Red Velvet Cake

The best one (true to my aunts and grandmas versions) is from Paula Deen's website (pauladeen.com) and see her grandmother Paul's red velvet cake. This is as close as you get to perfect as far as this cake's recipes.

Here is the recipe that my mom always made. Most places use a cream cheese frosting on red velvet cake but to M. cream cheese frosting belongs on carrot cake. Fluffy frosting is what is best on red velvet cake:

RED VELVET CAKE

1/2 cup Crisco Shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 Tbs. Cocoa
1 oz. red food coloring
2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk (can substitute 1 cup of milk + 1 Tbs. + 1 tsp. of vinegar)
1 tsp. soda
1 Tbs. vanilla flavoring
1 Tbs. vinegar

Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs. Combine cocoa and food coloring to make a paste. Stir into creamed mixture. Sift flour with salt, add alternately with buttermilk to creamed mixture, beating at medium speed. Add vanilla. Combine the vinegar and soda, while it is still foaming, add to batter. Stir gently. Pour into two greased 9-inch layer cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

FLUFFY FROSTING

1 cup milk
1/4 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup Crisco
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp. vanilla flavoring

Cook milk and flour until very thick like pudding. Cool completely. Beat sugar, shortening and butter at high speed until fluffy; add flour mixture and vanilla. Beat until very fluffy. (optional: color 1 large package of coconut with red food coloring. Put red coconut over top and on sides of frosted cake.)

I just made the frosting last week to use as a filling for red velvet sandwich cookies (red velvet cake mix, 1/2 cup butter, 2 eggs). Instead of plain sugar, I used my homemade vanilla sugar. It was so good. I am going to use vanilla sugar from now on.

Check out www.myrecipes.com -this is the recipe site for Southern Living recipes as well as Cooking Light and a few other Oxmoor House publications. They have several great recipes! The key is to keep the cake part moist and use real cream cheese icing. Red velvet cakes can be deceptively difficult because of the amount of red food dye you have to use to get the chocolate cake part a true red. My advice is to back off of that a bit and preserve the flavor and moistness. Using commercial grade professional food dye will also help you a great deal.

Oh my gosh! I had the Costco one too! AMAZING!! Sorry, no recipe, but I hope Costco keeps that around! I think it was just a Valentines thing though.

It depends on if you want a true red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting or just a boxed red velvet cake. I'm not sure what you got a Costco. I don't have my receipe here at work either. I do know that a true red velvet cake calls for cake flour not just regular flower.

Edit: Just found this recipe http://www.joyofbaking.com/RedVelvetCake.html

cook yourself thin has a really great healthier version of the red velvet cake, let M. know if you are interested.

I hope to open my own cake shop some time this year (focusing on cheesecakes) and I would absolutely go with the Paula Deen recipe. FABULOUS!!! Also, if it doesn't include a recipe for cream cheese frosting, go to www.allrecipes.com and look for one there....make sure you sort by ratings (and read some comments).

Enjoy!!!

I believe I got the one i have off of allrecipes.com or foodnetwork.com but a red velvet is basically red chocolate cake.