Red Velvet Cake

Red, White and Oooo

Makes two 7 inch / 18cm cakes which can be split to make a four layer cake.

INGREDIENTS:

2 large eggs

60g melted salted butter

70g mild / pale olive oil or flavourless oil of your choice

100g soft brown sugar

120g white granulated sugar

200g full fat yogurt

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

red colouring gel

1 tbsp / 8g cocoa powder

250g plain flour (For gluten free use a GF self raising mix and no baking powder)

3 tsp baking powder

2 tsp  white wine or cider vinegar

HOW TO:

• Line the bases of two 7 inch / 18cm tins before you start. It’s best to get the cakes in the oven as soon as the batter is mixed and doing this now means you won’t get held up later.

• Crack 2 large eggs into a mixing bowl and add the melted butter and the oil and whisk just to combine.

• Add the sugars, yogurt, vanilla and salt and whisk to combine.

• Add the cocoa powder and whisk well so there are no lumps.

• Add as much red food colouring as you need to give a vibrant red batter.  The bonus of adding the colouring after the cocoa is you can judge what depth of red the final cake will be. I prefer using a gel colouring for batter because it disperses much easier than a paste, but use whatever you have.

• Add the flour and baking powder (if you’re making this gluten free don’t add the baking powder) and whisk in, stop as soon as there are no lumps of flour.

• Add the vinegar and swiftly mix that through the batter, when it’s fully incorporated divide the batter between the tins.

• Bake straight away in the middle of the oven at 160ºc fan for 26/27 minutes, a skewer will come out clean when ready.

• Leave the cakes to cool in their tins for 10 minutes before turning them onto a rack to cool completely.

• Split each cake into two so you have four layers, or just leave as two but then you will be missing out on an ‘extra frosting opportunity’.

• Sandwich the layers with a frosting of your choice, I use my Cream Cheese Frosting - that recipe was posted just before this one.

• Cover the top and sides in a thin ‘crumb coat’ of frosting to trap the crumbs so they don’t show on the finished cake. Chill the crumb coated cake for about 30 minutes to firm up the frosting and then cover thickly with the remaining frosting.

• Serve at room temperature and enjoy!

Tat x