Jane: Here's my mother's recipe for red velvet cake. The cake is spectacular. I add coconut to the filling and I would suggest using cream cheese frosting instead of her seven-minute frosting:
Red Velvet Cake
Red Velvet Cake was hugely popular in the Sixties, but it fell out of style. It’s suddenly popular again, but the cake has changed. Nowadays, it’s not served with a filling and it’s not iced with 7-minute frosting. Here’s the original version of this cake. But if you want a more modern version, then use the cream cheese frosting recipe on page
?
Cake:
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ cup shortening
1 ½ cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup red food coloring
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Filling:
1 cup milk
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) margarine or butter, at room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
7-minute frosting:
3 cups sugar
2/3 cup water
½ cup light corn syrup
3 egg whites
Shredded coconut, for garnish
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and line 3 (9-inch) cake pans.
Sift together cocoa powder, flour, salt and baking soda. Set aside.
Using a mixer, cream shortening for 2 minutes. Add sugar, cream for at least 1 more minute. Add eggs, 1 at a time. Add vanilla and red food coloring. Slowly add flour mixture, alternating with a mixture of buttermilk and vinegar, starting and finishing with flour mixture. Pour into prepared pans.
Bake for 25 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let rest 10 minutes before turning onto cake racks. Immediately remove wax paper. Let cool.
To make filling, cook milk and flour until very thick. Cool in refrigerator. Once cool, mix margarine, powdered sugar and vanilla in a mixture. Add milk-flour mixture. Spread between layers of cake.
To make frosting, set up a double boiler. Bring water to a boil before reducing heat to a simmer. Cook sugar, water and corn syrup in top of double boiler until it forms a soft ball (or 130 degrees on a candy thermometer). Beat egg whites until stiff. Add a little a time from mixture. Spread on cake. Sprinkle with shredded coconut.
