Red velvet cake

Name: Red velvet cake
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 105 min
Yield: 12
Ingredients: roasted beet, cooled and coarsely chopped; all-purpose flour, sifted twice with the baking powder, cocoa and salt; baking powder; natural (non-Dutch) cocoa powder; salt; unsalted butter, softened (for the cake and the frosting); granulated sugar; eggs, at room temperature; vanilla extract (for the cake and the frosting); whole milk (soured to replace buttermilk), at room temperature; lemon juice, stirred into the milk to sour it (buttermilk substitute); cream cheese, softened (frosting); powdered sugar (frosting)

Bánh red velvet

PastryCakeAmericanOvenContains milk and eggNo onion or garlicContains egg, gluten, milk

Servings

12 servings

When you change servings, the number of pans is rounded up to keep the baking proportions. The original recipe makes 12 servings; you are using 1 pans.

Ingredients

85 groasted beet, cooled and coarsely chopped
240 gall-purpose flour, sifted twice with the baking powder, cocoa and salt
12 gbaking powder
6 gnatural (non-Dutch) cocoa powder
2 gsalt
185 gunsalted butter, softened (for the cake and the frosting)
300 ggranulated sugar
3 pcseggs, at room temperature
13 gvanilla extract (for the cake and the frosting)
175 mlwhole milk (soured to replace buttermilk), at room temperature
11 mllemon juice, stirred into the milk to sour it (buttermilk substitute)
150 gcream cheese, softened (frosting)
300 gpowdered sugar (frosting)

45 minPrep
60 minCook
105 minTotal
HardDifficulty

Method

These references were used to check ingredients and cooking instructions.All Natural Red Velvet CakeOven TalesREAL Red Velvet Cake (with no food coloring or beet juice) – Ben Starr – The Ultimate Food GeekThe Ultimate Food Geek (Ben Starr)All references

Preheat the oven to 175 °C. Peel one medium beet, cut it into pieces about 1 cm thick, spread in a dish, cover tightly with foil and roast for about 30 minutes until fork-tender. Cool, pulse until coarsely chopped and measure 1/2 cup (about 85 g); keep any leftover beet for another dish.
Stir 11 g of lemon juice into all 180 g of milk and leave 5–10 minutes until it thickens slightly like buttermilk (1 tablespoon lemon juice per cup of milk). Blend the 85 g beet with 60 g of this milk until smooth; the other 120 g goes into the batter.
Butter, flour and line the bases of two 20 cm round pans. Sift the flour, baking powder, cocoa and salt together at least twice.
Cream 110 g butter with the sugar, add the eggs gradually, then mix in 4 g vanilla. Reserve 75 g butter and 9 g vanilla for the frosting.
On the lowest speed, add the flour and the 120 g soured milk alternately, starting and ending with flour. Fold in the beet puree last until the batter turns pinkish red.
Divide the batter between the pans and bake for 25–30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Cool the cakes in the pans on a rack, then turn them out and cool completely.
Beat the cream cheese with the reserved 75 g butter until smooth. Gradually add the powdered sugar, add the reserved 9 g vanilla and beat until fluffy.
Spread frosting on one layer, set the second layer on top and cover the cake with the rest. Chill for 30 minutes for neater slices.

Tips

Use natural cocoa, not Dutch-process, because acidity affects the colour.
Do not swap the baking powder; the pH decides the red tint.
The beet can be roasted 1–2 days ahead, but blend it on baking day; beets stain hands, so wear gloves.

Substitutions

Make two 20 cm cakes, baked at 175 °C for 25–30 minutes. Use about 85 g (1/2 cup) roasted, coarsely chopped beet from one medium beet; save the excess.
Keep the frosting at a 2:1:4 ratio of cream cheese, butter and powdered sugar: 150 g, 75 g and 300 g. Split the vanilla about 4 g for the cake and 9 g for the frosting.
Replace buttermilk with soured milk (1 tablespoon lemon juice per cup of milk, rested a few minutes) for both the beet puree and the batter; colour and taste may differ slightly.

Storage

Keep the frosted cake covered in the fridge for 3–4 days; let it stand 20 minutes before slicing.

Nutrition per serving (estimate)

Calculated from each ingredient weight and the cited food composition tables, divided by the base servings. Oil absorbed in frying and seasoning to taste are not counted.FoodData CentralU.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research ServiceAll references

456 kcalEnergy
5.2 gProtein
68.2 gCarbohydrate
18.8 gFat
0.9 gFibre
243 mgSodium

An estimate for reference only, not medical advice.