Happy Valentine’s Day!
To my wonderful hubby: You mean the world to me! Even though you likely won’t read this, at least the world readers of my blog know I’m crazy for youuu! 😉
I am one of those people who really loves Valentine’s Day. I love romance, roses, chocolate, and the color pink. Sign me up! Besides, it’s a great excuse for a swanky date or a great dinner in, or even an I-hate-men martini date with girlfriends (ahh..memories!) ;). Or, red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. Whatever is your pleasure, V-day can deliver.
Important lesson learned this weekend: I am not a baker. Or at least not a frosting artist. I had envisioned in my head a beautiful red velvet cake with smooth cream cheese frosting and perfect pink icing decor. It was Food Network kinds of gorgeous. The result, not so much. However, it is to-die-for delicious.
And this “masterpiece” was a great excuse to purchase something my kitchen has been without: a cake stand. This cake stand from Williams Sonoma ($30!!) is not only beautiful and reasonably priced, but it doubles as a punch bowl when you flip the lid over! Neat-o!
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Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting from Apple a Day, adapted from Saveur
For the cake:
2 1/2 cups cake flour* (or 2 cups + 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour + 5 Tbsp cornstarch)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups vegetable canola oil
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
2 Tbsp (1 oz.) red food coloring
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp white distilled vinegar
For the frosting:
12 ounces cream cheese, softened (I used 4 oz. 1/3 less fat + 8 oz. regular)
12 ounces unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar
Directions:
For the cake: Preheat oven to 350 F.
Sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa, and salt into a medium bowl.
Beat eggs, oil, buttermilk, food coloring, vanilla, and vinegar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until well combined. Add dry ingredients and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes.
Divide batter evenly between 3 greased and floured 8″ round cake pans.
Bake cakes, rotating halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in the center of each cake comes out clean, 25-30 minutes. Let cakes cool 5 minutes, then invert each onto a plate, then invert again onto a cooling rack. Let cakes cool completely.
For the frosting: Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla together in a large bowl with an electric mixer until combined. Add sugar and beat until frosting is light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes.
Put 1 cake layer on a cake plate, level off with a serrated knife, and spread one-quarter of the frosting on top. Set another layer on top, level, and repeat frosting. Set remaining layer on top, level, and frost top and sides with the remaining frosting.
Chill for 2 hours to set frosting. Yield: one 8-inch 3-layer cake (12 slices)
*If you don’t have or cannot find cake flour, for every one cup of all-purpose flour, sub 2 tablespoons of cornstarch for 2 tablespoons of flour.
Nutrition Information: You don’t want to know. Shush up and eat it…in moderation! 😉
Result: Heavenly. Enjoy!
[/print_this]And Lily concurs. She was involved in the quality control portion of this red velvet cake endeavor. She best enjoyed the red batter-licking.
Spoiled pooch.
Weekly Menu: February 13-17th
- Sunday: Homemade Chicken Wings & Wing Sauce (Mr. P’s V-day “gift”)
- Monday: Poached Salmon Pasta Salad (made this over the weekend, ready to go!)
- Tuesday: Split Pea Soup
- Wednesday: Leftovers
- Thursday: Baked Tilapia with White Wine and Lemon Sauce, asparagus, and roasted petite potatoes with rosemary
Question: Valentine’s Day – love it or hate it? Any fun plans?
I have to work all day and teach all night, but I made Mr. Prevention homemade chicken wings and wing sauce for dinner last night. Stay tuned for that recipe this week!
LOVE,
The cake looks AWESOME Nicole!! OH my gosh, I’m so impressed! I Bet it tasted amazing too. I love red velvet cake. In fact, I’ve had red velvet cake at the last two weddings I attended, and I’m starting to think I may want it at my (eventual) wedding….
Nick and I are going to a dinner at Market District tonight. It’s a 6 course meal for two, for only 65 dollars. That price can’t be beat!
Happy Valentine’s day to you and Mark!
What a gorgeous looking cake! So beautiful!
Happy Valentine’s Day 🙂
mmmm Red Velvet Cake is the best. Wish I could take a bite of that right now 🙂
I think your cake is beautiful!!!
Happy Valentine’s Day (even though it’s a long day for you…)!
Love me some red velvet, it’s also my wedding cake-yum! Happy Vday!
don’t short change yourself! your cake looks beautiful!!! 🙂 and I suspect it tastes even better!!
I did not know about your middle name! how cool. And you do know my daughter’s name is Nicole, don’t you? LOL I knew we were kindred spirits! haha
Happy Valentines Day, Nicole!!
I think your cake is downright gorgeous!!!
I wish I could take a bite out of the computer screen is looks yummy.
I tried decorating my daughter’s B-day cake using a pastry bag. It’s was my first time using one and the results wasn’t too cute. There really is a art to it, and you did well!
That cake is stunning!!!! Happy Valentine’s Day!!
Awww, so sweet! And that cake is a real looker, Nicole! Bet it was absolultely delicious! Wishing you a happy Valentine’s Day, sweetie!
I’m in the middle… I could either take this holiday or leave it. I prefer to take it though, because who doesn’t love an excuse to be pampered and let the ones you love know how much you do love them!
Nobody needs to know that cake nutritionals… everything has zero calories on Valentine’s Day, didn’t you know? 😉
The cake looks beautiful! I’m not a huge fan of Valentine’s Day…I think every day should be a special day to honor someone you love!
Great looking cake. Gotta love red velvet and it works so well for V-day. We have no real plans. Actually we are both getting work done at home and will need to find some dinner soon.
That cake looks amazing! So pretty. 🙂
Im not a Valentines fan. Never have been. The concept is nice, but it just seems so forced.
That cake is soooo pretty! Love the decorative icing on the outside! Happy Valentines!
Yum, your red velvet looks delicious! It’s decorated so pretty too! I hope you are going to post your tilapia recipe on Thursday, I’m always stuck on how to cook it. Happy Valentine’s Day!
I think we have that same cake stand 🙂 I love Valentine’s day too and all that is associated with it! Great job on the cake!
its so beautiful…happy valentines day nicole…
You most certainly are a cake decorater/baker–that looks fabulous Nicole! And the cake stand definitely completes it 🙂
p.s. Could you take a minute and vote for my Pink Velvet POM cupcake here: http://www.pomwonderful.com/cupcakecontest/
And spread the word if you’d like!! Thanks a million!!
This looks wonderful and I am pretty good at reading a recipe and getting a feel for how it may turn out but I must say I know baking can be tricky and I am wanting to take this recipe and make mini cupcakes…Wonder if that would work…can you let me know? btw. loved your pictures and your story of your weight loss….beautiful!!!
I actually have the original Waldorf Astoria Red Velvet Cake, and it is different from the recipes I see on-line and in magazines. The frosting is NOT cream cheese. Your cake does look pretty though.
I had done a lot of research and looked for recipes for red velvet. I picked yours. I made this for my husband’s co-worker who was celebrating a birthday. It was a huge success. And super moist and delicious. This will be my go to recipe for red velvet.
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Thank you, Julie! So glad it was a hit! 🙂