Luscious red velvet cake
I featured a red velvet cake recipe many years ago, for the first Snowflake book! Those years it was still unknown, but I recall, my friend, Leslie-Ann giving me a recipe and introducing me to this cake. I adjusted a bit to what it is now, a favourite of many and also on the cover of the Snowflake Ultimate Collection. What makes this very moist cake different is the coconut icing. I just love coconut, but you can also change this frosty coconut icing with a cream cheese icing if you like. The version of making 24 cup cakes is also great. Make ahead to freeze and enjoy later; just freeze without the icing.
Makes 1 large three-layer cake
125 g butter or margarine, softened
250 ml (210 g) castor sugar
2 extra-large eggs
30 ml cocoa powder
30 ml red food colouring
15 ml milk
500 ml (280 g) cake flour
2 ml salt
250 ml buttermilk
5 ml bicarbonate of soda
15 ml white vinegar
5 ml vanilla essence
Coconut icing
60 ml (35 g) cake flour
250 ml milk
80 g butter or margarine
125 ml (105 g) castor sugar
5 ml vanilla essence
200 ml (65 g) desiccated coconut
60 ml (25 g) walnuts, coarsely chopped
1. Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition until light and creamy.
2. Make a smooth paste of the cocoa powder, food colouring and milk. Add to egg mixture and beat well.
3. Sift flour and salt together. Add, alternately with buttermilk, to creamed mixture.
4. Dissolve bicarbonate of soda in vinegar and add, with vanilla essence, to mixture. Spoon mixture into three lined and greased 20 cm round cake pans and bake in a preheated oven at 180 °C for about 15 minutes.
5. Leave in pans for a few minutes before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely.
6. Icing: Beat flour and milk together and place in a small, heavy-based saucepan. Bring to the boil, stirring constantly, until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients, except nuts. Ice cake when completely cooled and sprinkle with nuts or decorate with crystallised rose petals (see tip below).
Variations
– For a standard two-layer cake, bake in two 20 cm round cake pans for 25–30 minutes.
– Substitute coconut icing with 2 quantities cream cheese icing, for a three-layer cake.
– Make 24 cup cakes from the cake mixture and double the standard cream cheese icing below to ice all the cupcakes.
– Substitute buttermilk with 250 ml sour cream or plain yoghurt.
Cream cheese icing
60 g butter or margarine, softened
625 ml (325 g) icing sugar, sifted
100 g cream cheese
5 ml vanilla essence
5 ml grated lemon rind (optional)
Cream butter and icing sugar together. Add cream cheese, essence and lemon rind and beat lightly to a smooth, spreadable consistency. Do not over-mix. Ice cake.
Tips
– Crystallised rose petals: Brush fresh petals with egg white, dust with castor sugar and leave to dry on a wire rack for about 2 hours.
– Instead of icing the cake, make an attractive pattern by placing a cooling rack or patterned doily over the cake and dusting it with icing sugar.