3-Tiered Valentines' Red Velvet Cake

3-Tiered Valentines’ Red Velvet Cake

I made this for Nic for Valentines’ this year and it was a real hit. I decorated it with red hearts and ‘I love you’ around the cake, so romantic! It is the perfect colour and a totally delicious cake. This is originally out of ‘the hummingbird bakery cookbook’ as cupcakes – just halve the below recipe to make 12 cupcakes.

Ingredients:

120g unsalted butter, at room temperature

300g caster sugar

2 eggs

20g cocoa powder

40ml red food colouring (Dr. Oetker Red Food Colouring is best)

1tsp vanilla extract

240ml buttermilk

300g plain flour

1tsp salt

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

3tsp white wine vinegar

Method:

1.     Preheat the oven to 170°C.

2.     Cream the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy. Slowly add the eggs and beat until everything is incorporated.

3.     In a small separate bowl, mix the cocoa powder, red food colouring and vanilla extract into a thick, dark paste. Add this to the butter mixture and mix until evenly combined and coloured.

4.     With the mixer on a low speed, pour in half the buttermilk and mix until combined. Then add half the flour and mix until combined. Continue this process until all the buttermilk and flour has been added and are well combined.

5.     Add the salt, bicarbonate of soda and vinegar and mix thoroughly.

6.     Divide the mixture between three 20-cm cake tins and bake for 25minutes.

Icing

Ingredients:

600g icing sugar, sifted

100g unsalted butter, at room temperature

250g cream cheese, cold

Method:

1.     Beat the icing sugar and butter together until it is well mixed.

2.     Add all the cream cheese and beat until incorporated.

3.     Continue beating until the icing is light and fluffy, probably about 5 minutes. (Don’t overbeat, it can become runny.)