Velvety Goodness

Good morning day, dear readers.  I was going to post this in the morning, but I didn't have the pics on my flash drive, so I postponed it to the evening.  I'm tired.  Don't judge. We've almost made it through another week. Has it been a good one for you? My week has been pretty much the same as it usually is: busy. BUT!! I've been secretly obsessing over the fact that my 21-month-old, Mason, hasn't started talking. OK. Maybe not so secretly obsessing, but obsessing nonetheless. We'll hear an occasional *hi*, or what we think is a word, but we can't get him to repeat it with any sort of consistency. Then yesterday, Nate saw a hot air balloon in the sky. We turned the corner and Mason pointed up to the sky and said: "I see it!" WOOT!! So, we don't get a *first word*, we get a first PHRASE!! Finally. Little turd was driving me crazy!

I know I've been slacking on posting good-for-you recipes and I apologize.  Kinda.  Everybody needs a good dessert every now and then - just view these recipes as good-for-your-soul.  K?  K.  Anyway...I made this awesome cake for a co-worker's birthday at the beginning of February.  I asked her what kind of cake she wanted (she could choose anything) and this is what she picked.  I ended up staying home for a couple days because of the snow, so it sat in my garage until I made it in to work.  It was just as good a couple days old as it would've been that first day. 

Red Velvet Cake 
1 cup vegetable shortening
2 eggs
1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 ounces red food coloring
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp distilled white vinegar
White frosting (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In the bowl of a mixer, cream together the shortening, eggs and sugar. In a separate small bowl, mix together the cocoa and food coloring. Add the paste to the shortening mixture. Sift the flour and salt together over parchment. Add to the batter alternately with the buttermilk in 3 additions. Add the vanilla extract. Fold in the baking soda and vinegar. Pour the batter into 2 greased 9-inch cake pans. Bake for 30 minutes or until an inserted cake tester comes out clean. Let cool on a cooling rack. Invert the cakes from the pans.

White Frosting
2 Tbsp flour
1 cup milk
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Over medium heat, cook the flour and milk until thickened. Let cool. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in the flour mixture.
Frost the top of the first layer with frosting and set the second layer on top. Frost the entire cake with remaining frosting.

NOTES:  This was the first time I'd ever made red velvet cake.  I was *shocked* at how much red food coloring goes in to the recipe - 2 ounces!  That's 2 *entire* (small) bottles!  I didn't care for this frosting.  I don't know if I didn't mix it enough, but it was kinda...I don't know how to describe it...it just wasn't what I expected.  Not bad, but not perfect.

This was also the first time I'd ever bought buttermilk.  Little did I know I would find my ultimate pancake recipe as a result.

Now *that* is RED!  It's like bright arterial splatter blood.  Got the visual?  No?  How 'bout this?

Now you got it?  Good.  Anyway, it was *bright* red, and one of the docs said...well...I won't go in to that.  After all, this *is* a post about cake.

See...it kinda looks like cottage cheese.  Or paste.  Either way, it didn't look like frosting should look.  Maybe I didn't mix enough.  It was edible, and I guess that's all that matters.

Now in this picture, the frosting definitely looks like paste.  Or stucco.  LOL  Don't get me wrong...it got the job done, but next time I'll find another recipe for the frosting.  Maybe cream cheese frosting or vanilla buttercream.  

This was so good (even as much as I'm bitching about the mediocre frosting)!!  My coworker loved it.  And so did the rest of the office.  For some reason (yeah, I can't imagine why), I'm the baker of the birthday cakes (or pies, or cookies, or whatever).  I asked who was going to make *my* cake when my birthday comes around...somebody already volunteered.  Now, we'll see if she's still around come August.


So, it's a good thing I had to wait to post this because I was going to give you the wrong recipe!  I *knew* the frosting recipe on the other link didn't look right and now I know I was right.  Ugh.  I'm tired!