Red Velvet

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Until reading More from Magnolia: Recipes from the World-Famous Bakery and Allysa Torey’s Home Kitchen (Allysa Torey) I’d never heard of a red velvet cake, shocking I know.   

Well I loved the name of them and knew that I’d just have to relent and bake one at some point, the only factor stopping me from diving straight in was the use of all that food colouring.  I have real issues with the amount of additives and ‘fake’ things in our food nowadays and where possible I avoid the use of these items.  

After reading the lovely Eva’s blog  I hit upon some inspiration – what about using hibiscus flowers to colour the cake?  

 

Natural red colouring, perfect, or so I thought; in reality it was a complete disaster.  The hibiscus syrup I made had no impact on the cakes colouring leaving me with a pale brown, pallid looking cake.  

I baked the cake in two loaf pans, to make storage easier and the transportation of one to work more easily managed (it won’t be reaching its intended destination though). I wish I could say the taste more than made up for the lack of colour but it didn’t, the texture and taste just weren’t quite right.  A bit like chewing polystyrene with a hint of chocolate flavouring – not good, especially not when the cake is billed as a rich-sweet deep chocolate cake.  

I decided not to ice the cake and instead will serve it for pudding tonight with custard, possibly even dyed pink with the remaining hibiscus syrup. That should (I hope) make the cake moister and more palatable. 

The Recipe: 

• 3 ⅓ cups cake flour (not self-rising) 
• ¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened 
• 2 ¼ cups sugar 3 large eggs, at room temperature 
• 6 tablespoons red food coloring 
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa 
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract 
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt 
• 1 ½ cups buttermilk 
• 1 ½ teaspoons cider vinegar 
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 
2. Grease and lightly flour three 9 x 2-inch round cake pans, then line the bottoms with waxed paper. 
3. In a small bowl, sift the cake flour and set aside. 
4. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. 
5. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. 
6. In a small bowl, whisk together the red food coloring, cocoa, and vanilla. 
7. Add to the batter and beat well. 
8. In a measuring cup, stir the salt into the buttermilk. 
9. Add to the batter in three parts, alternating with the flour. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not overheat. 
10. In a small bowl, stir together the cider vinegar and baking soda. Add to the batter and mix well. 
11. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl, making sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth. 
12. Divide the batter among the prepared pans. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. 
13. Let the layers cool in the pans for 1 hour. 
14. Remove from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack.

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Filed under Cakes & Cookies, Vegetarian