Red Velvet Cake

If anyone has ever told you that Red Velvet cake is just "chocolate cake with lots of red food coloring", don't believe them- or at least I've been told that a true Southern Red Velvet cake apparently (I'm not truly Southern) comes from the reaction of the acidic ingredients. Some recipes have as little as a teaspoon of cocoa in them. Red food coloring wasn't always used either. Sometimes beet juice is used, and sometimes no colorant is used, and the cake gets its color from the vinegar and buttermilk's reaction with the cocoa powder. So this is my first attempt at a Red Velvet Cake. I used creame cheese frosting because it is my favorite. This vanilla bean cream cheese frosting rocks.

Red Velvet Cake 

2 1/2 c cake flour
1 1/4 c sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 1/2 c vegetable oil
1 c buttermilk
2 tablespoons red food coloring (Breath, I know, scary... just breath)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar

Preheat the oven to 350

Sift the flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa, and salt together. Set it aside.





Place the wet ingredients into the bowl of your mixer. Including the red food coloring.

Beat until well combined.






Add the dry ingredients and beat until smooth.






Pour the batter into 3 8-inch round pans or 2 9-inch greased and floured round pans.
Bake for 25-30 minutes. Let the cakes sit for a few minutes, then invert them onto a cooling rack to completely cool before frosting.




I didn't even let the cake chill for the frosting to set before I had a slice.