Red velvet cake

This post looks a tad too red... and for a reason. We are kicking off the yuletide with nothing less than the awesome, dramatic and Lady Gaga version of cakes... the Red velvet cake! Yay!! What is more fun than playing with colours a tad bit and making one of the most decadent cakes? Nothing i say!

Ok, so don't get psyched by the colour. It is really a Devil' Food cake with red colouring. With buttercream frosting! How much bu(e)tter can it get? came across a really neat recipe here www.joyofbaking.com/RedVelvetCake.html and decided to get rid of the intimidation that the towering red cake posed and give it a 'red hot go' à la Masterchef... and i got it bang on. :D...

Here's how you go about it:

This makes one 9 inch cake for a single layer cake or two 4 inch cakes for a double layer cake. (Being obsessed with tall cakes, i obviously went for the latter.)

-60 grams unsalted butter

-1 egg

-3/4 cup sugar (granulate it)

-1 cup and 2 tablespoons flour

-2 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder
-1/2 teaspoon vinegar

-1 teaspoon baking powder

-1 teaspoon vanilla extract

-1/2 cup buttermilk

-3/4 teaspoon edible red colouring

Pre-heat the oven to 170 C

Butter two 4 inch cake tins.
Sift together the cocoa powder, flour and salt.

With an electric mixer, beat the butter until soft and add the sugar and mix until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix thoroughly and then add the essence and make sure it is combined thoroughly.

In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and the food colouring.

In careful three additions, add the flour mixture and the buttermilk mix to the butter mixture, starting and ending with the flour.

In a small vessel, combine the vinegar and the baking powder, wait till it fizzes out and then quickly fold it into the mixture.

Working quickly, divide the batter into two and spoon it into the buttered cake tins. Even out the tops with the spatula. Pop it into the ovens and bake it for 20 - 25 minutes, or until the inserted toothpick comes out clean.

While the cake is baking, we can make the buttercream frosting. This is the quickest frosting that you can make (and Non stick swears by it).

You will need:

-1 cup confectioner' sugar or castor sugar

-1/2 cup butter

-1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

-1 tablespoon milk (if needed, to make the frosting of a slathering consistency).

With the help of an electric mixer, beat the sugar and make it light and soft. Add the vanilla essence and mix it in. Add the sugar and continue to beat the mix until it becomes creamy and light. Depending on how thick or thin the consistency of the frosting is, and to make it the perfect creamy mix, add milk or sugar. Aand you have your buttercream frosting!

Frosting the cake

Make sure the cakes are completely before frosting the cake. It always co-operates best when cooled, even refrigerated if need be. Take the cake that will form the lower layer and even it out by cutting out the uneven top bit of the cake. Slather a dollop of frosting onto the top of the cake and spread it out evenly with the help of a butter knife or a spatula. Once you are done, place the other layer on the top of this layer and ever so slightly, press it down. Repeat the process with this layer as well.

Even out the top of the cake and spread a dollop on the cake. With the help of a spatula, spread the frosting along the sides and around the cake. You can also pipe put fancy shapes using your piping cone. And there you go! Red velvet cake with buttercream frosting! :)

Devil' food cake with ganache!

Ok, so this is it. The cake that launched a thousand eating orgies. For us, friends and family. I chanced upon this recipe on the internet here: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/devils-food-cake-i/Detail.aspx

The sheer genius/easiness/easy availability of ingredients will get you hooked, believe you me!

What you'll need to make a two layer Devil' Food Cake with Ganache :

Two baking 5" round tins

1/4 cup butter (55 grams i believe)

40 grams unsweetened chopped chocolate

A tad lesser than a cup of white sugar (granulated)

1 egg

1/2 cup water

1 cup and two tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

2 tablespoons milk

1/2 teaspoon distilled white vinegar

How you go about it:

Butter your cake tins.

Preheat oven to 175 degrees.

Melt the butter along with the chocolate over a flame. Set it aside to cool.

Cream the sugar and egg until light and fluffy. Boil the half cup of water at this point. Set aside.

Add the butter-chocolate mixture to the sugar-egg mix and temper the mixture by beating well.

Add the boiled water (now warm) to this mix and blend well.

Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder.

Add the liquid mix to the above mentioned dry ingredients and mix well.

Mix together the milk and vinegar and add this to the above.

P.S: a magic ingredient I add is a teaspoonful of coffee liqueur. I feel it adds greatly to the colour and the taste. This I add at this point.

Pour into the cake tins evenly and pop into the oven and bake till done/ when the tooth pick comes out clean. Roughly about 25 -30 min.

In the meanwhile, let's get the Ganache in order.

Now, the traditional Ganache calls for cream, but being an ardent non-fan of cream, i substitute it with whole milk and butter. i know, what was the point? sigh..

-5 tablespoons unsweetened Cocoa powder (or lesser, it's upto you. The cake is going to be amply chocolatey in itself, but hey, if you can handle, bring it on!)

-1/4 cup sugar (or as per your tastebuds)

-1 1/2 tablespoons butter

-3/4 cup whole milk

-1 teaspoon Rum/Coffee liqueur

Bring the milk to a boil, add the sugar and the butter. Mix the cocoa powder. Beat it in. Incorporate it. The mix will look like an ugly muddy brown mix. Worry not. Let the mixture thicken. Pour in the rum after about 4 min. Keep stirring and on the smallest flame till you get a lustrous, glossy, dark chocolatey, thick spreadable-looking mix. Viola! you have the custom made ganache! Allow it to cool before frosting.

Frosting the cake:

You will be sandwiching the two layers of the cakes, so trim the tops to get rid of any seeming un-evenness or rising that will make the cake look uneven. Heap on a generous dollop in between the layers and smack! fix them down. (Don't worry, the viscocity of the ganache helps here). Pour the remaining frosting onto the top of the cake and working yourself outward and using a spatula, spread the ganache.

There you go! Devil's food cake with ganache frosting! Happy getting high! :)

p.s: You can garnish this with roasted nuts, sprinkles or powdered sugar! It's yours to innovate!