Cake with Red & White Flowers

Cake with Red & White Flowers

This is a cake I made recently.

True red, I mean really RED red, is hard to achieve when tinting icing, so to get the color I used AmeriColor Christmas Red. It really helped obtain a RED color, rather than a variation of pink.

It was also quite warm in my kitchen when I was trying to decorate the cake. You need stiff icing to create flowers, and warm kitchens do not help; they act to melt and wilt the flowers. One thing I did was put the frosting in the fridge for about 10 min or so to chill and harden it a bit before trying to make the roses. Once I made each individual rose, I put it on a cookie sheet and popped it into the freezer until I was ready to put them onto the cake. This helped keep their shape ensuring they did not melt in my overheated kitchen. (My favorite video that teaches you how to make a buttercream rose is from The Cake Eccentric.)

Just a few tips to help with the decorating.

NYC Cake

NYC Skyline Cake

Recently a friend of mine moved to New York City from abroad. He just hosted a party at his Upper East Side apartment to launch summer and let us all enjoy his balcony. His one request for me…. Can you make a cake?

So what kind of cake do you make to celebrate this occasion? A NEW YORK CAKE- of course!!!

First I had to decide on what kind of cake. I know one of his good friends loves Red Velvet, so I decided to try another red velvet cake. Since I wasn’t sold on Martha Stewart’s recipe, I decided to call my brother for his recommendation. (He really is the best baker I know) He suggested I try the recipe from Baked, a fantastic bakeshop in Red Hook, Brooklyn (check them out: bakednyc.com) The recipe (listed below) came out thicker and more like a batter than the Martha Stewart recipe. It looked better and I figured I was on the right track. It also tasted a bit more chocolaty, always a good thing.

But frankly, even though the recipe was from a NYC bakery, red velvet is generally considered a southern cake, and I wanted to make mine ring of NYC. Plus, it needed to feel masculine since it was for a guy- no pretty flowers or pinks and purples. So I decided to go with a simple line design in a dark, gray color, reminiscent of the general color of New York. I thought of the iconic buildings in the city- The Empire State Building, The Chrysler Building, etc… I decided to do a simple skyline featuring a select few buildings around the edge of the cake. I could then intersperse them with generic buildings and highlight it a bit with some greenery to symbolize parks. They needed to be somewhat recognizable from a basic line drawing, so I selected The Empire State Building, The Chrysler Building, Citi Corp, The Flatiron, Grand Central, and The Arch at Washington Square.

I did a basic sketch to get the overall look and feeling, and then mixed some frosting a dark but muted gray color. Then, with just a basic round tip, I piped the key buildings around the cake. Then the smaller ones and last the bits of green just to have some color. As you can see from the finished product, it is simple, iconic, and masculine.

My friend loved the cake, and I was happy that it tasted even better than my last red velvet! We had great fun at the party divvying up the respective buildings and offering them to various people at the party! Anybody want to eat the Chrysler Building?

Red Velvet Cake (from Baked)
1/4 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons red gel food coloring (see note below)
1/4 cup boiling water
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening, at room temperature
1 2/3 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon fine salt
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat the oven to 325 F.

In a bowl whisk together the cocoa powder, food coloring, and boiling water. Set aside to cool. In the bowl of an electric stand  mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and shortening until smooth. Scrape down the bowl and add the sugar. Beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Stir the buttermilk and vanilla into the cooled cocoa mixture. Sift the flour and salt together into another bowl. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture, alternating with the cocoa mixture, to the egg mixture in three separate additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat until combined. In a small dish, combine the vinegar and baking soda and stir until the baking soda dissolves (I love the way it bubbles up). Add to the batter and stir until just combined.

Bake at 325 F about 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of each cake comes out clean.Transfer the cakes to a wire rack and let cool for 20 minutes. Invert the cakes onto the rack, remove the pans, and let cool completely before frosting.

*This recipe yields 3 cakes in 8 inch rounds. I only used 2 cakes from smaller rounds and used the rest of the batter for cupcakes. Additionally, Baked uses a cinnamon frosting whereas I prefer a traditional cream cheese frosting.

Red Velvet

The finished red velvet cake

Red Velvet seems to be the hottest and most popular flavor around these days. Red Velvet is EVERYWHERE- I have even seen it as an ice cream and a yogurt flavor! Red Velvet cake is essentially a chocolate cake, colored RED to give it its’ namesake hue. Originally, the red color came from beets, but today most people just use red food coloring to achieve this devilish color. Cream cheese frosting adds a fantastic decadent touch and acts to offset the red color of the cake very well.

Today, as a birthday present, I made my first red velvet cake. Most recipes call for buttermilk, which is not always the easiest ingredient to find in the small, poorly stocked NYC grocery stores. They also call for distilled white vinegar. Another ingredient I am not used to using in my basic cake recipes.

Here is the recipe I used:

Red Velvet Cake (taken from Martha Stewart’s website)

2 1/2 Cups Cake Flour

1 1/2 Cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups canola oil

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2-3 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 cup lowfat buttermilk

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

2 tablespoons red food coloring

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Remember that you will be working with red food coloring, so if you are wearing something nice- CHANGE YOU CLOTHES.

Ok, now you are ready to go!

In a separate bowl, whisk flour, salt and cocoa.

In a mixing bowl, whisk sugar and oil. Once mixed, add eggs one at a time. Then add vanilla and food coloring.

add in the red food coloring and vanilla

Then add flower mixture and buttermilk- add part of the flour and then part of the buttermilk, alternating between the two until mixed in. Most likely, some will stick to the sides, so scrape down the edges and mix in.

add the flour mixture and buttermilk, alternating and mixing as you go

In a small separate bowl, combine the vinegar and baking soda. It will foam up. Add this to the batter and mix for another few seconds.

Pour batter into already prepared baking dishes. I prefer to use rounds. If you have extra batter, make a few cupcakes for sampling-yum.

Bake for 30-35 min at 350 F until cake is done. Let cool prior to frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting (from Ina Garten’s recipe)

1- 8 oz package cream cheese  (room temp)

1 1/2 sticks butter  (softened or room temp)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

With paddle attachment, mix together the cream cheese, vanilla and butter. Once mixed, add the powdered sugar and mix until creamy and smooth. (Note: I doubled the recipe to have enough frosting for additional decoration- the basket weave around the sides)

For the cake, I used two 7″ rounds, which left me with extra batter. With this I made a few cupcakes, to taste and give away to friends. The cake was very light and airy, with a touch of cocoa flavor. The cream cheese was soft and creamy, and the perfect complement to the cake. I stacked the cake layers and incorporated a layer of cream cheese frosting between the two cakes for added flavor.

Red Velvet may be over-exposed, but it is still delicious and a great way to wish a fantastic person a Happy Birthday!