Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

No matter how old you are you always deserve a birthday cake. For my Dad’s birthday last year I baked him a vanilla celebration cakewith butter cream, and last year I baked Jon a coffee and chocolate cake! Aren’t the men in my life lucky!

This year I thought I’d go super cheesy baking Jon a “Stevenage Boro” Cake...like I say...you’re never too old! To stick to the team’s red and white colour scheme, I thought what better than a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. YUMMY!

I’m sure you’re all very well aware of what red velvet is, the name kind of gives it away. But I have to admit, despite all the pictures of red velvet cakes, cupcakes, cakepops and more that appear of every cooking blog across the globe, I still didn’t know what to expect when it came to texture or taste. I had never previously cooked with buttermilk so I had no idea how this would affect the cake.

The way I would describe a red velvet cake is super moist, and most definitely velvety. It has a light crumb, yet still seems to be extremely rich and dense all at the same time! The cream cheese frosting also really compliments the cake; I think it would be far too sweet with my normal vanilla buttercream, and it’s nice for a change! Even without my normal super-sweet icing, the cake was still a little too sweet for some of our friends and family – I however, loved it.

The plan was to decorate the cake with contrasting red cream cheese frosting, but unfortunately my “red” food colouring came out much more pink that I expected despite how much I added so I may have cheated a little with some packeted writing icing – please forgive me!

I don’t prophess to be any sort of red velvet genius – but this recipe will do the trick. I warn you though, you will need a measuring jug, 3 large bowls, and a small bowl...that’s a lot of washing up...

Here’s the recipe: