Red Velvet Cake – OMG best ever!! I almost fell down – that’s how good it is

In December, I challenged my colleagues to donate to a few charities, and if we raised a certain amount of money and brought in a certain amount of non-perishable food items, I would bake them whatever they wanted (by vote).  Well, my office was super generous and went well beyond the challenge!  So now it’s time for me to pay up.  They voted on a red velvet cake.

To be honest, at first I wasn’t very excited about the idea of making a red velvet cake.  It’s actually my most least favorite cake.  I know that it’s super popular, but it just doesn’t do it for me.  I don’t like that it has cocoa in it but that you can only taste a hint of it.  I like my chocolate cakes CHOCOLATEY!  Plus all that red dye can’t be good for you.

So I was browsing various food blogs to see if I could find a receipt that I could get excited about.  Otherwise, I was going to bake the trusty one from Alton Brown that I did before.  But then, I found one that looked amazing by Rosie of Sweetapolita.  It looked super fluffy and I especially liked the marshmallow cream cheese frosting that went with it.  A spin on the traditional!

Check out the verdict at the end of the post, although I’ve given it away in the title :)

Red Velvet Cake from Sweetapolita

The adaptations I made were:

• I didn’t use the Red Velvet emulsion, instead I cut down the red gel colour to 1 teaspoon and added 1 Tablespoon of vanilla.  I don’t like adding a lot of food colouring, hence the reduction, but if you like a vibrant red cake, add the original amount.  
• Doubled the cocoa to 2 Tablespoons 
•  Used apple cider vinegar 
•  Grated ¼ teaspoon of lemon rind 
•  Baked in 3, 6 inch rounds and a 4 inch round for leftovers.  Baked for 29 and 25 minutes respectively.

Before baking.

After baking.

Marshmallow Cream Cheese Frosting from Sweetapolita

 

Marshmallow cream used in the frosting.

Flower Petal Decorations

1.  Melt red candy melts.  I used a water bath to keep them warm as I worked.  To make pink, add some white candy melts or white chocolate.

2.  Using a spoon or spatula, smear the melts onto parchment.  Place on tinfoil shaped like a crescent to make curves.  Peel off when hard.

Verdict: I couldn’t believe how good this cake was!  It was AMAZING!  It was super moist with a good fluffy good sized crumb.  The flavor was amazing! A great balance of the cocoa and vanilla.  I think this might even be the best cake I’ve ever had! The frosting was a nice complement with the subtle cream cheese flavor as it melts on your tongue.  Well done Rosie!

I hope my colleagues like it!

Update: I baked 2 batches of this cake, one that I froze and I didn't due to timing issues.  The cake that I didn't freeze totally dried out.  If I could go back in time, I would have applied a simple syrup on the one that I didn't freeze to keep it moist.