ‘thick’ cake, almost like a pound cake, but it is amazing. The icing is, well, the icing. When you’re used to boxed cake and $1 icing from the baking aisle – it doesn’t take much to top it. I will definitely make it again.

Related posts:

1. Homemade Chicken Pot Pie
2. Super Easy and Awesome Pasta Roll-Ups
3. My Birthday Was Yesterday and Is Also Saturday