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Red velvet cake with cream cheese icing
- Prep time:
- 25 mins
- Cook time:
- 25 mins
- Serves:
- 6-8
Lorraine Balinska makes this traditional American cake with vivid red colouring
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Tips and suggestions
- Cooks Tips...
- don't over cream the icing as it will become too soft to work with. If this happens refridgerate it for 10 minutes.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp mild cooking oil, for greasing
- 350g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- 1 tsp Cocoa powder
- 1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
- 1.5 tsp Baking powder
- 350g caster sugar
- 350g Butter, chilled and diced
- 200ml Soured cream
- 1 tsp vanilla essence, plus a few drops for icing
- 2 Eggs, beaten
- a few drops red food colouring
For the icing
- 100g Butter
- 200g cream cheese
- 500g icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C2. Line three 20cm cake tins with oiled greaseproof paper, then sift over some flour
3. In a medium bowl sift the flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder.
4. Add sugar, butter and sour cream. Mix well until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
5. Stir together the vanilla essence and eggs. Add this mixture bit by bit to the breadcrumb batter so it doesn’t curdle, then sprinkle with the food colouring.
6. Mix well, then divide between the three cake tins. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the cake has come away slightly from the sides of the tin and a skewer inserted into the thickest part comes out clean.
7. Leave the sponges to cool for 5 minutes in the tins, then turn two of the sponges upside down on a cooling rack to dry. Turn out the third cake, but leave it right side up (this will be the top). To make icing the cake easier, you can refridgerate the sections once they have cooled a little. While the cakes are cooling, make the icing.
8. For the icing: cream the butter and cream cheese together and sift in the icing sugar. Add vanilla essence and mix until well combined.
9. Once the cakes are completely cool, layer the cake sandwiching it together with the icing, reserving half for the topping.
10. Spread the icing on top the cake and around the sides. Cut in slices to serve.
Comments & Ratings
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Latest Comment
View all comments (8)I made this and it was fab tho i did have to use more red food colouring than the recipe above suggested. I was just wondering if anyone thort it would work as well with green food colouring? I have to make a Halloween cake if anyones wondering :-)
I found that the cooling time needs to be increased or this will fall apart as the texture is very delicate. Also a few drops of red colouring doesn't necessarily bring about the red. this is a very vibrant cake, so I used 2oz of red colouring. If you're not comfortable then stick to quantities here. Otherwise a great cake
look nice
by the way I am 57yrs old now
I am not a novice cake maker either. I have been cooking since I was 11yrs my mother taught me. I ice and decorate wedding cakes etc. I had no problem with this receipe. butiful it was.
I made this cake and it turned out perfectly, and bright red. that and I'm 15 so i don't think it was the recipe... but anyway its a great cake!!
stop havin a whinge, get a better food colouring, put more in and use oil AND greaseproof in the pan and try it again, its worth it!
I am not a novice cake maker, and have just made this cake following the recipe and instructions to the letter. However, what I have ended up with is not the bright red cake as shown in the program, but a rather murky beige coloured cake that has also fallen apart on removal from the tin. I watched the program before hand as I had taped it for reference and the cook says not to worry about the pale pink appearance of the mixture as it will darken as it cooks. My cake mixture was the same colour as hers but the end result is not. HOWEVER, I would point out that you do not see the cake she mixed on the program being removed from the oven. What you do see is a 'one I prepared earlier' cake being taken from the fridge. THIS cake is a vivid red - was it made the same way as the one mixed on air, i.e., 'a few drops of red food colouring' or was more red used in order that it comes out THAT red? Perhaps the recipe needs to be amended or a specific type of cake colouring needed to be used in order that this does in fact come out red and not the murky beige colour I have.