Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I baked a Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting for Allen on Valentine's Day. I came across the recipe on Pinterest (see link below) and wanted to try a different recipe than the red velvet one I have been making for several years. I am so glad I tried a new recipe because this cake is so amazing. It is moist and has a soft crumb and the combo of buttermilk, oil, vinegar, vanilla and cocoa powder make it the special cake it is. The cream cheese frosting is so great, and I fully recommend this recipe. If you love red velvet cake, you should give this recipe a try. I did not change a thing, and followed the recipe as directed. Read all the tips in the original recipe as they are very informative.

Perfect slice of Red Velvet Cake 

Yummy slice

Ingredients
Cake
3 cups Cake Flour

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

2 tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

1/2 teaspoon Coarse Salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) Unsalted Butter, softened

2 cups Granulated Sugar

1 cup Vegetable Oil

4 large Eggs, separated

1 and 1/2 tablespoons Pure Vanilla Extract

1 teaspoon Distilled White Vinegar

AmeriColor Gel Paste Food Color, Super Red

1 cup Buttermilk

Slice and cake in background

Heart-shaped Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cream Cheese Frosting
16 ounces Cream Cheese, softened

1/2 cup Unsalted Butter, softened

4 cups Confectioners'/Powdered Sugar

1/2 teaspoon Coarse Salt

2-3 tablespoons Whole Milk

2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract

Cake perfection

Cake batter in heart-shaped pans ready to go in oven

Directions
Heat oven to 350°F.

Spray cake pans or lightly butter/flour 2, 9" cake pans. I used 2 Wilton heart-shape pans; set aside.

Separate eggs: yolks in one bowl, and egg whites in another bowl; set aside.

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

Using a hand held or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute.

Add sugar and beat on high speed, 2 minutes.

Scrape sides of bowl with a spatula and mix again, 5-10 seconds.

Add vegetable oil and beat on high, 2 minutes.

Add egg yolks, and vanilla extract and combine on medium speed just until incorporated.

Scrape sides of bowl and mix for 5-10 seconds.

On low speed, add distilled white vinegar, and super red gel paste food color (add a little at a time until you reach desired color).

With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture alternating with the buttermilk until incorporated.

Whisk or beat egg whites until thick and foamy, 2-3 minutes and fold into cake batter with spatula until incorporated.

Pour batter into cake pans, 2/3 full.

Bake for 30-32 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. My cake baked in 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool in pans for 30 minutes, and then invert onto a wire rack to cool completely.

While the cake is cooling make the cream cheese frosting.

Cake just baked, cooling on wire rack

Cake crumbs to decorate over frosting

On medium speed using a hand held or stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth, about 2 minutes.

Add the confectioners’ sugar, salt, and 2 tablespoons of milk and beat for 2 minutes.

On high speed, add vanilla extract and 1 more tablespoon of milk if needed to thin out, and beat on high for 1 minute.

Slice the tops of the cakes with a serrated knife to even each layer, and to use as crumbs to decorate over the frosting.

Place first cake layer on cake stand or plate, and cover with cream cheese frosting.

Add second cake layer on top and frost cake, and add crumbs as desired.

Place cake in fridge to set.

Cover and keep in fridge covered for 5-7 days.

For the Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe visit, Sally's Baking Addiction:
http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2015/02/09/red-velvet-layer-cake-with-cream-cheese-frosting/

Enjoy!

-Sophia/Two Frys

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies with pretty sugar decorations

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies

This past weekend was full of  hearts, literally in cookie form. Two days after decorating cookies with my sister-in-law, I baked dark chocolate sugar cookies for Valentine's Day gifts, and spent the day decorating them all. The cookies taste so rich from the dark chocolate, and have a light crisp texture when you first bite into them, and the inside is soft and chewy. The cookies are pure decadence! The important thing for this recipe is to purchase a quality dark chocolate cocoa powder because it really brings out the richness of the chocolate flavor. I ordered an imported one from France on Amazon, and it was expensive but spending a few extra bucks paid off.

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies - love the XO and love cutters 

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies

Yield: 5 1/2 Dozen Cookies (depending on size)

Ingredients
6 cups King Arthur All Purpose Flour, sifted

1 1/4 cups Dark Cocoa Powder

2 cups Granulated Sugar

1 cup Light Brown Sugar, lightly packed

1 teaspoon Coarse Salt

2 cups (4 sticks) Unsalted Butter, softened

3 Eggs, cold

2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies

Directions
Whisk together flour, cocoa powder and salt; set aside.

Cream butter and sugars in a hand held mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment on medium speed; 1-2 minutes. Do not overmix.

Scrape sides of bowl with spatula and mix for 5 seconds.

Add eggs one at a time, mix until incorporated. Scrape sides of bowl and mix for 5 seconds.

Add vanilla extract and mix on low until incorporated, about 10-15 seconds.

With mixer on low speed, slowly add flour mixture and incorporate. Place a kitchen towel or paper towel over the mixer and hold it to prevent flour going all over your counter.

The dough is ready when it begins to clump around paddle attachment.

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies

Cut in half and roll dough into 2 balls, cover with plastic wrap, and chill in fridge for 1-2 hours or overnight.

Take half of the dough at a time to roll, leaving unused dough covered with plastic wrap in fridge until ready to use.

Heat oven to 325° F.

Use two sheets of parchment paper with dough in between and roll with rolling pin until desired thickness is reached. You do not have to add cocoa powder to work surface or cookie cutters using this rolling technique.

In fact, too much cocoa powder can result in a dry cookie so do not use it.

Make shapes with cutters and place onto cookies sheets lined with parchment paper.

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies

Place cookie sheets in freezer for 10-15 minutes. The cookies hold their shape when you do this.

Bake 12-15 minutes or until the edges have slightly browned. My cookies baked in 13 minutes.

Wait 5 minutes before transferring cookies on cooling racks to complete cooling.

Decorate once cookies cool completely.

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies - still learning marbling technique

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies

Large Batch Royal Icing
Ingredients
8 Egg Whites

8 teaspoons Lemon Juice, freshly squeezed

12 cups Powdered/Confectioners' Sugar, sifted

1 tablespoon Clear Vanilla Extract

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies - Pretty Mini Hearts

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies

Directions
In a large bowl, sift powdered sugar, set aside.

In a bowl, add egg whites.

In a bowl, whisk together the egg whites and lemon juice.

Transfer to stand or hand held mixer with paddle attachment and mix on high for 1-2 minutes.

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies

Add vanilla extract and mix for 5-10 seconds.

With mixer speed on low, slowly add sifted sugar and beat on low until smooth.

If needed, you may add 1 teaspoon of water at a time until you reach the right consistency. Watch the Joy of Baking (link at the end) video for both Flooding Consistency and Piping Consistency Royal Icing. If you prefer a recipe using Meringue Powder, it is also available at this link.

I separated the icing in plastic containers with lids according to how many different colors needed for tinting.

I used AmeriColor Soft Gel Paste Food Color in Super White, Super Red, Super Black, and Pink. Use 1-2 drops at a time until you reach the color desired.

Keep the containers covered until you are ready to color.

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies

I transferred the icing immediately into squeeze bottles using a funnel to prevent spilling.

If the royal icing hardens due to air exposure, use a spray bottle filled with room temperature water, and spray once or twice and shake bottle well holding the tip with your finger. Test the icing consistency on a paper towel before decorating the cookie.

I outlined the cookies first, waited 1/2 hour and then filled them one at a time.

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies - Pretty little hearts all over the cookies

Use a paintbrush or cookie stick to reach edges, and use tip of cookie stick or a toothpick to pop any air bubbles.

Add sprinkles, confetti, sugar pearls, dragees, etc... over wet icing. I also used some pretty hearts and xo decorations on some of the cookies.

If you want to write over the royal icing, let it dry first and then apply over the icing.

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies

Dark Chocolate Heart Cookies - Heart and XO sugar decorations

I used Wilton's Scribe Tool to make the hearts and marbling designs on the cookies.

Let cookies dry overnight. This is essential so the icing does not stick together when you stack them or place in cookie tins for gifts.

If you are baking and it is humid, you may need more time for the cookies to dry.

For the Dark Chocolate Sugar Cookie Recipe, visit Sweetapolita:
http://sweetapolita.com/2012/11/the-perfect-dark-chocolate-sugar-cookies/

For the Royal Icing Recipe and Video Tutorial, visit Joy of Baking:
http://www.joyofbaking.com/RoyalIcing.html

Enjoy!

-Sophia/Two Frys

Supernatural Sigil Cookies

Supernatural Sigil Cookies

Supernatural Sigil Cookies

Devil's Trap Sigil, Anti-Possession Sigil and Men of Letters Symbol

If you know me well, you know Supernatural is my favorite TV series. Castiel, King of Hell Crowley, Sam and Dean Winchester and all the other cast members have been in my life since season one. I came across these cutters on Etsy by Miraculous Designs, Australia and ordered them. Shipping took a bit due to my mistake of choosing the cheapest shipping option, but it was well worth the wait.

Devil's Trap Sigil

Anti-Possession Sigil, in correct orientation

I had three round vanilla sugar cookies in my freezer from Christmas baking, and thawed them a day ahead. I used Black Wilton Decorator Preferred Fondant to make the imprints and light corn syrup to adhere the fondant onto the cookies.

Men  of Letters Symbol

Cookies and Cutters

For the Anti-Possession Sigil, I inversed the cookie in most pics (I think it was subliminal from too much heavy metal music), but the one solo pic of it you see the correct orientation. The other two are the Devil's Trap Sigil and the Men of Letters Symbol, which was introduced fairly recently on the show, and has become an important part of the Winchester's destiny.

Supernatural Sigils

Supernatural is all about the Winchesters saving people and hunting things

 I purchased the Supernatural tee from Torrid and absolutely love it. Tonight I watch the new episode, drool over Archangel Castiel and Dean Winchester, and hope you enjoy these sigil cookies as much as I do.

-Sophia/Two Frys