Roxie’s Recipes (for the lazy cook)
Once I found out that Issy’s favorite cake is Red Velvet, well I just knew I would have to do what I could to make her birthday extra special. It proved to be an enlightening experience for me as well, delving a bit into the history of this hotly contested favorite. Different accounts claim that it was developed in the Victorian era; that it originated in the Southern part of the US; or that it was invented at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in the 1930s. I’m not about to step in to contest any of these claims. I will say that I was determined not to add any artificial food colorings to my recipe, so – as usual – I wound up taking a bit from this recipe and that to develop my own version. Apparently the original recipe got its red hue from the cocoa powder used, but I found a version that added a bit of beet powder as well, resulting in a beautiful, but subtle and natural shade of red.
- ½ cup butter (1 stick), softened
- 1-½ cups sugar
- 2-½ cups flour
- 2 eggs, separated
- 3 tbs beet powder (I ordered mine through Amazon)
- 1-½ tbs baking powder
- 2 tbs red cocoa powder
- 1 tps white vinegar
- 1 tps vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk
- For best results, pull your butter, eggs and buttermilk out of the fridge and allow them to come to room temperature before starting.
- Preheat your oven to 325˚. Thoroughly butter and flour three 8” baking pans, or line with parchment paper.
- Cream the butter and sugar together until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites until they are nice and frothy. The best way to do this is to start at a low mixing speed and gradually increase it until you get a nice foamy texture. Then add this to your butter and sugar mixture, as well as the vinegar, vanilla and egg yolks.
- Combine your dry ingredients – flour, beet powder, and cocoa powder.
- Gradually add your dry ingredient mix and your buttermilk to your previous ingredients, alternating each and mixing well all the while.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean. Allow cake to cool completely before removing from pans.
A note about the frosting: Most modern versions of this cake use cream cheese frosting. Although I do love a good cream cheese frosting, I decided to go with a more traditional frosting, which – though not quite as sweet – seems to set this cake off beautifully.
- 5 tbs flour
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 tps vanilla
- 1 cup powdered, or confectioners’ sugar
- Combine the flour and milk in a saucepan and gradually warm over medium heat, stirring constantly to remove any lumps. Allow to cool completely.
- Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla together until smooth.
- Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat until you get a nice fluffy smoth consistency. Then frost between layers and over the top and sides of the cake.
Now, Sunday at 9pm, tune your radio to KNVC 95.1 FM Carson City – or if you’re not in range, you can pull it up on their website: https://knvc.org. If you happen to miss it for some reason, they will re-air it next Friday at 8pm.
Need to catch up on previous episodes? Go to https://anchor.fm/harridgehouse or your favorite podcast provider to stream Season 1.
