Graduation/Welcome Home Cake (Red Velvet Cake)

Sliced red velvet cake

A closer look at the decorated red velvet cake

A mixture of white and semi-sweet chocolate shavings

Fresh from the oven (look at that gorgeous red color)

Red batter with my red spatula

Mise-en-place

My sister S is coming for her summer vacation--Yey!! She called me from Beijing last Friday lunchtime to tell me she just came home from her graduation, i felt happy and sad at the same time, happy because all her hardwork has paid off but sad too because i wasn't there to celebrate with her. But, because she was coming home today (Monday!!) I promised her I'd make her a graduation cake. And so after we said our goodbyes, I quickly went online to browse for a cake recipe...lo and behold--I saw this recipe for red velvet cake, knowing my sister's sweet tooth and her penchant for all things red, I thought this would be perfect, and so I woke up early today and baked her cake.



RED VELVET CAKE



1 cup SHORTENING (I used butter instead)



2 EGGS



1 1/2 cups SUGAR



1 teaspoon COCOA POWDER



2 ounces RED FOOD COLORING



2 1/2 cups CAKE FLOUR



1 cup BUTTERMILK (I substituted 1 cup milk + i teaspoon vinegar)



1 teaspoon SALT



1 teaspoon VANILLA EXTRACT



1 teaspoon BAKING SODA



1 teaspoon VINEGAR



Crean butter, sugar and eggs. In another bowl, mix together cocoa and red food coloring, blend into a paste. Add paste to butter mixture. Sift flour and salt together. Add it alternately with buttermilk in 3 additions. Add vanila extract. Fold in baking soda and vinegar. Pour batter in a greased 9inch cake pan. Bake 45 minutes or until cake tester inserted in middle comes out clean. Let cool and invert on cooling rack.



WHITE FROSTING



2 tablespoons ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR



1 cup MILK



1 cup UNSALTED BUTTER



1 cup CONFECTIONER'S SUGAR



1 teaspoon VANILLA EXTRACT



Over medium heat, cook flour and milk until thickened. Let cool. Cream together butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in flour mixture. Use as desired.

Next time I make this cake I'm going to make more frosting, the sides weren't frosted so nicely because i ran out of it. I decorated the top with white and semisweet chocolate shavings which i made with a microplane.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER--A Really Late Birthday Cake

My sister J (who, if given a choice would eat cake every single day) celebrated her birthday last June 6 but because I was busy or preoccupied or both (I can never really tell...) I wasn't able to bake her a proper cake. So...now that I'm in a baking mood (thanks to the DB challenge) I've decided to bake her a cake--better late than never, tee-hee. Deciding to bake which cake was a little challenging but finally I found one which didn't look too time-consuming and at the same time would taste good (I really hope so..) This one was in Celebration Cakes (The Australian Women's Weekly Cookbooks) which was given to me years back by a friend who now lives in Melbourne.

BUTTER CAKE

Butter 250 grams

Vanilla Essence 2 teaspoons

Caster Sugar 1 1/2 cups

Eggs 4 pieces

Self Raising Flour 3 cups (I substituted 3 cups all-purpose flour and 2 tablespoons baking powder)

Milk 1 cup

1. Grease and line base and sides of cake pan with one thickness baking paper (I just lined the bottom)

2. Beat butter, essence and sugar in bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well between additions. Transfer mixture to larger bowl, stir in sifted flour and milk. Spread mixture into prepared pan.

3. Bake in a moderate (350 degrees farenheit-375 degrees farenheit) oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

4. Test cake by inserting a wooden or metal skewer into centre of cake; if cooked, skewer will come out clean, if there is moist cake mixture on skewer, return cake to oven further 10 minutes before testing again.

5. Stand cake 5 minutes; tun onto wire rack to cool.

FLUFFY FROSTING

1 cup CASTER SUGAR

1/3 cup WATER

2 EGG WHITES

Combibe sugar and the water in small saucepan; stir over heat without boiling, until sugar is dissolved. Boil, uncovered, without stirring until syrup reaches 116 degrees celsius on candy thermometer (soft ball stage). Remove from heat allow bubbles to subside. Meanwhile, beat egg whites in small bowl with electric mixer until soft peaks form. While mixer is operating, add hot syrup in thin stream. Beat on high speed about 10 minutes or until mixture is thick and cool.