RED VELVET CAKE

CAKE:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 – 2 oz. red food coloring (2 – 4 tablespoons)

½ cup hot coffee

1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar

FROSTING:

1  1/2 blocks of cream cheese, softened (totaling 12 oz., or 1  1/2 cups)

3/4 cup softened butter (1 1/2 sticks)

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

5 cups confectioners’ sugar (more or less, depending on how you prefer the consistency)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 325° and grease two 9″ cake pans; set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In a separate large bowl, combine the sugar and vegetable oil.

 Beat in eggs, buttermilk, vanilla and red food coloring until well combined.

 Stir in the hot coffee and vinegar.

Gradually combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients (in about four additions of mixing dry into wet, scraping bowl between each addition), mixing until just combined.

Pour the batter evenly into prepared pans and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out mostly clean of crumbs.

 Be careful not to over bake!  Allow pans to cool on a cooling rack for about 10 minutes, then remove cake from pans and finish cooling on the rack.

FROSTING: In a large bowl, mix cream cheese, butter and vanilla well.  

Add confectioners’ sugar, one cup at a time, beating until smooth (scraping sides of bowl after each addition of sugar); add sugar until you have reached your desired consistency*. 

Frost the cake when the cakes have cooled completely.