Name: Red Velvet Cake with Creamy Vanilla Frosting
Yield: Makes one 8-inch, 2-layer cake (serves 10 to 12)
Ingredients: 2 cups (400 grams) sugar; ¾ cup (1½ sticks/170 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature; ½ cup (60 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa powder; 2 cups (4 sticks/454 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into 2-inch cubes; ¼ teaspoon kosher salt; ⅓ cup (80 grams) red food coloring; ¾ cup (180 grams) crème fraîche; 1½ teaspoons baking powder; 1½ teaspoons baking soda; 1½ teaspoons kosher salt; 2 egg yolks; 3¾ cups (450 grams) cake flour; ½ cup (70 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour; 2¼ cups (450 grams) sugar; 3 eggs; 2 cups (480 grams) milk; 2 teaspoons vanilla extract; ¾ cup (180 grams) nonfat buttermilk

Preparation info

Makes one 8-inch, 2-layer cake (serves
10 to 12
)

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Flour

By Joanne Chang

Published 2010

About

When I opened Flour, we were one of the few bake-from-scratch bakeries in town, and customers flooded us with requests for specialty cakes and pastries. They frequently waxed nostalgic about childhood desserts and begged us to replicate them. We often said yes, because it was a way for us to try a new dessert and make a customer happy—a win-win in our book. One of the most common requests was for red velvet cake. Even though I grew up in Texas, and this was purportedly a Southern cake, I ha