Red velvet cake is traditionally a red, red-brown, crimson or scarlet-colored chocolate layer cake, layered with icing. Traditional recipes do not use food coloring.
When foods were rationed during World War II, bakers used boiled beetroot juices to enhance the color of their cakes.
I always wanted to try this recipe but was bit skeptical to use food coloring mainly because I couldn’t find good food coloring here where we stay.
So I started reading about the alternatives to use and best I found was beetroot which is readily available at home.
But when i was reading about how people attempted to use beetroot says most of the time it turned brown, some says it turns dry and so I paused! and thought should I really use beetroot? But i continued researching about it till I finalized on this recipe.
Special Notes in making this cake successful:
- My research indicated that the batter needed to be acidic to hold the color,
- For this recipe, fresh beet puree is the key to the color. Cooked beets were easier to puree but oxidized in the cooked batter and turned brown.
- The batter must be very acidic to prevent the beets from oxidizing. That means no baking soda and lots of acidic ingredients like buttermilk, lemon juice, vinegar.
- Just a touch of natural cocoa powder does the trick too much and the cake looks too chocolaty. Dutch process cocoa is also a no-go for the same reason.
- The finished cake has a slight earthy flavor from the beets, but it's barely noticeable,especially with frosting
Ingredients
1 cup beetroot puree ( do not boil )
3/4 cup curd / buttermilk
1 tbsp vinegar ( I used apple cider, can also use white vinegar)
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp vanilla essence ( try to use pure ones)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup flavorless oil
3 large eggs
2 1/2 cup all purpose flour
3 Tbsp cocoa powder , natural one and not Dutch processed
Frosting :
Butter 1/2 cup
Icing sugar 1/2 cup or little less than 1/2 cup
white chocolate 200 g
Vanilla extract 1 tsp
Lemon zest ( optional)
Method:
- Mix beetroot puree, lemon juice, vinegar, curd together by hand or food processor
- Now sift in the dry ingredients together, flour, baking powder , salt and cocoa powder into a bowl
- Beat butter and oil until soft and creamy
- To that add sugar and beat until it turns light colored
- Now to this add eggs one at a time and beat well
- Add vanilla essence to this and beat
- Finally add in flour mix and beetroot mix alternatively starting and ending with flour.
- Do not over mix the batter
- Evenly divide the batter into two cake pans (8 inch each)
- Bake at 170 c for 20 to 25 mins ( since everyone oven is different do check after 25 mins, toothpick inserted should come out clean)
- Cool the cakes on a rack for 20 minutes then invert onto the rack to cool completely.
To make the frosting
- Firstly melt white chocolate and cream on a double boiler and allow it to cool to room temperature
- Then Beat the butter until soft
- To that add Icing sugar and beat until creamy
- Now add the melted chocolate and cream mixture and vanilla extract ( lemon zest is optional)beat until stiff peaks come
To assemble the cake
- Trim the tops of the cake layers so they are flat, if necessary. Place one layer on a serving plate and spread frosting on top.
- Top with the second cake layer, then smooth a thin coat of frosting on the outside of the cake.
- Chill for at least 30 minutes, then cover the cake with a second, heavier coat of frosting to finish.
 |
| Red Velvet Cake with Butter Cream |