Red and Blue Velvet Cake

The Fourth of July is my favorite holiday, right after my birthday. Everyone knows exactly what to expect- plenty of grilled foods, cold drinks, celebration of America, no stress, no presents and best of all, fireworks. Also integral to the celebration of America's independence is Flag Cake- the cake with a replica of the flag in berries on top. Its the Christmas tree, hand turkey, Easter Bunny of the 4th. This year, I wanted to take mine one step further into Americana. Enter Red and Blue Velvet cake.

Using four (FOUR) whole tubes of food coloring, Red and Blue Velvet cake says America on the outside and YOU THINK YOU'RE PATRIOTIC? CHECK ME OUT on the inside. 

I took a traditional Red Velvet cake recipe, and divded the batter in half, one for red and one for blue. Thick cream cheese frosting rounded out the cake to be the white layer, and  hold up the berries on top. Bow down to my American-ness. 

Red and Blue Velvet Cake

Adapted from Pinch My Salt

Serves 12-16

2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 Tbl cocoa powder (unsweetened)

2 oz. red food coloring

2 oz. blue food coloring

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs, at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature

1 tsp white vinegar

1 tsp baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour two 9-inch round cake pans.

2. Sift together the cake flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl; set aside. 

3. In a large bowl, using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about three minutes.  Beat in eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla, scraping down the bowl with a spatula as you go.  Add one third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, beat well, then beat in half of the buttermilk. Beat in another third of flour mixture, then second half of buttermilk. End with the last third of the flour mixture, beat until well combined, making sure to scrape down the bowl with a spatula. Divide batter in two pans, add blue food coloring to one and red to the other. Stir throughly. 

4. Make sure you have cake pans buttered, floured, and nearby.  In a small bowl, mix vinegar and baking soda.  Yes, it will fizz and yes you have to divide the quanities.  Add to each cake batter and stir well to combine.  Working quickly, pour batter into cake pans and place them in a preheated 350 degree oven. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Check early, cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

5. Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. To remove the cakes from the pan, place a wire rack on top of the cake pan and invert, then gently lift the pan.  Allow cakes to cool completely before frosting. Frost with buttercream or cream cheese icing (recipe below). 

Cream Cheese Frosting

16 oz. cream cheese (2 packages), softened

1/2 cup unsalted butter (one stick), softened

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

pinch of salt

1. With an electric mixer, blend together cream cheese and butter until smooth.

  

2. Turn mixer to low speed and blend in powdered sugar, salt and vanilla extract.  Turn mixer on high and beat until light and fluffy. 

3. Use immediately or refrigerate, covered, until ready to use.  If refrigerated, the frosting will need to be brought to room temperature before using (after frosting softens up, beat with mixer until smooth).

Sweet and Salty or the Best Birthday Cake Ever

I am not the world's best gift giver. I certainly know people who are, like an old roommate, who put incredible amounts of thought and love into what they give you. Presents that don't go in the "thanks for buying me crap I'll never use" category. Given half a chance, I would rather gift you with baked goods. That is where I really shine, and can direct all my love, energy, time and ingredients into treating you with something special.
Nic's birthday happened while she was on her honeymoon in Italy, and was thusly ignored. If you're in Italy, no whining about a birthday celebration. Nic and I are champions of waiting eons to give the other a birthday present. I'm still waiting on a certain handmade birthday dress from two years ago that was absolutely beautiful, but was more optimistic about my actual size than I am. So a few weeks after said birthday, I made a promise to bake something combining her new favorites: salt and chocolate.

With deep, dark chocolate nothing brings out the flavor like the sharp contrast of salt that brings the vanilla, coffee, true chocolate flavor forth. I had zero idea of where I was going to go with a baked good, but a quick foodblogsearch.com trip found Sweet and Salty cake. After obsessively reading food blogs for a long, long time, I was definitely familiar with the guys of Baked and their awesome desserts. A bakery in Brooklyn, Baked is home to the Sweet and Salty cake, moist chocolate cake soaked in salted carmel sauce with whipped carmel ganache frosting. And a sprinkle of fleur de sel to...gild the lily? I'm pretty sure its already gilded and dipped in gold so we'll just call it garnish.

So naturally, I decided to make it. Which meant that I took the basic idea and bastardized it. I choose to make this in an afternoon, which meant way faster than the original. Three separate recipes jumped into to create a substitute. Also, the Whisk Away kitchen is decidedly low-tech at the moment. A candy thermometer or even instant read meat thermometer would enable you to make the real carmel meant for this cake, whereas I chose Deep, Dark Salted Carmel Sauce from Smitten Kitchen (hey Deb! huge fans here)

Here's what I did:

Sweet and Salty Cupcakes

Serves 12. Supposedly.

1. Cake:

Molly Wizenberg's chocolate cake recipe. Its in her fabulous book, A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen. Or any other fabulous chocolate cake recipe that makes 12 cupcakes.

2. Bake the cupcakes as directed.

3. Let them cool for 30-45 min.

In the mean time make this:

4. Salted Caramel Sauce

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 cup sugar

6 tbl salted butter- go all out for this, I chose Plugra

1/2 cup heavy cream + 2 tbl at room temperature

1. Melt the sugar in a large pot, probably 2-3 quarts over medium to medium low heat. Be careful at this point, sugar is picky. Wait for the outside edges to melt, then pull them towards the center with a wooden spoon. Soon the whole mixture will melt. Cook until a nice dark color, just before burnt.
2. Add the butter all at once. The caramel will foam vigorously, but stir through it. It shall be calm.
3. Turn off the heat and add the cream, stirring energetically throughout to make a smooth sauce.
4. At this point, its very pourable. Wait for it to cool to a thicker consistency to pour over the cupcakes. The remaining sauce can be stored in the fridge for about 2 weeks, and heat gently in the microwave to restore to pouring consistency.


5. Soak Cakes:

I poked holes in the cupcakes with a fork, then spooned caramel down over the tops. Let soak in, then add more.
Let cool completely.



6. Frost:
Chocolate Caramel Ganache
8 oz. chocolate, finely chopped

1 cup heavy cream

Few tablespoons of Salted Caramel Sauce


1. Over medium low heat, gently heat the cream until small bubbles appear around the edges.
2. Place the chopped chocolate in bowl, and pour cream over.
3. Stir until well combined, then add a few tablespoons of caramel, to flavor. Let cool completely, to a thick spreadable consistency.

4. Sprinkle a few flakes of fleur de sel over the top, or Trader Joe's Sea Salt.

Split one with you sister, "just to try them." Then go home and eat another one, because you never were good at sharing.