Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

I know it's a little cliche to be posting a red velvet cake recipe so close to Valentine's Day, but oh well. What's Valentine's Day without some cutesy cliche anyway?

Sure, you could go with red velvet cheesecake, or red velvet cookies, or even red velvet pancakes. I've seen them all (thanks to Pinterest). But cake is classic. And timeless. Especially this one.

This cake pretty much as classic and simple as they come. It has a nice, airy texture and pairs perfectly with sweet and tangy cream cheese icing. 

I particularly like that every once in a while you get a bite that reminds you of the little bit of cocoa in the cake. And that it's not day-glo red. The color somehow seems a little more natural this way, and there's definitely no hint of the food coloring flavor.

A note about decorating with this frosting: I find that cream cheese icing can be a little sticky and soft, so it's not the easiest to use if you want a cake with perfectly smooth sides. Instead I went with a more casual sort of striped look using a small offset spatula. You like?

Red Velvet Cake
Yield: One 3-layer 8'' cake

Ingredients
12 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup, plus 1 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 heaping tsp red gel food coloring
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
3 cups, plus 6 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
4 1/2 tsp distilled white vinegar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour (or spray with non-stick cooking spray) three 8'' cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Set aside
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Add the eggs one at a time and continue to beat on medium speed between each. Scrape down the bowl and beat until well incorporated.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the cocoa, vanilla, and red food coloring. Add to the batter, and mix on low speed until completely combined, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed to ensure all the batter is colored evenly.
4. With the mixer running on low, slowly add half of the buttermilk. Once it is mostly incorporated, stop the mixer and add half of the flour and salt. Turn the mixer to low and mix until not quite combined.  Repeat the process with the remaining milk and flour and beat until just barely incorporated.
5. Add the baking soda and white vinegar to the batter and mix on low until all ingredients are incorporated.
6. Divide batter evenly between the three prepared cake pans and bake for 31-35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean. Transfer the cake pans to wire racks to cool for at least 10 minutes. Turn the cakes out of their pans and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Recipe Notes

• This amount of batter with yield about 36 cupcakes. Reduce the baking time to 17-19 minutes.
• I use Wilton brand's gel coloring in Red-Red, but you can absolutely use traditional liquid food coloring if you want. Substitute 4 Tbsp for the 1 tsp of gel coloring, and continue adding until the batter is red enough for you. Do not add more than 6 Tbsp of food coloring or the ratio of liquid may be thrown off.
• I divided my batter using a scale and had approximately 600g in each of my three cake pans.

Recipe slightly adapted from Joy the Baker

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:
3/4 lb (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
24 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
7 cups powdered sugar, divided

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and half the sugar until very light and fluffy.
2. Add the cream cheese and remaining sugar and continue to cream until smooth.
3. Store frosting in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to use.

Recipe Notes

• Be careful not to overbeat this icing too much or it will become too soft and won't hold its shape when piped.
• I had about a cup of icing left over after generously icing my 3-layer 8'' cake.
• If using refrigerated icing, be sure to return it to the mixer and beat on low just to soften it slightly so it is easy to work with. See bullet #1.

Classic Vanilla Cake with Fluffy Vanilla Icing

I have a problem. I'm a pastry chef... who hates decorating cakes.

I know, I know. How can this be? There are people out there who dedicate their whole careers just to cakes. I'm just not one of them.

I love baking all things sweet. And I love decorating sugar cookies. But stacking and decorating layer cakes? Eh. Part of the problem is that decorated layer cakes aren't exactly my strong suit. I, like most pastry chefs I know, consider myself to be a perfectionist. So when I can't get the sides of my cake perfectly smooth, or a rosette perfectly centered, or fondant corners perfectly sharp, it drives me crazy!

Clearly the answer is to practice more. So, in an effort to improve my skills, I've decided to bake and stack at least one cake a week for... the foreseeable future. Sure, I could just use a foam dummy cake instead of baking a new cake every week, but where's the fun in that?

I have an ever-growing list of cake recipes and flavor combinations that I can't wait to tackle. Today marks week 1, and I decided to start with this simple classic. May seem a little boring, but vanilla cake and vanilla frosting are both great bases for later additions, like chocolate chips, pureed fruit, or flavored extracts. And I love, love, love this vanilla cake. It's so light and fluffy and delicious! The perfect vanilla cake, if you ask me.

This icing is a traditional confectioner's icing. To me, it tastes like supermarket frosting. Before you think I'm trash talking my local grocer, let me explain. It's super fluffy and sweet, not too buttery, and always a crowd pleaser. I find it a little hard to work with when doing some piping techniques because it can get a little soft, but for a lot of people (me included) the flavor is preferable over a Swiss or Italian meringue buttercream (Don't worry; we'll get to those soon enough!).

Now I just have to figure out what to do with all this cake.

Classic Vanilla Cake
Yield: One 3-layer 8'' cake

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups (320 grams) milk
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
5 (180 grams) egg whites
3 1/2 cups (400 grams) cake flour, sifted
2 cups, plus 6 Tbsp (400 grams) granulated sugar
2 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 sticks (226 grams) butter, soft, cut into cubes

Directions:
1. Line the bottoms of three 8'' round cake pans with parchment paper. Butter and flour the pans and paper, or grease with cooking spray. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large measuring cup or bowl, combine the milk, vanilla, and egg whites. Whisk lightly with a fork and set aside.
3. Place the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix for one minute on low with the paddle attachment. Add the butter and 1/3 of the milk mixture. Mix on low until the batter is moistened, but thick, like a paste. Increase the speed to medium and mix for about 2 minutes.
4. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat in the rest of the milk mixture in three additions, beating on low after each addition until the liquid is just incorporated, about 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
5. Divide the batter evenly between the three prepared pans. Bake for 28-33 minutes, or until golden brown and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pans. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

Recipe Notes:

• To get truly even cake layers, I divided the batter using a scale, pouring about 480g in each pan.
• For a special touch, you could substitute the seeds from one or two vanilla beans instead of the vanilla extract.

Recipe adapted from The Cake Bible by Rosy Levy Beranbaum

Vanilla Icing
Yield: Enough icing to fill and frost one 3-layer 8'' cake

Ingredients:
1 lb butter
6 oz  shortening
1 lb powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Cream butter in an electric mixer with the paddle attachment until soft.
2. Add the shortening and continue to cream on medium speed until light and fluffy.
3. With the mixer on low, gradually add powdered sugar. Increase speed to medium and beat until icing is light and fluffy.

Recipe Notes:

• This icing can be stored at room temperature for up to a week.

Mustard Barbecued Pork

Is anyone tired of winter yet? It seems like it. Valentine's decorations are out, people are pinning Easter cookies. Seriously people, what's the hurry? Winter isn't so bad. No need to mow the lawn or rake leaves. No sticking to your hot leather car seats. Plus, you can leave your oven on all day without needing to stick your head in the freezer.

This is another of those recipes with fall off the bone tender meat. That takes just 10 minutes of prep in the morning and hours later, dinner's magically on the table with hardly any additional work. That will infuse your house with such an enticing, delicious smell your neighbors will come sniffing at your windows.

The mustard sauce for this barbecued pork is a little unconventional, but it's popular in parts of South Carolina. With family in Charleston, Dan's been raving about it for years, so when this recipe popped up in this month's Southern Living, it went on my short list.

I also took their advice and made Banh Mi sandwiches. Sort of a cross between a Vietnamese and French sub sandwich. Grab some crusty bread, like big slices of a french baguette. Add some sriracha mayonnaise (sriracha+mayo!), pickled peppers and onions (Seriously, don't skip these!). Top everything off with some shredded carrot and a few paper-thin slices of jalepeno. Sprinkle on some cilantro leaves if they don't give you flashbacks of having your mouth washed out with soap.

Mustard Barbecued Pork
Yield: 8-10 servings

Ingredients:

1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp ground red pepper
1 5-lb bone-in pork shoulder (Boston butt)
1 cup yellow mustard
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and all dry spices. Rub all over pork shoulder and place in a large dutch oven.
2. Whisk together the remaining ingredients to create a sauce. Pour over top of the roast.
3. Cover and roast 8-10 hours. Remove from oven and let sit 15 minutes. Shred with two forks and stir into remaining sauce.

Pickled Peppers & Onions

Ingredients:
1/2 red onion
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 yellow bell pepper
1/2 green bell pepper
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup water
6 Tbsp granulated sugar
2 Tbsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Directions:
Slice the onion and peppers into 1/4'' thick slices. Let the onion slices soak in a bowl of ice water for at least 10 minutes. In a small pot, bring vinegar, water, sugar, salt, and pepper flakes to a boil, stirring occasionally to ensure the sugar is dissolved. Place the pepper and onion slices in a large glass bowl of 1-qt canning jar. Pour the warm liquid over the vegetables and allow to sit, uncovered at room temperature for 1 hour. Cover and chill for 24 hours. Store refrigerated for up to a week.

Recipe Notes

• If you have a large enough slow-cooker (mine was too small), follow all the above directions but cook in your slow cooker on low. If you're short on time, you can cook it on high for just 4-6 hours.
• If you're just planning on making this for a regular weeknight dinner, you're going to end up with plenty of leftovers. Freeze them flat in plastic bags for easier storage and quicker defrost.
• If you're sticking with a more traditional barbecued pork sandwich instead of a Banh Mi, make some extra mustard sauce to mix into the cooked meat or drizzle on top of each sandwich. Don't forget the slaw!

Recipe adapted from Southern Living Magazine