Ruby Red Velvet

It occurred to me this morning, that despite all the goodies I'm baking I'm not doing much bloggin'. With working full time in the NHS I often struggle to find the opportunity to bake as much as I would like (before any mini violins come flying my way, I still manage to bake at least once a week - I have to keep the other half full and happy after all!) however, with our wedding approaching (10 months and counting!) it's time to up the baking game and decide on our cake flavours.

Last week was the trial of the Red Velvet with Sugar and Crumbs Strabwerry Milkshake and Velvet Vanilla flavoured icing sugars. I can feel your raised eyebrows in my direction at the lack of the traditional cream cheese icing to go alongside my Red Velvet cake however I controversially have a strong dislike to the taste of cream cheese icing. After some contemplation, I decided that a fruity berry buttercream would be much more complimentary to my red velvet cake however if fruity flavours really aren't your thing, I also made this cake with a creamy white chocolate buttercream(in the form of some lacy granny pants I should also add, which can be found on my instagram).


Cake Ingredients:
355g Sifted Plain Flour
25g Cocoa Powder
1tsp Bicarb Soda
70ml Buttermilk
375g Unsalted Butter
405g Caster Sugar
6 Large Eggs
2tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
3/4tsp Vanilla
3/4tsp Good Quality Red Gel Food Colouring

Buttercream Ingredients
150g Unsalted Butter (leave both butters at room temp for as long as possible!)
150g Salted Butter
200g Strawberry Milkshake Sugar and Crumbs Flavoured Icing Sugar
200g Velvet Vanilla Sugar and Crumbs Flavoured Icing Sugar
200g Icing Sugar
2tbsp Milk 
A Drop of Pink Food Colouring 


How-to:

1. Beat your caster sugar and butter in your stand mixer until fluffy and light.
2. Sift your dry ingredients in to a separate bowl
3. Combine your buttermilk, vanilla extract and red food colouring
4. Add your eggs individually to your sugar and butter mix, add a tbsp of flour if your batter begins to split. 
5. Alternate adding your dry and wet ingredients to your stand mixer; starting and finishing with dry. 
6. Quickly combine your Apple Cider Vinegar and Bicarb and immediately add to your stand mixer. Lastly, on a medium setting for a short time, ensure all your ingredients are combined.
7. Split between your prepared cake tins (I like to weigh my cake batter in to each tin so I ensure there is an equal amount)
8. Bake at 150 degrees celsius in a fan oven, for 30-35minutes. 
9. Remove from the oven when a cake skewer comes out clean, and leave to cool. 
10. Meanwhile, make your buttercream. Combine 75g of both your unsalted and salted butter (150g in total) in your stand mixer until they are lighter in colour and a softer creamy consistency (I used a combination of salted and unsalted to combat some over the sickly sweet taste that buttercream can sometimes have!). 
11. Add your 100g of plain icing sugar and 200g of your Velvet Vanilla icing sugar; now mix together. 
12. If required, add 1tbsp of milk and mix until fully combined. Remove this from your mixing bowl and put to one side. 
13. Repeat steps 10 to 12, using your strawberry milkshake icing sugar. Also add a drop of pink food colouring. 
14. Once your cakes have cool, level their tops so your cake stands nice and even. 
15. Split your sponges into two and begin piping or spreading your buttercream on to your first sponge layer. Place your next sponge layer on top of your buttercream and repeat for your following layers(I decided to pipe alternating circles of strawberry and vanilla buttercream on to each layer to give a cute pattern, as well as lots of flavour!)
16. Continue until you have filled and stacked all of your cake, it is now time to decorate until your heart desires!

I opted for a rustic naked buttercream look using both flavours of buttercream, as well as a piped shell border. 

This cake received a strong "good start" on our cake tasting spreadsheet, I'm still uncertain whether this is a trick to get as many cake as possible for "testing" from the other half!