Thursday Recipe on Friday

Since I posted about my visit with Mum yesterday, this week's recipe got pushed to today. Being in the South now, there are some foods that are distinctly theirs and Red Velvet Cake is one of them. If you've ever seen the movie Steel Magnolias you've seen Red Velvet Cake. It's the groom's cake made in the shape of an armadillo - the one with grey icing. Well, the recipe I have doesn't call for grey icing. Most Red Velvet Cake recipes call for cream cheese frosting, but this one that I found from Bobby Flay deviates from that with a vanilla frosting. So yummy!

Cake Ingredients:
3 3/4 cups AP Flour
3 tablespoons Dutch processed cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cups vegetable oil
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon red food coloring
1 1/2 cups buttermilk, at room temperature
Frosting, recipe follows

For the cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour 2 (9-inch) cake pans and line each pan with a round of parchment paper.

Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl

Cream the butter, sugar and oil in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl and beat until incorporated. Beat in the vanilla, vinegar and food coloring.

Add the flour mixture to the batter in 3 batches alternating with the buttermilk, mixing well after each addition. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans and bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool on a baking rack for 15 minutes before removing the cake from the pans. Let cool completely before frosting. Slice each cake into 2 layers and frost.

Frosting Ingredients:
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1/2 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
7 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups superfine sugar

Combine the cream, milk, vanilla bean and seeds in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Remove the vanilla bean and discard. Add the flour and cook, whisking constantly, until thickened to a paste, about 2 minutes. Scrape into a bowl, cover and refrigerate until very cold, at least 2 hours.

Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat until the mixture is very fluffy and the sugar is totally dissolved, about 6 minutes. Add the cold paste, a few tablespoons at a time to the butter mixture and whip until light and fluffy.

**Notes - this recipe also does well as cupcakes!