Red Velvety Yumminess....

It has been forever since I have been able to get in the kitchen and cook, so on Saturday evening I just spent the eveing cooking and baking (my favorite past time). I let Thad decide on the menu and so he decided for the main course he wanted Greek Spaghetti(recipe to come) and Red Velvet Cake for dessert. I had never made Red Velvet Cake and had never really tasted it or not that I can remember, so this was going to be an experience for me.

Red Velvet Cake. I have always been under the impression that it was a Southern recipe, since I had never heard too much about it until I moved to the South. I decided to do some research on it and found out its origin. It actually does not have Southern roots but it came about during World War II when food was rationed and bakers use to use boiled beets to give the cake a better or prettier color and for moisture. There still are some red velvet recipes that call for boiled beets.



Red Velvet Cake was a signature dessert at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City during the 1920s. Then Red Velvet Cake made its revival when the movie "Steel Magnolias" featured Red Velvet Cake when the grooms cake was a red velvet cake in the shape of an armidillo.

I did my resarch and looked at a lot of recipes. I looked at Paula Deen's recipe, several recipes on the Foodnetwork and then decided to go with my mother-in-law's recipe. I know what a good baker she is so I trusted her recipe. It was an easy recipe to assemble and was ohhh so yummy.

Red Velvet Cake

2 1/2 cups cake flower (sifted)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cocoa
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups oil (I did a cup oil and a half cup butter)
1 teaspoon vinegar
2 eggs
1 bottle (1 oz. red food coloring)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup pecan pieces

Start off by mixing all the dry ingredients together in a seperate boil, making sure the cake flour is sifted. Set aside. I then combined the other ingredients in order. Mix well. Then add the dry ingredients to the other ingredients. Make sure the batter is smooth and pretty.

Then grease and flour three 9" cake rounds (you can also use 8" rounds). Distribute the batter evenly amongst the three cake molds. Bake at 350 degrees, watching closely so that the cake does not over cook, nobody likes a dry cake. My cakes cooked for about 20 minutes but can cook up to 25 minutes. I then place them on a cooling rack. Allow them to cool completely before frosting.



Cream Cheese Frosting

1/4 stick butter
1 - 8 oz. cream cheese at room temperature
1 box powder sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons milk
1 cup chopped pecans

I was talking my my mother-in-law Pat and she told me that she doubles this recipe and so that is exactly what I did. I am glad I did too because I most likely would have not had enough to cover the entire cake. Making sure the cream cheese is at room temperature, combine the cream cheese, butter, powder sugar and vanilla (I use my Kitchen Aide for this). Mix until smooth and fluffy. Once the ingredients are combined add pecans.

This is a fun cake and would be great any time of the year. I think Thad wanted me to make this cake because it reminds him of Bama's colors. Roll Tide!