Ooooh God. This is embarrassing. This is about to happen.
Here’s a small excerpt from Joy’s (before she was the Baker) diary circa late 1996. I had strong feelings about a lot of things back then… my first crush named Hayden, my best friend turned enemy, the television show Seinfeld, making the volleyball team and…. MTV’s The Real World. Yea… I’m not so sure about that last one either. I dunno. Here’s an actual excerpt:
Um. Diary. Seriously. (P.S.) Real World Miami sucked just to let you know.
Reasons to be on Real World…
1) I’m athletic… DUH
2) I’m funny… so how bout them Dodgers… who’s on first… knock knock.
3) I’m diverse. I’m a black girl (woman).
4) Kissing. But not on camera.
5) I’m from Los Angeles… with bright lights and clear skies.
6) I’m a country music lover… Come on baby let’s go to Vegas.
*HELL-OOO
My heavens! I laughed out loud when I found this little gem in my teenage diary. Ooooh but believe me… that little book is full of all sorts of priceless wallowing and poetry so terrible… so foul… that I can barely even stand to revisit it. This little list though…. hot dang… so funny. I think I love reason number three the most. Why did I feel the need to put the ‘woman’ in parentheses? My heavens. What a weirdo.
I just had to get that off my chest… now, cake.
I have gone through many a Red Velvet Cake recipe but I’ve finally found my favorite. The Humming Bakery Cookbook is just a dream when it comes to cakes and cupcakes. I turned my favorite Red Velvet Cupcakes into a cake with Fluffy White Seven Minute Frosting and topped with whole monster with toasted coconut. The recipe has a good dose of cocoa powder and buttermilk, making the cake both flavorful and moist. This beauty makes for a super lovely party cake. It’s impressive.
Can’t imagine Red Velvet without Cream Cheese Frosting… we’ve got that recipe too!
Red Velvet Cake with Fluffy White Frosting and Toasted Coconut
from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook
makes 2 8-inch or 9-inch round cakes
8 Tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 egg
5 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
4 Tablespoons red food coloring mixed with 2 Tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons distilled white vinegar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 8-inch or 9-inch round cake pans. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Turn mixer to high and add the eggs. Scrape down the bowl and beat until well incorporated.
In a separate bowl mix together cocoa, vanilla and red food coloring to make a thick paste. Add to the batter, mixing thoroughly until completely combined. You may need to stop the mixer to scrape the bottom of the bowl, making sure that all the batter gets color.
Turn mixer to low and slowly add half of the buttermilk. Add half of the flour and salt and mix until combined. Scrape the bowl and repeat the process with the remaining milk and flour. Beat on high until smooth.
Turn mixer to low and add baking soda and white vinegar. Turn to high and beat a few more minutes.
Spoon batter into prepared cake pans and bake for 25-35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center cupcake comes out clean.
Let rest in the pan for 20 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
Fluffy Seven Minute Frosting
from Epicurious.com
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
3 large egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
In large metal bowl, whisk together 1/3 cup water, sugar, egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt. Set bowl over pan of barely simmering water and mix with handheld electric mixer at low speed. Gradually increase speed to high, beating until mixture holds stiff peaks, about 5 minutes.
Transfer bowl from pan to folded kitchen towel on counter and continue beating until mixture is cool and billowy, about 2 minutes more. Beat in vanilla. (Frosting can be made 4 hours ahead and chilled, covered.)
Toasted Coconut
1 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
Spread coconut on top of a foil lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees F for 6-10 minutes, tossing coconut occasionally so it browns evenly. Keep a close eye on the coconut, it burns quickly!
Sandra
Hi and thank you for your great recipes!!
I tried to use some beetroot powder instead using artificial red food colour but didn’t work! Wouldnt be lovely to use some natural beetroot powder instead using red food artificial coloring?? Please help, thank you S
chrissy
I’m going to make this for a Christmas party tomorrow afternoon. Will it be ok if I make it today and leave it out until the following afternoon?? I’m afraid that the fluffy white frosting will not hold throughout the night. Thanks!
sarah
dear joy
how about you do a take on braided challah bread – the jewish one for shabbat?
we love your site
sarah
joythebaker
that’s a good idea! i’ll try!
Jenna
Hi Joy!..or anyone else that can answer this question!
I doubt you will be able to answer this by tomorrow so I will probably just end up making the cream cheese frosting…but my question is does the frosting call for powdered sugar or granulated sugar? I’m assuming it means powdered, but it doesn’t say!
Thanks!
joythebaker
Granulated sugar!
Chelsea
Hey Joy!
i love your blog and all your recipes, so when i was wanting a delicious red velvet cake recipe i knew to look on your blog!
i have one question though.. most red velvet cakes i’ve made before and most recipes i’ve seen all call for 2 tablespoons of chocolate and sometimes even 1. so i just wanted to know why you like using 5 {is it better?}
thanks so much!
Emi
by the way, thanks for the quick reply! i really appreciate it.
Emi
Hi Joy!
I want to make this cake, but dont want to use the red food coloring. Can I just leave it out, or do I need to replace it with something else (ex. milk)? I’m worried that if i just leave it out, the cake will come out differently because it will be missing 6 tablespoons of liquid. If anyone else has any advice, please let me know! thanks!
joythebaker
hi Emi.
if you’re not going to use the red food coloring, i would suggest making an entirely different cake. maybe make these gorgeous cupcakes into a two layer round cake? https://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2010/02/sweetheart-rose-cupcakes/
this option will have a much better flavor and be an all around prettier cake.
Emi
here’s the situation–its my best friend’s birthday tomorrow. her all time favorite cake is red velvet but I am really not into artificial ingredients. if you think leaving it out will ruin the integrity and flavor of the cake, mabye I should just suck it up. after all, it is HER birthday cake.
Jaclyn Schultz
you are awesome. i just discovered your blog and am in love with it! the photographs are divine and the recipes make my heart skip beats. i am literally in love with all of it. plus your posts are hilarious! great blog… i am an official follower and i added you to my blog roll.
p.s. red velvet… yum, just made some cuppies the other day in all their red and cream cheese glory.
PastryPrincess
thanks to you, queen of all things red velvet, and our shared love for the hummingbird bakery cookbook, i made red verlvet cake for the very first time last weekend. a celebration cake was in order and it was gooood! =) i changed up the frosting a bit though and didnt have quite enough red food colouring… guess thats a good thing though because i have to slowly accustom people to so much red brightness! ;o)
nicole h
hi joy,
my red velvet cakes are in the oven as we speak and while waiting for the beautiful cakes to be done i began to read your following post noting that you grabbed this recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. what is your personal opinion about all of the recipes in the book and have they all turned out successful for you? i went to amazon and some of the reviews are not that convincing for me to purchase the cookbook.