Red Velvet Cake

Caitie's dad had been asked to make a red velvet cake for his cousin's wedding, so of course the first step was to find the ideal recipe. Caitie helped her dad test this particular version.
A bit of a search on Google told us that red velvet cake got its name from the reddish brown colour that came from the reaction between the buttermilk and the cocoa, but in modern times, the cocoa is quite different and the resulting cake doesn't tend to be red enough to satisfy consumers. So these days, red food colouring is added.
We found this particular recipe on the NZ Girl website and figured it was worth a try.

The oven was preheated to 175 degrees Celsius and Caitie sifted 1½ cups flour, 1½ cups sugar, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon dutch cocoa powder.



In a seperate bowl, she mixed together 1½ cups oil, 1 cup buttermilk, 2 eggs, 1 tablespoon red food colouring, 1 teaspoon vinegar and 1 teaspoon vanilla essence.





Then the wet and dry ingredients were combined.





The cake was baked in a greased pan for 30 minutes.



The verdict was that this version was too light to use as a wedding cake - it wasn't capable of supporting two tiers on top. But we enjoyed eating it. :)