Velvet Cocoa Cake With Instant Buttercream Food

RED VELVET CAKE WITH BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 2 9-inch cake pans. In a bowl, sift together the cake flour, chocolate pudding mix, cocoa powder, and salt.
• In a large bowl, beat 1/2 cup of butter with 1 1/2 cup of sugar with an electric mixer until creamy; beat the eggs in, one at a time, and beat until the mixture is fluffy, about 1 minute. Beat in the flour mixture, alternating with buttermilk, in several additions. Mix in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and the red food color until the batter is uniformly colored. In a bowl, stir the baking soda with vinegar, and gently fold the foamy mixture gently into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean or with moist crumbs, about 30 minutes. Allow to cool completely before frosting.
• For frosting, place all-purpose flour in a saucepan, and gradually whisk milk into the flour, about 2 tablespoons at a time, until smoothly combined. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-low heat, whisking constantly until thickened and smooth; allow to cool completely. Beat 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of butter in a bowl with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 1 minute, and gradually beat in the cooled milk mixture; add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Beat the frosting until fluffy and spreadable, 1 to 2 more minutes.

BLACK VELVET CHOCOLATE CAKE RECIPE

Steps:

• NOTE: If you use a cocoa powder that is different than listed, your cake will not be as dark. You can supplement the color with 1 tsp of super black food coloring
• Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat to 350ºF/176ºC.
• Grease three 8" cake pans with cake goop.
• Whisk together melted chocolate, cocoa powder, hot coffee, vanilla, and oil until combined (it will look lumpy). Then mix in the warm buttermilk and whisk until combined. Then set aside.
• Add butter to stand mixer and beat at medium-high speed until smooth and shiny, about 30 seconds. Gradually sprinkle in the sugar, beat until mixture is fluffy and almost white, about 3-5 minutes. Add the eggs 1 at a time, mixing in fully before adding the next egg.
• Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
• With the mixer at the lowest speed, add about a third of the dry ingredients to the batter, followed immediately by about a third of the chocolate mixture, mix until ingredients are almost incorporated into the batter. Repeat the process 2 more times. When the batter appears blended, stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Return the mixer to low speed, beat until the batter looks like satin, about 15 seconds longer.
• Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Smooth the tops with a rubber spatula. Bake cakes until they feel firm in the center and a toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs on it, about 30-35 minutes.Transfer pans to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Invert cakes onto the rack and pop cakes out of pans. Cool completely before frosting.
• Cream your butter until smooth with the whisk attachment (by hand or in the stand mixer is fine)
• Add the vegetable shortening to the butter and cream until smooth
• While mixing on low, start adding in your powdered sugar one cup at a time until it's all combined with the butter mixture
• Add in your salt, vanilla and milk and whip on medium for 10-15 minutes until very light and fluffy
• If your frosting is too thick, you can add in 1-2 more Tablespoons of water or milk to thin it down to your desired consistency.
• You can now add in your desired food coloring if you prefer your frosting to be colored. I used electric pink, electric green and electric pink food coloring from americolor.com. Remember, the frosting color will deepen after 24 hours.

VELVET COCOA CAKE WITH INSTANT BUTTERCREAM

Steps:

• Make the cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and lightly flour two 9-inch round cake pans. In a bowl, whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
• In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until well incorporated. Beat in vanilla.
• Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in three additions, alternating with buttermilk and beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Scrape bowl as needed.
• Pour batter into pans. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool in pans 10 minutes before inverting cakes onto rack to cool completely.
• Make the buttercream: In mixing bowl, beat butter and marshmallow cream until fluffy. Beat in cocoa, chocolate, vanilla, and 1 tablespoon water. If too thin, refrigerate about 5 minutes.
• Place one layer on platter. Spread top with 1 cup buttercream. Place second layer on top. Frost entire cake with remaining buttercream.

RED VELVET CAKE RECIPE

Steps:

• Preheat your oven to 335°F and prepare three 6" x 2" pans or two 8" x 2" cake pans with cake goop or your preferred pan release. It also works well in all pans from a bundt pan to a cupcake.
• Combine the eggs, vegetable oil, buttermilk, vinegar, butter, vanilla, and red food coloring in a medium bowl and set it aside. I recommend using food coloring gel instead of liquid food coloring. My favorite brands are ChefMaster, and Americolor super red.
• Combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda in the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Mix this on low speed for a few seconds to combine.
• Add the liquid ingredients to the dry and mix on medium speed until the batter is fully incorporated and smooth (about 1 minute). Don't forget to scrape the bowl to ensure all the ingredients are evenly mixed.
• Divide the cake batter evenly between the prepared cake pans (I like to use my scale for accuracy).
• Bake the cakes for 35-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the tops bounce back when lightly touched.
• Cool the cakes in the pans for about 10 minutes, then flip them out onto a cooling rack to finish cooling.
• If you are going to layer and frost the same day, pop the cake layers into the freezer for about an hour, no need to wrap them. Otherwise, wrap the layers in plastic wrap and freeze them for up to a week. Pro-Tip: Wrapping the cakes while they're still warm seals in all of the moisture, making them safe to freeze.
• Place the softened butter in the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Mix on low until it is smooth and lump-free.
• Add in the softened cream cheese and combine on low until smooth and completely homogeneous. Scrape the bowl to make sure it is all incorporated.
• Add in the powdered sugar one cup at a time, mixing on low to avoid throwing powdered sugar out of the bowl.
• Add the vanilla extract and salt. A traditional vanilla flavor from vanilla extract goes well with cream cheese, but I love using orange extract or lemon extract for a unique taste.
• If you are not going to use the frosting immediately, cover it and place it in the refrigerator.
• Trim the tops of the cake layers off and save them in a bowl. You will use these to make crumbs to decorate the cake.
• Place the first chilled cake layer on a cake board, add a large scoop of cream cheese frosting, and spread evenly across the cake layer. A chilled cake will be easier to frost with the cream cheese frosting.
• Place the second layer of cake on top and repeat the filling and layering process.
• Frost the exterior of the cake with a crumb coat to lock in those red crumbs. Chill the cake for a few minutes before applying the final coat.
• Apply enough cream cheese frosting to cover the outside of the cake evenly. Cream cheese frosting can make really pretty spatula patterns, but I choose to do a simple smooth finish using a bench scraper.
• Crumble the extra cake trimmings into crumbs and gently press them into the sides of the cake, and then sprinkle on top as well.
• Using your piping tip of choice, pipe dollops of cream cheese frosting on top of the cake.
• This cake will last for about 4 days in the refrigerator, I recommend covering the cake in plastic wrap after cutting so that it doesn't dry out.

RED VELVET CAKE

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Oil and line the base and sides of two 20cm cake tins with baking parchment - if your cake tins are quite shallow, line the sides to a depth of at least 5cm.
• Put half each of the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarb, sugar and salt in a bowl and mix well. If there are any lumps in the sugar, squeeze these through your fingers to break them up.
• Mix half each of the buttermilk, oil, vanilla extract, food colouring and 100ml water in a jug. Add 2 eggs and whisk until smooth. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk until well combined. The cake mixture should be bright red, it will get a little darker as it cooks. If it's not as vivid as you'd like, add a touch more colouring. Pour the cake mixture evenly into the two tins, and bake for 25-30 mins, or until risen and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool in the tins for 10 mins, then turn out onto a wire rack, peel off the baking parchment and leave to cool.
• Repeat steps 1 and 2 with the remaining ingredients, so you have four sponge cakes in total. Can be made up to three days ahead and will stay moist if wrapped in cling film, or you can wrap well and freeze for up to two months.
• To make the icing, put the butter in a large bowl and sieve in half the icing sugar. Roughly mash together with a spatula, then whizz with a hand mixer until smooth. Add the soft cheese and vanilla, sieve in the remaining icing sugar, mash together again, then blend once more with the hand mixer.
• To assemble the cake, stick one of the sponges to a cake stand or board with a little of the soft cheese icing. Use roughly half the icing to stack the remaining cakes on top, spreading a generous amount between each layer. Pile the remaining icing on top of the assembled cake, and use a palette knife to ease it over the edges, covering the entire surface of the cake. Tidy the plate with a piece of kitchen paper. Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 2 days, but bring back to room temperature for an hour or so before eating.This recipe was refreshed in July 2018 based on user feedback. For the original recipe, see our beetroot cake.

RED VELVET CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place teaspoon of butter in each of 3 round 9-inch layer cake pans and place pans in oven for a few minutes until butter melts. Remove pans from oven, brush interior bottom and sides of each with butter and line bottoms with parchment.
• Whisk cake flour, cocoa and salt in a bowl.
• Place oil and sugar in bowl of an electric mixer and beat at medium speed until well-blended. Beat in eggs one at a time. With machine on low, very slowly add red food coloring. (Take care: it may splash.) Add vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk in two batches. Scrape down bowl and beat just long enough to combine.
• Place baking soda in a small dish, stir in vinegar and add to batter with machine running. Beat for 10 seconds.
• Divide batter among pans, place in oven and bake until a cake tester comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool in pans 20 minutes. Then remove from pans, flip layers over and peel off parchment. Cool completely before frosting.