A while ago, my mom sent me her recipe for red velvet cake. She also sent me this poster with cake photographs all over it, and I put it on my refrigerator. Every time I went to get something out of the fridge, I'd see the top left corner of this poster, which had a little photograph of a red velvet cake. So, yesterday I figured I'd make some red velvet cake at last! I sifted together all of the ingredients, I misread the instructions and added three drops of food coloring rather than three tablespoons, and made not-so-red velvet cake. The cakes went in the oven, and then came out of the oven slightly later than they should have. After they had cooled for 15 minutes, I went to turn them out onto trays...and they both broke in half! I ended up smushing the second half of the cakes back to their top halves, and hoping the weight of the icing would keep them stuck together. Ugh. Then I went to make the frosting. Now, this frosting is weird. It's not a typical frosting where you throw sugar and milk together and cream until it tastes wonderful. It's a flour base frosting where you boil milk and flour together until "thick" and then cream it with butter and powdered sugar. I got fooled. I thought "thick" meant ... thicker than milk consistency. So I didn't boil it enough and get really, really thick milk. So when I went to beat this milk into the butter and powdered sugar, I ended up with a liquid. I didn't know what to do so I just threw in more powdered sugar until it reached a more frosting-like consistency. So then I frosted up the cake, put it in the fridge, and after dinner we tried it. It wasn't bad...but I hated the frosting, and I thought the cake wasn't as flavorful and moist as it should be. I was disappointed.
Work was a little slow today, so I could not stop thinking about the red velvet cake. I wondered what the 4 egg yolks were for, and if you could just use 2 eggs instead. I also like to add sour cream to my cake batters; I think it makes a much moister cake. I wondered if adding a little more butter and a little more flour might make the cake moister, too. I figured it might work better to have some baking soda, and some baking powder, rather than one alone. I also wanted a real red velvet cake...not a muddy brown cake with three drops of food coloring. I also looked up the frosting online, and discovered that the milk can become much, much thicker than I thought. So when I got home....I couldn't help but make another red velvet cake. I couldn't decide which of my substitutions I should use...so I did them all. I used 1 teaspoon each of baking powder and baking soda. I used 2 eggs instead of 4 egg yolks. I put in tons of red food coloring. I put in half a stick extra of butter, and instead of 2 1/4 cups of flour, I added 2 1/2 cups of flour. I also sifted everything THREE times. This time, I buttered and floured the cake tins, then added parchment paper at the bottom, and rebuttered and floured the cake tin. I will not have sticking cakes again. Everything went into the oven, and 28 minutes later, came out of the oven at the PERFECT time. Then I tried the icing again. I made Tim whisk the flour milk mixture, and it got really thick. I thought it was thick enough...but maybe not. I let it cool, then I beat it in with the butter and sugar. It was the right consistency, but I can't get all of the butter to seperate...it has a few chunks of butter. Maybe I didn't let it warm up enough. I ended up just frosting the cake, putting it in the fridge, and leaving it for later. Vince and Ashley came for dinner so I made penne with vodka sauce, and tried to make some focaccia with red pepper and onions on top. I ran out of all purpose flour, so I had to use some wheat flour. It came out alright, but slightly undercooked. I still have a hard time deciding when a bread is done. I didn't like it as much as the rosemary focaccia I made with Tim a while ago. I think the rosemary was simpler and just was nicer to eat with marina sauce alongside calzones. After dinner I said that we could try the cake, but warned them that I might have messed it up since I changed so many things. It looked ugly, because my frosting still wasn't thick enough, but the cake tasted so much better, and was a great consistency! I was very pleased. I will try again in the future and try to get the icing perfect, too, and then I will have a perfect red velvet cake!
Work was a little slow today, so I could not stop thinking about the red velvet cake. I wondered what the 4 egg yolks were for, and if you could just use 2 eggs instead. I also like to add sour cream to my cake batters; I think it makes a much moister cake. I wondered if adding a little more butter and a little more flour might make the cake moister, too. I figured it might work better to have some baking soda, and some baking powder, rather than one alone. I also wanted a real red velvet cake...not a muddy brown cake with three drops of food coloring. I also looked up the frosting online, and discovered that the milk can become much, much thicker than I thought. So when I got home....I couldn't help but make another red velvet cake. I couldn't decide which of my substitutions I should use...so I did them all. I used 1 teaspoon each of baking powder and baking soda. I used 2 eggs instead of 4 egg yolks. I put in tons of red food coloring. I put in half a stick extra of butter, and instead of 2 1/4 cups of flour, I added 2 1/2 cups of flour. I also sifted everything THREE times. This time, I buttered and floured the cake tins, then added parchment paper at the bottom, and rebuttered and floured the cake tin. I will not have sticking cakes again. Everything went into the oven, and 28 minutes later, came out of the oven at the PERFECT time. Then I tried the icing again. I made Tim whisk the flour milk mixture, and it got really thick. I thought it was thick enough...but maybe not. I let it cool, then I beat it in with the butter and sugar. It was the right consistency, but I can't get all of the butter to seperate...it has a few chunks of butter. Maybe I didn't let it warm up enough. I ended up just frosting the cake, putting it in the fridge, and leaving it for later. Vince and Ashley came for dinner so I made penne with vodka sauce, and tried to make some focaccia with red pepper and onions on top. I ran out of all purpose flour, so I had to use some wheat flour. It came out alright, but slightly undercooked. I still have a hard time deciding when a bread is done. I didn't like it as much as the rosemary focaccia I made with Tim a while ago. I think the rosemary was simpler and just was nicer to eat with marina sauce alongside calzones. After dinner I said that we could try the cake, but warned them that I might have messed it up since I changed so many things. It looked ugly, because my frosting still wasn't thick enough, but the cake tasted so much better, and was a great consistency! I was very pleased. I will try again in the future and try to get the icing perfect, too, and then I will have a perfect red velvet cake!
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