This Red Velvet Cake is rich in colour, texture, and taste. It is delightfully moist, yet not too dense. It's subtle chocolate flavour is almost enough to make one swoon.
Instead of frosting the outside of the cake, Celine covered it in fondant and edible pearls. The bow was made from strips of fondant loosely folding in half with a rose of coloured frosting. The texture on the fondant was made by gently pressing a clean ruler diagonally around the cake. Recipe adapted from Joy of Baking's Red Velvet Cake.
Red Velvet Cake:
250 grams sifted cake flour
1/2 tsp salt
15 grams regular or Dutch-processed cocoa powder
113 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature
300 grams granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
240 mL buttermilk (1 cup)
2 tbsp liquid red food coloring
1 tsp white distilled vinegar
1 tsp baking soda
Cream Cheese Frosting:
227 grams cream cheese, room temperature
227 grams tub of Mascarpone cheese, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
115 grams confectioners' (icing or powdered) sugar, sifted
360 mL cups cold heavy whipping cream (double cream) (35-40% butterfat)
Directions:
1. Grease your cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
2. In a bowl, sift flour, salt, and cocoa powder together.
3. Using a stand mixer, beat butter for about 1 minute until soft.
4. Add the sugar to the butter and continue beating for about 3 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy.
5. One at a time, add in the eggs, taking care to beat until incorporated and scrape down the bowl after every addition.
6. Pour in the vanilla and beat until the mixture is well-combined.
7. In a cup, whisk together the buttermilk and the red food colouring.
8. Decrease the speed of the mixer to low and add in half of the flour mixture.
9. When it starts to come together, add in the buttermilk mixture, then add in the rest of the flour mixture.
10. In a cup, stir the vinegar and baking soda together. When it starts to fizz, quickly fold into the batter.
11. Pour the batter into the cake pans equally and use the back of a spoon to smooth the tops.
12. Bake for 25–30 minutes until a cake tester inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
13. Let the cakes cool in the cake pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes.
14. Invert the cakes on to the wire rack to let cool completely.
15. Wrap in plastic and store in refrigerator for an hour or until you are ready to frost.
16. Start making the cream cheese frosting by beating the cream cheese and marscapone cheese until mixture is smooth.
17. Beat in the vanilla extract and confectioner's sugar until smooth.
18. If you are using a stand mixer, change to a whisk attachment and slowly add int he heavy cream, whipping until the frosting takes on a spreadable consistency. If needed, add in more sugar to thicken or cream to thin out until the desired consistency is attained.
19. Even out the layers with a serrated knife.
20. Place one of the layers onto the platter and spread a layer of frosting over it.
21. Carefully place another layer of cake on top, making sure that it lines up evenly and layer with frosting.
22. Repeat until you have all your layers stacked neatly.
23. Spread frosting on the top and sides of the cake.
24. Decorate as desired.