2012 Cooking Club Week 33: Red Velvet Cake

08-03-2014 1:43pm

Happy Sparks Day! Have been planning a chilli day with my mates for two months as the wife is away... so I thought I'd make some accompaniments!

Sparks · 08-03-2014 1:45pm

Dónal wrote: »

Happy Sparks Day!

My wife just read this.
*hehehehhehehehehehehehehhahhahahahaMOOHAHAHAHAAHAH!*
There is now a Sparks day

To quote John Oliver, "**** yes, strap in".

09-03-2014 4:17pm

By sheer coincidence Sparks Day (and the making of the man cake) appeared to have happened on International Women's Day!

Anyways, wow, this is delicious. Very rich but delicious. I had a query about this from a friend abroad who had made red velvet cake before but it had been brown instead of red - I couldn't get over how red this was!

Sparks · 09-03-2014 5:38pm

Dónal wrote: »

By sheer coincidence Sparks Day (and the making of the man cake) appeared to have happened on International Women's Day!

This was indeed noted... along with it being the anniversary of the blowing up of Nelson's column and Cynthia Rothrock's birthday. You chose an odd day for it Donal

Anyways, wow, this is delicious. Very rich but delicious. I had a query about this from a friend abroad who had made red velvet cake before but it had been brown instead of red - I couldn't get over how red this was!

It's the food colouring. Real and authentic red velvet cake is a kind of dark brick red rather than bright arterial oh-crap-I'm-going-to-die red, and the colour was just a side effect when the vinegar hit the cocoa powder and you baked the result. Honestly though, they should taste identical and if they don't, you need to pick a different make of food colouring

Mrs Fox · 18-09-2014 4:17pm

Something went wrong somewhere.
First of all, the cake crumbled when I turned it out of the pan. No worries, the cream cheese frosting will save it.
Then cream frosting was lumpy, somehow I couldn't get it to beat smoothly. Then, it won't set. I poured it on the cake anyway, like a runny yoghurt.
The sponge was light as air though.
I present to you, my broken brick cake with soupy cream cheese drizzle.

Sparks · 18-09-2014 4:27pm

I'm guessing that the icing needs more powdered sugar. That can happen, I've since discovered, and it seems to be down to the cheese or butter you use. you can just keep adding the sugar until you hit a nice consistency, kindof half-way between greek yoghurt and soft butter.

BTW, I get crumbling cake as well. I've found that if I leave the cake sit in the tin initially until it gets down from the NYARGHCALLTHEDOCTOR level of hot to the Oooh-oooh-oooh-juggling level of hot, and then turn it out onto the rack and try to move it as little as possible after that until it's at room temperature, that it helps. Beyond that, you could increase the protein content by just using cream flour, but it toughens the sponge. Another egg yolk might help, *maybe* - it's hard to do baking with recipes that say "Use $NUMBER of egg yolks" because every egg yolk is a different size (I had so little fun with yorkshire pudding until I stopped counting eggs and started measuring the volume of the eggs in a measuring cup).

Sorry Mrs.Fox

At least the sponge is nice.

Sparks · 18-09-2014 4:31pm

I might suggest a recovery for the broken brick cake? Wipe off the cheesecake frosting and drown it in chocolate frosting (I like this recipe but I melt the chocolate in the microwave and do the mixing in a stand mixer). It tends to look like the picture in the original post afterwards, unless you make a sane amount of chocolate frosting in which case it just looks good instead of STUFFITINMYFACENYOMNYOMNYOM good.

Mrs Fox · 18-09-2014 4:35pm

My fault entirely. I did add more icing sugar, like 40g more, which made it so so sweet. I'm blaming the butter. Damn you butter! Grrrrrr.

Sparks · 18-09-2014 4:41pm

I suppose if the water content of the butter was higher... but still, add enough sugar and you should counter that... of course, by then you might have diabetes frosting

Faith · 18-09-2014 5:24pm

Mrs Fox wrote: »

My fault entirely. I did add more icing sugar, like 40g more, which made it so so sweet. I'm blaming the butter. Damn you butter! Grrrrrr.

Chances are, it was the cream cheese. Philadelphia have reduced the fat content to 20% or so - they've essentially turned their "full fat" Philly into "light" Philly. You need a high fat content (circa 30%) for the icing to set. Adding more icing sugar does nothing other than make it too sweet, unfortunately.

I'm not sure of the fat content of other brands, but it's worth checking.

Sparks · 18-09-2014 6:13pm

Faith wrote: »

Philadelphia have reduced the fat content to 20% or so

The utter &*$%£&'s!

Mrs Fox · 18-09-2014 6:24pm

Damn you cream cheese!

Sparks · 18-09-2014 6:33pm

9%? Ah, here. Do I have to whip lard into my next batch of frosting now?

mmmmmlard....

Mrs Fox · 18-09-2014 6:50pm

"Now even creamier" should've been "but makes your frosting lumpy"

Faith · 18-09-2014 6:56pm

Mrs Fox wrote: »

"Now even creamier" should've been "but makes your frosting lumpy"

Yep, it's been reduced from 9g fat per 30g to 6.5g. That's the problem right there.

Check the nutritional values of supermarket brands like tesco and Aldi. They might still have the higher fat contents.

Mrs Fox · 19-09-2014 4:34pm

I scraped off the frosting on top, left some on the side. Seems to harden today, it's delicious I have say. Can't get over how airy light this cake is.

quaalude · 25-09-2014 10:21am

MissFlitworth wrote: »

Planning on making this for my family christmas party next weekend Someone on here before (I think Magic Monkey) pointed me in the direction of Polish/Eastern European shops for cake flour (maka tortowa)

This is the version I usually buy (handy cake on the front so I know which one to pick up

I might compare the protein content of this to tritamyl flour to see if it matches up cos it's a lot cheaper than a bag of tritamyl

Just a heads-up - I was reading this thread yesterday, then what did I see last night in Supervalu on Merchant Quay but the Polish cake flour?

And it's only 78c for a 1kg bag - bargain!

photo_zpsdc760037.jpg?t=1411636488

I've a question though - can I make the cake in a Magimix? I don't have a stand mixer.
I love my Magimix but it only has one speed - very, very fast.

Sparks · 25-09-2014 11:24am

quaalude wrote: »

I've a question though - can I make the cake in a Magimix? I don't have a stand mixer.
I love my Magimix but it only has one speed - very, very fast.

Um. I've made dough in the magimix (they're fantastic!) before but it was for pasta and very high gluten was required, whereas in a cake, well, you're making cake, not bread.

You could use it to cream the butter and sugar, and when you get to the stage where you're mixing in the flours and liquids, stop, take the creamed mix out of the magimix and transfer it to a large mixing bowl and then start adding in the flours and liquids and folding them in by hand - that part isn't very strenous and you might even get lighter results because you're folding by hand so there's less gluten forming if you do it right (ie. not over-mixing it).

quaalude · 25-09-2014 1:40pm

Sparks wrote: »

Um. I've made dough in the magimix (they're fantastic!) before but it was for pasta and very high gluten was required, whereas in a cake, well, you're making cake, not bread.

You could use it to cream the butter and sugar, and when you get to the stage where you're mixing in the flours and liquids, stop, take the creamed mix out of the magimix and transfer it to a large mixing bowl and then start adding in the flours and liquids and folding them in by hand - that part isn't very strenous and you might even get lighter results because you're folding by hand so there's less gluten forming if you do it right (ie. not over-mixing it).

Deadly - thanks Sparks!

Mrs Fox · 31-05-2015 5:16pm

Just a note on cream cheese, Aldi ones are 11% (7.7g) and the result is much better than Philly.

mirrorwall14 · 31-05-2015 8:15pm

Made this tonight after seeing the thread bumped, they've gone down a treat even though I under filled the cupcakes so ended up with mini cakes!

tampopo · 05-06-2015 5:42pm

I'm on Merchants Quay and I don't see a SuperValu.

Where have I gone wrong?

(looking for that polish flour)

Sparks · 05-06-2015 5:46pm

Um, that was three years ago, it might have closed/moved since.
Just get anything marked "cake flour" or "gluten-free flour" or "Tritamyl flour", it'll do the same job. If you have a choice, get the cake flour.

tampopo · 05-06-2015 5:48pm

Oh! Well I feel like a dumbass!!!

Thanks for that. This cake looks a riot to make,(a bloody riot,at that).

Faith · 05-06-2015 6:00pm

Unless it's closed, then it's between Dunnes Stores and Debenhams.

tampopo · 05-06-2015 6:05pm

Faith wrote: »

Unless it's closed, then it's between Dunnes Stores and Debenhams.

Yeah, must be different one. I was on the Merchants Quay up from Wood Quay.

Edit.
Polish shop on the SCR at Dolphins Barn, €1.19.
Will post a photo when finished. Ta much.

Faith · 05-06-2015 7:23pm

Oh wait, I assumed you meant Merchant's Quay in Cork, but you must have meant another one.

tampopo · 05-06-2015 8:11pm

Ah, that would be it!
I wonder shall I break in the new oven with it tomorrow??? ðŸ°

quaalude · 05-06-2015 9:26pm

Sparks wrote: »

Um, that was three years ago, it might have closed/moved since.
Just get anything marked "cake flour" or "gluten-free flour" or "Tritamyl flour", it'll do the same job. If you have a choice, get the cake flour.

I posted about SuperValu just 9 months ago - it's still there, and so is the flour!

tampopo · 22-06-2015 9:36pm

Made it this evening. The cake part. Will post photos tomorrow. Wurkin' de night shift. bummer...

Well, iced it all up and took a few photos. Only problem is, with this new, all buttons, all lights, all options new camera that I bought on my recent holidays I'm having trouble getting the pics from the camera to the laptop. which is a bother.

Other than that, it was an enjoyable bake. I was apprehensive enough to change into old jeans and teeshirt! But I don't have a 4 year old to contend with while baking. Maybe that was the difference.

It tastes great. I only managed two slices before I got an attack of the sugar rushes!!! My partner came home from work this evening and managed half a slice. So, I may have to finish the diabetes inducing rest of it by myself!

If my mother makes it to her next birthday I'll make it as a family cake. You need willing mouths and I think it'd be a resounding success. It was a resounding success for me this evening. If I can manage to access the photos, I'll edit them in again at a later date.

Thanks, Sparks.

tampopo · 06-09-2015 12:04am

Couldn't edit previous post so bumping it to the top again,

all wrapped up

End view...

Slicing it was tricky.

I ended up eating all bar half a slice myself. god it's sweet! I still have the Polish flour. Don't know what I can use it in. Anyone any suggestions? Basic stuff, like...

Sparks · 06-09-2015 12:23am

Any kind of cake really, it works for almost all sponges. Any kind of cake where there's something suspended in the mix (like say, blueberry muffins) you'd need to cut it with plain flour though. Also, when making up batters for deep frying it works quite well (especially if you throw a shot of vodka into the beer).

cakeycakerson · 08-09-2016 2:25pm

Hi all, found this thread on a search for a red velvet recipe for himself's birthday. I know it's been a while since it was active, but just wondering about the fact that a couple of you said it was quite sweet. Should I use any less sugar or is it the right amount? I know the OP has gone to a lot of trouble and it's tried and tested so I'm reluctant to mess around with the ingredients. I've got a sweet tooth and a good sugar threshold, but the inlaws may not have! If any of you guys are still on the thread that have made this I'd be curious to know what you think.
That said, if it's too sweet for them, that means more cake for me....!

tampopo · 20-09-2016 7:58pm

I'd go with the original recipe. Only you can decide for yourself after that...
Still, more for you, as you say!

cailin_milis · 20-09-2016 8:08pm

tampopo wrote: »

I'd go with the original recipe. Only you can decide for yourself after that...
Still, more for you, as you say!

Thanks for the reply. I did follow the recipe and it went down a treat! Even mammy-in-law to be, who isn't a cake fan, kept going back for more. The whole lot was hoovered in a couple of days and I've had requests to make it again. The only mistake I made was using food colouring liquid instead of gel, so it was more of a brown velvet cake. Still delish though!

Sparks · 25-09-2016 10:36am

If it makes you feel any better cailin, the bright red colour is not the original colour and it's totally fake (and started off being totally fake too). The original recipe was more of a dull brick red at best, and got the colour from the acid reacting with the cocoa powder. Then the great depression hit in the US, the proper cocoa powder got more expensive, and people faked having it by colouring the cake with food colouring. By the time that was past, people were used to the colour and kept it with food colouring. Problem these days is that people just add the food colouring to what would otherwise be something like sponge or maderia, and there's no chocolate at all in it. Abomination!

cailin_milis · 25-09-2016 2:17pm

I read all that alright during my recipe googling. I was disappointed initially because the cake was supposed to be a big surprise, but I had to explain what it was because it looked like a not-very-chocolatey chocolate cake. Even had gone undercover to ask my original question cos he's on Boards!
All disappointment vanished with the taste test though. It's so so good, especially the frosting, which is like crack! Requests are already in to make it again for Christmas. Thanks again for the help!

Mellifera · 26-09-2016 2:02pm

Sparks, do you have the recipe for the frosting you use? I can't make it out from the original post. I want to try the cake at the weekend for a birthday party. Thanks!

Sparks · 26-09-2016 3:15pm

Sure, it was this bit:

300g Philadelphia (one tub, basicly)
114g unsalted butter, cut into cubes (that's just the other half of the packet of butter you used to make the cake - told you this was easy)
Now beat that on high until it goes from looking like solid blocks to looking like really really thick whipped cream. Now, add in
2 tsp vanilla essence
and let it continue beating for a minute, then slowly add in
300g of powdered sugar (icing sugar)
Do it slowly, a tablespoon at a time at first. You don't have to add it so slowly and carefully I suppose; but by this stage your kitchen is probably covered in flour, red food colouring, eggs and buttermilk, and adding a thin mist of powdered sugar over everything is probably going to snap your wife's last nerve before you have the cake to hide behind (this cake makes an excellent shield, by the way). So do it slowly. Beat on high once the sugar is in, until the mix looks homogenous, then turn off the stand mixer, and move the bowl into the fridge for ten minutes before you slather the frosting all over the cake, the board, your hands, and a slice of toast (don't judge me).

EJD · 14-10-2016 12:30pm

Sorry to resurrect this thread again but am planning on making this cake today, I have both plain and self raising gluten free flour - can this be used instead of the Tritamyl flour, and if so which one? Thanks!

Sparks · 14-10-2016 7:01pm

The tritamyl is gluten-free flour, so yes, and really either would do in a pinch but I'd use the plain. Actually I'd use cake flour now that I found a place I can get it from, but if you're gluten-intolerant that wouldn't be pleasant...

EJD · 17-10-2016 9:17pm

Sparks wrote: »

The tritamyl is gluten-free flour, so yes, and really either would do in a pinch but I'd use the plain. Actually I'd use cake flour now that I found a place I can get it from, but if you're gluten-intolerant that wouldn't be pleasant...

Thanks a mill for the reply. I couldn't find the odlums tritamyl or cake flour, or the polish one mentioned further back in the thread so grabbed some other brand GF flour. Anyway cake turned out great so happy days

Sparks · 17-10-2016 10:06pm

Glad to hear it!

confusticated · 10-02-2018 7:03pm

Have to bump this, I finally got my stand mixer a couple of weeks ago, and had a bake sale at work this week so had to give this another go! It disappeared fairly quickly so I won't leave it so long before doing it again - no excuses now.

now online · 16-07-2020 8:40pm

I had this bookmarked for about 3 years, using the recipe for a birthday cake tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

2012 Cooking Club Week 33: Red Velvet Cake

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