Red Velvet Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

This is a fun cake to serve, because it looks like a “normal” cake from the outside, but when you cut it, you see the brilliant red color. The cake itself is very tender due to the buttermilk. I made this cake as a surprise casual wedding cake for a friend who is getting married 9/9/09 at 9:00 a.m. at the courthouse (she is not a member of the church). She is planning on having a reception next month where I will make her a “real” wedding cake, but I thought it would be fun for her to have a special cake on her actual wedding day as well. Her husband's favorite cake is Red Velvet, so that's why I chose this flavor. I will make her favorite flavor (white cake with raspberry filling) for the reception. She isn’t planning on many people coming to the actual wedding, so I just made her a two-tier cake (10-inch and 6-inch layers).

2 ¼ cups (11 ¼ ounces) all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
Pinch salt
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons natural cocoa powder (do NOT substitute Dutch-processed cocoa)
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) red food coloring (buy it in a 1-ounce bottle)
12 tablespoons (1 -1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces and softened
1 ½ cups (10 ½ ounces) sugar

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease two 9-inch cake pans, then dust with cocoa powder and line the bottoms with parchment paper. (Or use Baker’s Joy and parchment paper—spraying the pans before and after lining with parchment. This cake is very tender so please do use parchment paper.)

Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. In another medium bowl, whisk the buttermilk, eggs, vinegar, and vanilla together. In a small bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of the cocoa and red food coloring together to a smooth paste.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 6 minutes. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in one-third of the flour mixture, followed by half of the buttermilk mixture. Repeat with half of the remaining flour mixture and the remaining buttermilk mixture. Beat in the remaining flour mixture until just combined. Beat in the cocoa mixture until the batter is uniform.

Give the batter a final stir with a rubber spatula to make sure it is thoroughly combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared pans, smooth the tops, and gently tap the pans on the counter to settle the batter. Bake the cakes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs attached, about 25 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking.

Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Run a small knife around the edge of the cakes, then flip them out onto a wire rack. Peel off the parchment paper, flip the cakes right side up, and let cool completely before frosting, about 2 hours.

Frost with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting or frosting of your choice.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
4 cups (16 ounces) confectioners’ sugar
Pinch salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
16 ounces cream cheese, cut into 8 pieces and softened
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

With an electric mixer, beat the butter, confectioners’ sugar, cinnamon and salt on medium-high speed in a large bowl until fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the cream cheese, 1 piece at a time, and beat until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Beat in the vanilla. Refrigerate until ready to use. (Note: I added extra powdered sugar to get the consistency I wanted. I also ran the frosting through the food processor to make sure I didn’t have any cream cheese lumps.)