Red Velvet Cake

I had a red velvet cake in CPK sometime back and loved it. Not being a sweet person myself, I accept that is was the color and the rich look of the cake that made me fall for it. I tried it out last week for Karthik's birthday and it came out well. I used Martha Stewart's recipe for this. Not sure if this is how the original red velvet cake is supposed to be made but this one worked for me. The picture above shows only the frosting, so here is a picture of a slice of the cake.

The cake was red and soft, like it was supposed to be. Remember while making this bloody red cake (applies to any cake actually) that your kitchen could get painted red if you are not careful while using the electric mixer. Always turn off the mixer and wait till the blades have stopped rotating before lifting it off the cake batter, or else you will end up with a highly artistic looking kitchen! Also, have two cake pans, when making a two layered cake as this. Since, I had only one pan I had to pour what I thought was half the batter for the first layer and the remaining went in for my second layer. I ended up having two cakes of different heights. I absolutely need to buy another cake pan if I ever intend to bake more. One good thing was I made the cake the previous day and refrigerated it after wrapping it in plastic wrap, so the cake was completely cool to accept the frosting the next day.

The frosting is the Seven Minute Frosting by Martha Stewart. The frosting was so delicious but that was after I figured out how to make it. I burnt the sugar syrup during the first try. It solidified instantly when I poured it into the egg whites mixture during my second try. So, I decided to guess for myself what I need to do with the sugar syrup. Where the recipe said "Heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar has dissolved" - I changed to "low" heat to prevent burning again. Since, I had no candy thermometer I removed it from heat within a few minutes after it started boiling. After I figured out the consistency of the sugar syrup everything else went well. And finally, after 2 hours I finished making the 7-minute frosting! But it was worth it, when it turned out the way it did.

Something to remember for next time: After applying frosting on the first layer allow it to set/solidify a little bit before placing the second layer of cake on top of it. Otherwise, the frosting gets squeezed out to the sides leaving almost no frosting between the layers.