Red Velvet Cake with Strawberries and Blueberries

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I rarely make cakes. I think I’ve made under 10 in my whole lifetime. The thing about cakes is that not only do you have to make them but then there’s the added pressure of decorating them. My cake decorating skills are non-extistent which is WHY I rarely make cakes. 

 So every so often I have to do what I call “obligatory baking” meaning I make items that I normally wouldn’t be inclined to make. Usually the obligation stems from a food allergy or a request for a specific item. I view these opportunities as a challenge so when my sister needed to find a good velvet cake recipes and my brother was having a southern-theme birthday BBQ, I figured what the heck. 

So I found this recipe on epicurious.com and I decided to try it out. I thought the addition of the strawberries and blueberries would add some freshness to the cake. 

INGREDIENTS

2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour (I used pastry flour since I didn’t find cake flour at the store I went to) 

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 tablespoon red food coloring 

1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

2 large eggs

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

2 8oz packages cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups powdered sugar

2 1/2 pint baskets of strawberries

2 1/2 pints baskets of blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour two 9-inch cakes pans. (I highly recommend owning two cake pans, I only own one and I had to bake the cake one pan at a time. Not only did it take twice as long but the cake layers are uneven because I put most of the cake batter in first cake layer! Needless to say I am buying another cake pan.)

I rarely sift the flour when I bake I usually whisk the ingredients. But since I was making a cake I decided to sift the flour. If you don’t own a flour sifter just tap the flour through a metal sieve. 

Whisk sifted flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Make sure there are no lumps! My cocoa was a bit lumpy so I had to break them up with a whisk. 

In a small bowl whisk buttermilk, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla. (Careful! You are adding food coloring and vinegar watch your clothes!)

In a mixer, beat sugar and butter on medium speed until well-blended, about 2 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, making sure to blend well after each one. 

Beat in dry ingredients in 4 additions alternately with buttermilk  mixture in 3 additions. (In english this means add 1/4 of the flour mixture then 1/3 of the buttermilk mixture and continue to alternate flour and buttermilk until the whole thing is well blended). 

Divide the batter between prepared pans and bake for about 27 min or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 

For frosting: Beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl until smooth (about 3 minutes). Beat in vanilla and then add powdered sugar and beat at medium speed for 3 minutes. 

To frost cake put the cakes in the freezer for about 10 minutes. Lay down first cake and add about 1 cups of frosting as filling and add blueberries and sliced strawberries. 

Frost the cake, don’t worry if you have “bald”patches, put cake in the freezer again for about 10 minutes and then continue to frost. Putting the cake in the freezer makes it easier for the frosting to adhere.

So everyone liked the cake. The actual cake part had a slight cornbread tinge to it but combined with the cream cheese frosting and the berries it was GOOD! 

So at my brother’s party I wasn’t the only that was festive. My dad made my brother Ozzy a birthday watermelon with jicama letters. Yes I know it says Birday but he carved it out of jicama! Cut him some slack!

Happy Birday Ozzy! 

 

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Tags: Baking, birthdays, blueberries, cake, cream cheese frosting, food, frosting, recipes, red velvet cake, southern recipes, strawberries