December Birthday....and Red Velvet

My baby boy had his 17th birthday last week. He is now the proud owner of a drivers license and a mother who either needs a Xanax or a Martini every time he goes out the door all alone and starts up a car. Ok, well I feel like I need one...I do not actually act upon the urge. I have been through this process of letting go before, not too long ago. It is just not easy. My heart goes with him wherever he goes...and always will.
It is hard for me to believe that there have been 17 birthday cakes...I have baked all but one. That one was a Batman cake served at a bowling party when he was 4. And I can remember that day exactly. His face when he opened his presents...my Dad being there ...my brother....both have now passed. I remember all of the cakes. All of the smiles....all of the hugs and kisses....

He is a yellow cake and white icing boy. Not always the easiest cake to bake well. Over the years I have tried to get home made cakes better each year. This year he requested a Red Velvet cake. He loves Red Velvet Cupcakes. So I baked him a three layer Red Velvet...the same recipe as the cupcake up on my header. It is a lovely cake. If you do not mind the obscene amount of red food coloring that goes into it.
It is only one day...and it is a beautiful red cake...

I got this recipe from my dear friend Terrie....thank you my friend! For the frosting I use a Cream Cheese icing made in the food processor from the "Joy of Cooking"...you need a double recipe of this and perhaps a little more if you want to get fancier than I did...You definitely need to let the cake cool and use a crumb coat when icing. This is also a nice cake for the season...

Red Velvet Cake
Adapted from "The Confetti Cakes Cookbook" by Elisa Strauss
 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3½ cups cake flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa (not Dutch process)
1½ teaspoons salt
2 cups canola oil
2¼ cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) red food coloring
1½ teaspoons vanilla
1¼ cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons baking soda
2½ teaspoons white vinegar.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place teaspoon of butter in each of 3 round 9-inch layer cake pans and place pans in oven for a few minutes until butter melts. Remove pans from oven, brush interior bottom and sides of each with butter and line bottoms with parchment.

2. Whisk cake flour, cocoa and salt in a bowl.

3. Place oil and sugar in bowl of an electric mixer and beat at medium speed until well-blended. Beat in eggs one at a time. With machine on low, very slowly add red food coloring. (Take care: it may splash.) Add vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk in two batches. Scrape down bowl and beat just long enough to combine.

4. Place baking soda in a small dish, stir in vinegar and add to batter with machine running. Beat for 10 seconds.

5. Divide batter among pans, place in oven and bake until a cake tester comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool in pans 20 minutes. Then remove from pans, flip layers over and peel off parchment. Cool completely before frosting.

Yield: 3 cake layers or 24-30 cupcakes (bake 20-25 minutes).
Be sure to start checking on your cake layers at about 30 minutes. Mine were done in exactly 40 minutes. But everyone's oven is different.

Joy of Cooking Cream Cheese Frosting
About 2 cups(you will need to double this for this cake, and maybe even 2 1/2 recipes if you want to get fancy with decoration)

1. Food Processor Method

8 ounces cold cream cheese
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted (I only used 1 1/2 cups and did not worry about sifting)

Combine in a food processor and pulse just until smooth and creamy. If frosting is too stiff, process for a few seconds loner; do not over process. If desired, stir in additional flavorings to taste, such as grated lemon/orange zest, ground cinnamon or liqueur.

2. Electric Mixer Method

Beat in a medium bowl at low speed just until blended.

8 ounces cold cream cheese
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla

Add one-third at a time and beat just until smooth and the desired consistency:
4 cups (1 pound) confectioners' sugar, sifted

If frosting is too stiff, beat for a few seconds loner; do not over process. If desired, stir in additional flavorings to taste, such as grated lemon/orange zest, ground cinnamon or liqueur. 

 

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

This recipe was my first foray into the Red Velvet world. The recipe was first printed as a cake recipe in the NY Times and was brought to my attention by my sweet friend Terrie...Valerie another friend, found the original recipe cut down to make 12 cupcakes as opposed to 30 that the original made. Now if I had 30 of these babies sitting around I would be in serious trouble. She fooled around with it and perfected the cut down version. I also tried a new recipe for cream cheese icing that pipes really well....a food processor version from the "Joy of Cooking". This version uses cold cream cheese rather than room temperature cream cheese.
It was very good....

Red Velvet Cupcakes
1 cup+3 Tb cake flour
2.5 Tb cocoa
1/2tsp salt
2/3c vegetable oil
3/4c sugar
1 egg
1oz (2T) red food coloring
1/2tsp vanilla
1/2c buttermilk
1/2tsp baking soda
3/4tsp white vinegar

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line12-cupcake pans with cupcake liners and spray with cooking spray.
Whisk cake flour, cocoa and salt in a bowl.
Place oil and sugar in bowl of an electric mixer and beat at medium speed until well-blended. Beat in eggs one at a time.
With machine on low, very slowly add red food coloring (and water or syrup, if necessary). (Take care: it may splash.)
Add vanilla.
Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk in two batches. Scrape down bowl and beat just long enough to combine.
Place baking soda in a small dish, stir in vinegar and add to batter with machine running. Beat for 10 seconds.
Divide batter among 12-cupcake pans, filling each about 2/3 full. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.











Joy of Cooking Cream Cheese Frosting
About 2 cups

1. Food Processor Method

8 ounces cold cream cheese
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted (I only used 1 1/2 cups and did not worry about sifting)

Combine in a food processor and pulse just until smooth and creamy. If frosting is too stiff, process for a few seconds loner; do not over process. If desired, stir in additional flavorings to taste, such as grated lemon/orange zest, ground cinnamon or liqueur.

2. Electric Mixer Method

Beat in a medium bowl at low speed just until blended.

8 ounces cold cream cheese
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla

Add one-third at a time and beat just until smooth and the desired consistency:
4 cups (1 pound) confectioners' sugar, sifted

If frosting is too stiff, beat for a few seconds loner; do not over process. If desired, stir in additional flavorings to taste, such as grated lemon/orange zest, ground cinnamon or liqueur.

(MY Note: I ended up using about 2 cups of confectioners sugar in mine, I had about
1/3 cup of Icing left over after piping 12 cupcakes, so use your own discretion)

Happy Chanukah....Latkes and Birthday cakes

Today is my baby boy's 18th birthday...it seems like yesterday he was born. Where does the time go? I am off to bake his birthday cake....he is a RED VELVET boy...he requested a repeat of last years cake.
There are delicious memories today of all his birthdays and all of the cakes, all of the smiles, and all of the kisses.
We have given him wings and he is ready to fly...I still feel like I need a Xanax every time he gets into a car to drive... I am going to have to get over that...I am working on it.

It is also Chanukah and last night I tried a new latke recipe that I found on Sarabeth Levine's new blog
"Sarabeth-Goddess of Bakedom" . It is a lovely place to visit. I got her new cookbook, Sarabeth's Kitchen and I have been reading through it cover to cover. It is a gorgeous book. The Latke recipe is from Mimi  Sheraton's book "From my Mother's Kitchen". It is a killer recipe. Just click on Sarabeth's link for the recipe. I have an old tattered copy of Mimi's book and I could not find it, despite looking for a long time. I will look again today, it is also a wonderful cookbook.

I have been making latkes for many years and they are pretty darned good...but this recipe is even better than what I have been making. The latkes were light due to the separation of the eggs and beating the whites to fold in at the end. The method of preparing them is key.

I usually use the food processor when making latkes and I grated the potatoes by hand using Mimi's recipe.It was quick and easy, I will continue to use this recipe from now on for sure.

They were crisp and golden brown and not in the least bit greasy.

I like them with both applesauce and sour cream....these were really a hit. They were gone in the blink of an eye.

Happy Chanukah to all my friends and family.....may the light of the candles shine in your hearts...and even if you do not celebrate...no one really needs a reason to eat delicious potato pancakes.