Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Tuesday at the Table

After sharing our dinner theatre menu a couple of weeks ago, I was asked for my recipe for Red Velvet Cake. Well, wouldn't you know, we went the quick and easy route for the theatre meal, and relied on a good ole Betty Crocker mix. But I do have a family recipe for this historic cake, and I'm happy to share that today.

Red Velvet Cake

Cake ingredients:
1/2 c. shortening
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
2 Tb. cocoa
2 oz. red food coloring
1 t. salt
1 t. vanilla
1 c. buttermilk
2 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 t. soda
1 Tb. vinegar

Frosting ingredients:
5 Tb. sifted cake flour
1 c. whole milk
1 c. butter
1 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla
This frosting is a traditional roux frosting, which is what my mom used on Red Velvet when I was growing up. These days, Red Velvet is most often served with a cream cheese frosting. Take your pick!
 
Directions:
Cream shortening & sugar. Add eggs; beat well. Make paste of cocoa & food coloring. Add to mix. Combine salt, vanilla, & buttermilk together – add alternately with flour to mixture. Combine soda & vinegar. Fold into mixture without beating. Fill two greased & floured 9” layer cake pans. Bake 30 minutes at 350-degrees.

For frosting, cook flour & milk; stir constantly till thick; cool slightly till warm, stirring occasionally. Cream sugar & butter; add vanilla. Add small amount of creamed mixture to flour/milk paste which assures a smooth icing. With mixer, add small amounts of paste to creamed mixture till it has appearance of whipped cream. Frost cooled cake layers.
The last time I made this cake, it was for Christmas, thus the holly in the photo. If perchance you love red velvet but want something a little different, be sure and try the Red Velvet Cake Balls I've shared in a previous post. Either way, there's some good eats!

9 comments:

  1. This looks lovely, thanks so much for sharing. And thank you for the real cake recipe. I live in Switzerland and we really don't do cake mixes so it is always great to find new recipes for cakes that mare made from scratch rather than from a box as so many seem to be these days. I look forward to trying this one out.

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  2. This looks just like my mom's recipe. Love the cooked frosting! She always made this for my birthday when I was growing up. It will always be my favorite!

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  3. that looks sooooooo yummy (girl in Paris missing homemade cakes!!!)

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  4. Awesome Debbie! THANK YOU SO MUCH! I used to have this recipe and haven't been able to locate it. A friend had volunteered to make this cake a number of years ago and after failing three times at the frosting, she called me since I lived down the street and she knew I'd be able to get it done right. I had never seen this type of frosting before and was skeptical about her maybe copying it wrong but I tried it. First time perfect with no problems at all. And then when it was done, I tasted it and OH MY GOSH, this stuff is amazing and totally addicting too.

    I copied her recipe she had been given to make this cake so I could have a copy of it too. Then I made more for my own family and at some point the recipe was lost. I searched online but didn't see one that looked exactly the same so I had given up. I was so happy when I saw you had posted it. Now I can make one again. I hope anyone who reads this tries this frosting recipe. Even as much as I absolutely LOVE Cream Cheese frosting, this recipe is perfect for this cake.

    Thank you so much.

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  5. So happy to have this recipe--I'm trying it out today for some company (but making cupcakes). I think that recipe for the frosting is interesting. I've only made frosting like that one other time, but this time (because of cooking the rest of the meal) I picked up some frosting in a can. Can't do it all, but the cake is the important part. Thank you, thank you!!

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  6. this looks like my recipe too! I haven't made it in ages! Looks delicious!!!

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  7. Red Velvet Cake is an absolute favorite of mine. Lately, my frosting fails almost every time so I'm very pleased to try yours as it's ingredients are a bit different. The flour frosting is so fabulous on this cake and much preferred over cream cheese. Thanks for sharing!

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  8. That is my favorite frosting ever! My mom made it when I was a kid. I have a version of it that uses cornstarch and butter and assures no lumps. You just took my back to my childhood. Thank you.

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