Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese or Ermine Icing

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I'm still testing Red Velvet Cake recipes. I must be more of a purist than I think myself to be, because I still find it off-putting to add food coloring to a dessert. I'm apparently in the majority because there are scads of folks who love the cake, red dye or no. Tonight's experiment uses the recipe that comes from the McCormick test kitchen, and I must admit it makes a nice cake. I do think the icing that comes with the recipe is too sweet, so I'm including a recipe for Ermine icing at the end of this post. The original red velvet cake got its color from beets and was frosted with a cooked icing that was called Ermine Frosting. This is a lovely moist cake with a velvet crumb and I know you will appreciate the ease with which the cake comes together. The recipe is simple and easy to follow, and required adjustments for cooking time, relative to pan size, are included in the cook's notes below. If you like Red Velvet cake, I urge you to give this recipe a try, though I suggest you use the less sweet Ermine icing to frost your cake. Here is how the cake is made.


Red Velvet Cake...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of McCormick Recipes

Ingredients:
Cake
2-1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1 bottle (1 ounce) red food color
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
2 tablespoons sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3-3/4 cups (16 ounces) confectioners' sugar

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees °F.
2) To make cake: Grease and flour cake pans (see pan size below).
     Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
     Beat butter and granulated sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed 5 minutes or until light and fluffy.
      Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Mix in sour cream, milk, food color and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until just blended. Do not overbeat. Pour batter into prepared pans.
       Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely on wire rack. Yield: 12 servings.
3) To make frosting: Beat cream cheese, butter, sour cream and vanilla in large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar until smooth. Fill and frost cooled cake with frosting.

Cooking tip

Test Kitchen Tip: Substitute a greased and floured 12-cup Bundt pan for the 9-inch cake pans. Bake about 50 minutes. Or, substitute a greased and floured 13x9-inch baking pan; bake about 40 minutes.

Ermine Icing

Ingredients
5 tablespoons flour
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar

Directions
1) Over medium heat, whisk flour and milk in a small saucepan and heat to a simmer, stirring frequently until it becomes very thick and almost puddinglike.
2) Remove from heat, whisk in vanilla and salt. Pour into a bowl to allow it to cool completely. Put plastic wrap on the surface to keep a skin from forming.
3) Use a mixer to cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on medium, add the cooled flour mixture a little bit at a time. Continue to beat until the mixture becomes light and fluffy and resembles whipped cream.

                    

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