For this month’s Home Baker’s Challenge ( I know I am very late in posting this but please forgive) , host Shazana of He Chops and She Cooks chose red velvet as the theme. And she gave us so many recipes to choose from. Once I tried the eggless version of red velvet cake but the colour came out brownish. The recipe which Shazana gave had eggs in them and I wanted to try it without changing much. I will be posting an eggless version soon. For the frosting, I didn’t go for cream cheese frosting. When I googled, there was a recipe for creamy vanilla icing which was quite different from what I usually make. It cooked flour and milk together and then added it to the butter sugar mixture. All the recipes I read said that the texture is like whipped cream. So I chose to do it along with this cute cake. I don’t know how many of you feel bad to see me cooking with eggs. I just wanted to clarify that it is for experimenting purposes and as a home baker, I couldn’t reject what clients ask for. At first I had a tough time using eggs in cake. I felt like all the cakes smelled like omelette. But when I gave them to clients, they were quite happy. After nearly 6 months, I have got used to the smell of eggs. But still my vote will be for eggless bakes and I will be making eggless treats for my family. Even hubby has voted for the eggless cakes. For now only Sruti tries what I make with eggs and the remaining go to office or to friends.
This cake unlike the other cake turned out with a bright red colour. And there was no beetroot purr involved in this recipe. It is purely food colour. The important step in getting the colour is mixing the liquid colour with cocoa powder to make a red paste and then adding it to the batter. There was also another techique which will make the cake very soft and fluffy. It was the first time for me but it created great result. Mixing baking soda and apple cider vinegar gives a nice airy mixture which in turn turns the cake airy. I have to try this in an eggless cake. The cake turned out so soft and moist with a bright red. My daughter has not even seen a red velvet cake and she is so afraid of the colour red. Even she sees a drop of blood, she starts crying. So after I finished the cake she didn’t even want to taste it. But one of my nephews who was there for vacation liked it and gave me a thums up. The remaining cake went to office where the cake got good reviews.
Recipe Source: Shazana
Makes a 6″ two layer cake
Ingredients:
For The Cake:
Flour-1 1/4 cups
Salt-1/2 tsp
Sugar-1/2 cup
Butter-1/2 cup
Egg-1
Cocoa Powder-1/2 tbs
Liquid Red Food Colour-3/4 tbs
Buttermilk-1/2 cup
Vanilla Essence-1/2 tsp
Baking Soda-1/4 tsp
Apple Cider Vinegar-1/2 tbs
For The Icing:
Milk-1/2 cup
Flour-2 1/2 tbs
Vanilla-1 tsp
Butter-1/2 cup
Granulated Sugar-1/2 cup
Procedure:
1. Preheat oven to 175C.
2. In a bowl mix together food colour and cocoa powder until it forms a smooth paste.
3. In another bowl mix together flour and salt and set aside.
4. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar.
5. Add in the cocoa mixture and beat until incorporated.
6. Add the egg and beat for a minute. Add vanilla and mix.
7. Now add the flour mixture and buttermilk alternately, starting with flour and ending with flour.
8. Mix vinegar and baking soda and once it starts bubbling add it to the batter and mix until incorporated.
9. Grease and line two 6″ round pans and divide the batter between the two.
10. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.
11. Let it cool in the pan for a while and then flip on to a wire rack and allow it to cool completely.
12. While the cake is cooling let us make the frosting.
13. In a sauce pan combine milk and flour.
14. Use a whisk as we don’t want lumps in our frosting.
15. Heat the mixture and cook it on low flame until it becomes a thick batter.
16. Remove from flame and allow it to cool completely. Cover the top with a cling film to avoid the formation os skin.
17. In a bowl beat together butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy.
18. Now add the cooled flour mixture and beat for 5 minutes until the texture is like whipped cream.
19. Place a layer of the cake in a serving plate, spread some frosting on tp and place the other layer.
20. Now cover the whole cake with the frosting and with a spatula create some wave like texture on the frosting.
21. Decorate with edible sugar beads and serve.
Mix together food colour and cocoa.
Beat sugar and butter and add the paste.
Add vanilla.
Add an egg.
Now add the flour mixture.
Then buttermilk.
Mix together soda and vinegar.
Add it to the batter.
Beat until incorporated.
Divide the batter between two 6″ cake tins.
Once baked cool on wire rack.
Mix together milk and flour.
Whisk it until there are no lumps.
Cook until thick. Allow it to cool.
Take sugar, butter and vanilla.
Beat until creamy.
Add the flour mixture.
Beat until light and fluffy.
Place a layer and apply icing.
Place the other layer and cover the whole cake with icing. Using spatula, give some texture to the frosting. Decorate it with sugar beads. ( I forgot to sprinkle it)
I love painting, dress designing and of course cooking. This blog which started as an online cookery book has given me a great insight into baking and has transformed me into a home baker who is now thriving to learn a lot about cakes and decorating techniques. This blog has thousands of tried and tasted vegetarian recipes around the world and eggless bakes.
i am happy you’re doing egg recipes too 🙂 cake looks lovely. I’ve made red velvet cake (with egg) before using apple cider vinegar and baking soda and it turned out great. I am really interested in the frosting. is the frosting thick enough to pipe?
The cake looks so yummy and tempting. I would live to give this cake a try but my concern is
1. I dont find buttermilk here (at the place i reaide ). What do I do..?
2. And if using powdered red food colour how much of it should i be using for this recipe..?
An early reply would be appreciated as i want to.bake this for my brother in law’s engagement ceremony in a couple of days.
Hi Saniya, just mix milk with vinegar and use it instead of buttermilk. If using powdered colour, then mix 1/2 tsp of colour to 1 tbs warm water and use it in the recipe.
Excellent recipe. I was hungry and planning on dinner with my wife and stuck on this recipe suddenly and could not get up without following the whole recipe till the end. Will give it a try soon. Following you for more recipes. 🙂
– Shashank
hi the recipe looks awesome but my only concern is that im a vegetarian so can i replace the egg with one tablespoon of flax seeds mixed with 3 tablespoon of water. pls reply asap i would want to bake it for guests coming home. 🙂
its looks awesome di………
Lovely color! Delicious red velvet cake!
that’s a really beautiful looking cake.. so well done…
Wow yummy color cake….
Tempting cake . Nice colour
Simply drooling …..lovely
which food color did you use Gayathri? I get only powder color here, which does not give the lovely red.. 🙁
Hi, I got a bottle of tomato red in a whole sale essence store…
Eggless recipe please… 🙂
Grt looking cake, but i m waiting fr eggless recipe. Pls share soon
Hello nice recipe. I love it soo tempting cake Yummy!!! Thank you 🙂 private chef in austin texas
i am happy you’re doing egg recipes too 🙂 cake looks lovely. I’ve made red velvet cake (with egg) before using apple cider vinegar and baking soda and it turned out great. I am really interested in the frosting. is the frosting thick enough to pipe?
Thank you Jayanthi. The frosting is extremely light and melts in the mouth but it was slightly on the thinner side and it would be tough to pipe it…
The cake looks so yummy and tempting. I would live to give this cake a try but my concern is
1. I dont find buttermilk here (at the place i reaide ). What do I do..?
2. And if using powdered red food colour how much of it should i be using for this recipe..?
An early reply would be appreciated as i want to.bake this for my brother in law’s engagement ceremony in a couple of days.
TIA.
Hi Saniya, just mix milk with vinegar and use it instead of buttermilk. If using powdered colour, then mix 1/2 tsp of colour to 1 tbs warm water and use it in the recipe.
Thank you ,I will try to do it.
I have never tried cake , These cake looks awesome!
Excellent recipe. I was hungry and planning on dinner with my wife and stuck on this recipe suddenly and could not get up without following the whole recipe till the end. Will give it a try soon. Following you for more recipes. 🙂
– Shashank
Hi..amazing looking cake
Will def give it a try:)
Can u please tell the brand of the tomato red color u use
Thanks a lot 🙂
It is a local brand named diamond.
hi the recipe looks awesome but my only concern is that im a vegetarian so can i replace the egg with one tablespoon of flax seeds mixed with 3 tablespoon of water. pls reply asap i would want to bake it for guests coming home. 🙂
I have an eggless version. Do try it – https://gayathriscookspot.com/2015/04/eggless-red-velvet-cake-recipe/
Hi,
Nice recipe and cake as well but could you please tell me measures in metrics?
1 cup =? grams?
Thanks
Mine is a 200 ml cup. One cup of flour equals 115 gm and one cup of sugar equals 200 gm.