Red velvet anything is a great bake-off for any occasion.
Cookies would be the easiest to start with and with my past attempt at making Red Velvet Crinkled Cookies proved to be a resounding success, I decided to step up and do something cakey. Or at least something that resembles a cake.
Cupcake and cookies were not my goals this time. I was thinking more along the lines of a cake, quick and good enough to be made for a special occasion. It also has to be spongy, fluffy, one that preserves its red velvety look and taste; yet distinctively chocolatey but not a chocolate cake.
If I’m a baker at a cake shop and someone had given me all that criteria, I would have fired the bugger and give him/her the middle finger. But! Considering that I’m neither, I decided that I’ll go have fun and deal with the consequences of having a ridiculous-looking-probably-inedible cake later.
About an hour later, lo and behold my heart:
With the exception of the stupid crack on top of the cake all around (!), it is everything that I wished for. It’s got that chocolatey but not decadent chocolate cake taste. Enhanced by really tiny bits of fine chocolate bars shavings it still bears the distinct watermark of a red velvet with its deep dark red hue.
With icing sugar sprinkled lightly on top , the rest went down very well into the tummies in practically an afternoon. Will I make this again? Hell yeah!
- 5 large eggs, separate whites and yolks at room temperature
- 120g + 90g castor sugar
- 86ml canola or sunflower oil
- 64g whole fresh milk + 4g of fresh lemon juice (substitute for 68g buttermilk)
- Two-third cup cocoa powder, sifted
- 160g cake flour
- 1 tspn baking powder
- 1/4 tspn salt
- Slightly less than 1 quarter tspn cream of tartar
- Red colouring
- Half a cup of thin chocolate shavings
- Half a cup icing sugar
- Heat oven at 180°C.
- Mix and sift cocoa powder, cake flour, baking powder and salt al l together. Set aside
- In a big bowl, beat yolks and 120g sugar until the mixture turns light and fluffy
- Add oil and milk+ lemon juice then continue mixing.
- Add the sifted dry ingredients in #2 in two batches, mix well. Then add in chocolate shavings and set aside
- In a clean and dry bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the egg whites.
- Add cream of tartar once egg white turns foamy. Then gradually add sugar
- Keep whisking till a stiff whisk is formed.
- Fold 1/3 of the egg white into the egg yolk batter.
- Add in red colouring and gently fold the remaining egg whites in till the streaks disappear. Mix well but do not over fold
- In an ungreased tubed pan, pour in the batter
- Bake at 180°C for about 60-70 minutes. Adjust the baking time according to your oven
- Insert a wooden stick into the cake to check if cake is cook. Wooden insert would come out clean.
- Cool the cake upside down on a wire rack until it is completely cooled. Then remove from mould.
- Dust the top with sifted icing sugar. Cut and serve!
- Run out of red colouring? No worries. Use lots of orange instead and you'll still get the desired deep red effect.
- When baking, place a piece of aluminium foilover the cake and continue baking if the top gets too brown. Or adjust your oven to only use the bottom
