Red Velvet Layer Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Last week saw one of Mounty County's finest transition into adulthood. One of my old Maccas buddies, Rachel, turned 18 and for once the choice of cake was very clear. An avid fan of red velvet cake, I knew four layers of reddy-brown moistness sandwiched with cream cheese frosting was the only way to go. 

I have previously stuck to one red velvet cupcake recipe (which I will blog about later), but decided to look up a new one for the purpose of this cake. The method wasn't too difficult and the cake was delicious; moist but not too sweet, perfect for countering the sweetness of the cream cheese icing. As with any layer cake I make, this took quite a while due to the fact I own several different cake pans, no two of which are the same diameter. Therefore each layer had to be cooked one at a time. However this time, I was baking some sugar cookies for my sister to take to school (recipe to come later), so I figured out an efficient rotation system between cookies and cakes which limited time wasted from the oven being on between batches. (Cool story, I know).

The only thing I was slightly disappointed about was the icing in between the layers. Despite knowing the cake wasn't very sweet, I didn't want the frosting to become too overpowering so I was rather sparing with it. This resulted in it soaking up into the layers and made the cake look like one big layer instead of four distinct ones separated by the frosting as I had hoped. Nevertheless, the taste remained unaffected and I was still very happy with the result. Oh, and as you may have noticed from the picture, the cake didn't look as pretty as I had hoped. The sides were rather difficult to ice and after a car trip covered in uneven glad wrap, that was what was left. Still, it's not like I was baking for the CWA, everyone knows taste > everything, right?

Red Velvet Layer Cake (Adapted from Best Recipes)

For the cake:

• 2 1/2 plain flour, sifted
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 120g soft unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• Few tbsp red food colouring 

For the frosting: 

• 250g cream cheese, softened
• 60g unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tsp vanilla essence
• 2 cups icing sugar, sifted
  

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees and grease and line one round 20cm baking tin (or as many as you have).
2. Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder and cocoa and set aside.
3.  In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer until light and fluffy (approx 3-5 minutes).
4. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Add in a third of the flour mixture and beat well to combine.
6. Add in half of the buttermilk and beat again to combine,
7. Repeat, alternating between the flour mixture and the buttermilk, ending with the flour mixture. Beat well after each addition.
8. In a small bowl, mix together the vinegar and baking soda until foaming. Add into the batter and mix well with a rubber spatula or large spoon.
9. Add in the food colouring, a few drops at a time, until mixture achieves a desired shade of red.
10. Divide cake mixture evenly into four bowls, with the mixture of one going into the baking pan and into the oven. Cover the other three portions with cling wrap and put aside.
11. Bake each layer for 10-15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
12. When layers are cooked, let cool in tin for five minutes before transferring to a rack for further cooling. Reline/regrease tray and repeat with each remaining portion of batter.
13. When all layers are completely cool, prepare the frosting by beating together the butter, vanilla and cream cheese together until light and fluffy (approx 2-4 minutes). Add the icing sugar and beat until mixture is light and creamy.
14. Sandwich each layer together with icing as well as covering the entire cake in it. Add extra decorations to the cake if desired (I used coloured sugar).