RED VELVET CAKE - without the traditional food color
When its home made , I don't add any artificial food coloring to the things I make . Not that I am against synthetic colors but when you make something at home , why bother to add anything artificial. So making red velvet cakes were out of question until I read Alice Merdrich's tip on seven things I can do with the fastest chocolate fudge cake. And one tip was on how to convert that into a red velvet cake by adding grated beetroot.
Using grated beetroot is a natural way to add a gentle red tone to the cake, but don't expect a vivid red color .
RECIPE
(Same as fastest chocolate fudge cake )
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened natural cocoa powder (not Dutch processed)
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. table salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and warm
- 1 cup and 1/4 cup granulated sugar.
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract (optional)
- 1/2 cup hot water
- 8 inch cake pan lined at the bottom with parchment paper
- 3/4 cup finely grated beetroot
- These are the make ahead steps that I do:
- I make cakes early in the morning. So the night before,(1) I line the cake pan with parchment paper,(2) whisk all the dry ingredients in a bowl and keep it closed,(3) take out my handheld mixer ,pin in the whisks and keep aside. So the next day morning I just have to mix in everything and bake the cake. Planning ahead ,be it a simple task , makes it really easy and it does not feel like a chore at all.
So this is cake pan lined and the dry ingredients whisked together.
Now to prepare the batter:
- Pre-heat the oven at 350 degree F for 15 minutes.
- So the recipe calls for melted and warm butter. I tweaked it a little bit. I take out the butter ( 1 stick) and put it into a bowl and melt it at power 2 for 2 minutes in the microwave. It wont be melted completely but almost 3/4 of it and that will do.
- Take 1/2 cup water in a saucepan and put it on the stove to boil. Proceed with the other steps ,but just keep a watch on the saucepan.as soon as the water boils ,turn it off.
- Take out the bowl with the melted butter, throw in the sugar and beat on high speed for 15 seconds.
- Break the two eggs and throw it in .Beat it till light and fluffy ,on high speed for about 1 minute.
- Put in the dry ingredients and mix at lowest speed until everything is just incorporated.
- Pour in the hot water at one go and mix just until incorporated.
- Finally put in the 3/4 cup grated beetroot and beat until just incorporated.
- Pour onto the prepared cake pan and bake at 350 degree F. for 35 to 38 minutes minutes, start checking at 35 minutes. Insert a toothpick or a long bamboo skewer at the center for doneness. The toothpick must come out clean or with crumbs, but not wet batter.
- When the cake is done and out of the oven ,cover the top of the pan tightly with a small kitchen towel. This keeps the moisture in and lets the steam out.
- The cake can be kept in the pan as long as you wanted or invert it onto a plate and peel off the parchment paper and keep it the crust side up in another plate.
- I frosted it with cooked flour frosting. My son topped it with a smore combination , making it a smore frosting cake.
NOTES
- Vanilla essence for the cake is completely optional. I don't add essence to cakes that call for 1/4 cup or more of cocoa powder.
- If you don't have a very sweet tooth reduce the sugar by 2 Tbsp .
COOKED FLOUR FROSTING
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup milk
- 3Tbsp cornflour
- 2 tbsp. butter
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1/8 tsp salt
METHOD
- Mix the cornflour in 1/2 cup milk .Mix everything together except the butter and essence in a saucepan .
- Put the saucepan on low heat and cook until it is thickened and coats the spoon when stirred with it.
- Take off the stove and stir in butter and vanilla essence . The butter can be taken directly out of the fridge.
- Allow to cool and slather it on the cake.
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