So, tomorrow turned into three days later, but hey, better late than never! I actually completed the cake on Sunday, but I am just now getting around to actually editting the pictures and putting up the rest of the recipe.
As I mentioned in Part 1, the cake itself is based on the Red Velvet Cake recipe from Rose Beranbaum. Her cake is a frightening shade of red, and although I know that is how it is supposed to look, I couldn’t bring myself to use that much food coloring. I was a little scared to use red food coloring in the first place, let alone a WHOLE bottle for one cake layer! The other basic change I made was to up the cocoa powder so my cake had more of a red/brown color which I thought was very attractive and not so scary.
To create a more dramatic and special cake, I made two 9″ layers and filled it with the Raspberry Curd and then iced with my variation of a cream cheese frosting. The idea for the frosting also came from Rose’s recipe, but I wanted to be able to lightly frost the whole cake so I added butter, milk & powdered sugar.
Trying to put a light coating of white frosting on a red cake is not my idea of fun. I did a crumb coat, chilled and then gently smoothed on another layer of frosting with a small offset knife. Even with all of those steps, a few red crumbs popped through so I just decided to go with it and added red sprinkles!
This is a beautiful cake that would look gorgeous on a Christmas table, or try topping with some sparklers and serving it at a New Year’s Eve party.
Red Velvet Cake with Raspberry Curd Filling & White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
cake only adapted from Rose Beranbaum’s Heavenly Cakes, serves 10 – 12 easily
Cake Recipe
- 6 egg whites, room temperature
- 2 tablespoons red food color
- 3 teaspoons vanilla
- 3 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
- 2 cups superfine sugar
- 6 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 cup high quality unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup canola or safflower oil, room temperature
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup buttermilk
White chocolate frosting, see recipe
Raspberry curd filling, see recipe
1. Grease bottom of two 9-inch round cake pans; top with parchment paper cut to fit. Grease paper; dust with flour. Set oven rack in the lower third of the oven; heat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk egg whites, food color and vanilla in a medium bowl until lightly combined. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cocoa and salt in a medium bowl.
2. Mix oil and butter in bowl with electric mixer on medium speed, 1 minute. Add flour mixture and buttermilk; mix on low until dry ingredients are moistened. Raise speed to medium; beat 1 1/2 minutes. Lower speed to medium-low; beat in egg mixture in two parts, 30 seconds each. Split batter between the two prepared pans; smooth the surface evenly.
3. Bake until cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean and cake springs back when pressed lightly in the center, 25-35 minutes. Let cake cool in the pan on a wire rack 10 minutes. Carefully invert the cake onto a greased wire rack. Reinvert the cake so that the top side is up. Cool completely.
4. Place one layer on cake plate, top side down. Cover with layer of Raspberry Curd, carefully not to spread it too close to the edges. Refrigerate at least 15 minutes to allow curd to set. Add second layer, right side up this time. This means that the two “flattest” sides will be in the middle and will result in a more level cake.
5. Frost with a thin crumb layer of the White Chocolate Cream Cheese frosting. Refrigerate 30 – 60 minutes to allow crumb layer to set and harden. Cover entire cake with the finishing layer of frosting, taking care not to disturb the crumb layer as much as possible. The goal is to keep the “red crumbs” from peeking through the final layer of frosting. Smooth with an offset know or create decorative swirls. If desired, dust with red crystal sprinkles for a festive finishing touch.
White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1/2 cup white chocolate, melted
- 4 oz. softened cream cheese
- 2 tblsp. butter
- 1/4 cup milk
- 2 cups (approx.) powdered sugar
- 1/8 tsp. almond extract
1. Heat white chocolate in microwave or in double boiler until just melted. Mix until completely smooth and set aside.
2. In mixer bowl, beat butter & cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add white chocolate and continue beating, on medium, scraping down sides of bowl until very smooth, about 3 minutes.
3. Reduce speed to low, add milk & almond extract and begin adding powdered sugar a little at a time until you get the desired thickness and sweetness. I prefer a frosting that is not too thick since the cake is already very rich.