I just wanted to share this cake with you today. Red Velvet cake is probably my favourite type of cake, and yes I realise what a big statement that is. I am prepared to stand by it.
This was Billy Law’s Have You Eaten? Baking Club challenge for this month. You may remember that I did a food photography workshop taught by Billy a few months ago.
I made this cake for a friend’s house-warming party and as it turned out this was the perfect excuse to make my first Red Velvet cake. This friend and I were roomies (flatties?) during our London days. We had an excellent system going where I would cook and she, the neat freak would clean up after me before I could even finish setting the oven timer. She was also a fellow Red Velvet lover and the two of us with our third flat-mate would wander down to Portobello Markets on a Saturday. Once there, we would meander among the stalls of antiques, kitsch souvenirs and free-size clothing to the Hummingbird Bakery. There was always a queue in the narrow store, the number of people waiting almost equal to the number of cupcakes on display.
Two red velvet cupcakes would be ordered, and another flavour, so insignificant compared to red velvets that I can’t even remember what the favourite of our other flatmate was. Then, clutching our treats, we would continue to make our way through the crowds of Londoners, expats and tourists, relishing each crumb of cake and smear of icing along the way.
I really didn’t change much in the recipe that Billy provided, so there is not much point typing it out again here. I threw in a second tablespoon of cocoa powder to intensify the chocolate flavour because, well, this is me we’re talking about. I also had misplaced my gel food colourings so I used a liquid food colouring of which I used 2 tsp, but would recommend using 3 or 4 tsp judging by the resultant colour. And yes, I realise that you can’t get an idea of the colour from these pictures but I really didn’t feel comfortable taking a cut up cake to a party.
Lastly I should mention that this was a super easy recipe which yielded wonderful results and an empty platter at the end of the party, which I always think provides better feedback than any words ever could.
I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas and I wish you all a decadent, happy-boozy New Years Eve.
onesmallpot 