Red velvet cake & fluffy frosting

Revisiting a childhood favorite

Growing up, I remember my Great Aunt Marge was known for her red velvet cake and what we called "fluffy frosting." While we don't have the cake recipe on file, my mom still has the frosting recipe and requests it at least once each year — usually on her birthday, which is in January. But this year, I made Aunt Marge's frosting for Christmas with a red velvet cake recipe I found online. 

The cake itself is insane — so moist and delicious. I used two bottles of red food coloring to make it really pop. Make sure to add the coffee to the batter — it adds moisture, not coffee flavor. The frosting recipe makes enough to cover the middle and entire outside of the cake, so no need to double it. And finally, try topping this cake with DIY chocolate letters — being that they're DIY, you can make this cake to celebrate any occasion. How about "Yay 2015!"?

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RED VELVET CAKE & FLUFFY FROSTING

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
CAKE
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 TBS unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable or canola oil
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 oz. red food coloring (I used 2 oz. - that's two full bottles)
1 tsp distilled white vinegar
1/2 cup hot coffee (don't skip this!)

FROSTING
1 cup milk
5 TBS flour
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla

WHAT YOU'LL DO:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Generously butter and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, mix sugar and oil. Add eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, and food coloring, and mix until combined. Stir in coffee and white vinegar.

4. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing after each addition until just combined.

5. Pour batter evenly into prepared pans. Bake for 25-40 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the cake rest in the pans until the pans are cool to the touch, then turn onto racks to cool completely. *Note: I made my cakes the day before I frosted them. To store, wrap in plastic overnight.

5. For the frosting: On the stove, cook milk and flour over a low flame until thick. Let cool. In a large bowl, blend butter, sugar, and vanilla. Mix the two blends together on high speed about 3 to 5 minutes, until fluffy. Frost away! Store in a cool place.

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P.S. If you haven't played with chocolate letters yet, you must! They're so fun to make, and it's a blast to get creative with some simple shapes, too. If you want to add letters to a cake with chocolate frosting, try using white chocolate chips instead of dark chocolate. You could even try adding some food coloring to the white chocolate for colorful words. I've never tried this, so I can't attest to whether or not the letters would get too melty too quickly, but I think it would be worth a shot!