Red Velvet Cake

Cake

   1 tsp white vinegar

   1 tsp baking soda

   1½ cups sugar

   ½ cup shortening

   2 eggs

   2 tsp GF cocoa

   1 oz red food coloring

   1 cup buttermilk

   2½ cups flour or 2 ½ cups America’s Test Kitchen GF flour blend + 1¼ tsp xanthan gum or 2½ cups Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 GF flour or 2½ cups of your favorite GF flour blend + 1¼ tsp xanthan gum (omit if your flour contains already)

   1 tsp salt

   1 tsp GF vanilla

Prepare 2 round 8 or 9 inch cake pans by lightly spraying with GF baking spray. Or line 24 muffin tins with paper liners. (See notes)

Whisk together GF flour, xanthan gum & salt. Set aside.

Mix together vinegar & baking soda – it will be very fizzy at first! Set aside.

Cream together sugar & shortening until fluffy.

Add eggs & beat until well blended.

Make a paste of the cocoa & small amount of red food coloring. Add to creamed mix & blend together.

Add remainder of red food coloring. Mix at lowest speed until blended. (You don’t want the red food coloring splashing all over the place!)

Alternately add the buttermilk & the flour mixture until well combined.

Add vanilla, mix until blended.

Add vinegar & baking soda mixture, mix well.

Pour batter into prepared cake pans or fill muffin cups about ¾ full.

Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes. They should be springy to the touch & a toothpick inserted in the middle should come out clean.

Gently run a table knife around the edges of the pans. Then turn cakes over onto wire rack to cool. (If you used the parchment or wax paper in the bottom of the pans, remove now. Allow cakes to cool completely. If you are making cupcakes, remove from pan & cool on wire rack.

When the cakes are cool, cut each in half horizontally, to end up with 4 layers. I find a long bread knife works well, just take your time & be gentle.

Frosting

   1 cup milk

   3 tbsp flour or 3 tbsp GF flour + 1/8 tsp xanthan gum (omit if your flour contains already)

   1 cup butter

   1 cup sugar

   1 tbsp GF vanilla

Cook milk & flour in top of double boiler (or heavy saucepan will work too – just be careful not to burn the milk) until thick, about 10 minutes or so, stirring constantly. Cool completely.

Cream butter & sugar until fluffy.

Add vanilla & blend completely.

Mix in a little of the cooked mixture & blend. Then add the remainder of the cooked mixture while beating.

Once mixture in completely blended, beat on high for 2 minutes.

Place one of the four layers on cake plate, spread frosting on top. (You will pick some crumbs up into the frosting because of cutting the layers – this is ok between the layers! Just end up with the top of one of the layers on the top of the cake). Place next layer on top & spread with frosting. Continue with next two layers. Then frost entire outside of cake.

Decoration Options

   Red sugar

   Crumbs from cake or cupcake (There are usually plenty of crumbs from cutting the cake layers in half or I cut one of the cupcakes in half & use a fork to make the crumbs.)

   Cocoa

   Edible glitter

Notes:

The cakes made with GF flour don’t really rise as much as when you make them with regular flour. I recommend using 8 inch cake pans, then they will be a little thicker (& easier to slice each layer in half). To prepare cake pans, I cut parchment or wax paper & place in bottom of pans sprayed with baking spray. Then flip over the round paper. This will make removing the cake from the pans easier & prevent them from sticking to the pan. And the paper will peel off easily once you turn the cakes out of the pans.

Making the four layers for this cake is the traditional way it is made, but you don’t have to cut the layers in half - you will just end up with a 2 layer cake, instead of a four layer cake. You can also make cupcakes with the batter & just frost the tops. It will make 24 cupcakes.

In my family taste test, Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 GF flour blend just edged out America’s Test Kitchen GF flour blend. The consensus was that Bob’s had a little better texture & was just a tiny bit moister, but both were a hit regarding overall flavor!

The frosting makes just enough to spread between the layers & frost the entire outside. If you like more frosting between the layers &/or a little more on the outside to make spreading the frosting into a nice finish easier, then I recommend making 1½ times the frosting recipe. Because, if you are like me, & aren’t an expert at frosting cakes, the extra frosting will help. Besides, you can never have too much frosting!