The Best Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Until last year, I had always thought that there was this big secret to red velvet cake.

I didn't think it was chocolate, I thought the flavor was just "red," so when I found out that it is just chocolate and red food coloring, it made red velvet cake a little less magical.  That's when I looked it up to see why anyone would ever just add red food coloring to cake.

Apparently, "the reddish-brown color of the cake originally was from a reaction of the cocoa powder with an acidic ingredient such as buttermilk."  Did you guys know that?  I had no idea.  Now, though, people just add food coloring to make the red tint.  Before food coloring, bakers boiled beets as homemade food coloring.  Cool, huh?

Well, there's my lesson for the day!  Let me just tell you how good this cake is.  SO good!  I love how thick it is and the pieces of chocolate chip are delicious.  The cake isn't super sweet, but the frosting is, so it goes perfectly with it.  The frosting is amaaazzinnng.  I was so proud of myself because I always seem to mess up cream cheese frosting, but this is the first fail-proof cream cheese frosting recipe that I've found.  So creamy, thick, and just plain yummy! I made this for my friend's birthday and she loved it!!!

Red Velvet Cake

From: Cheeky Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. olive oil
• 1 package instant chocolate pudding
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3/4 tsp. baking powder (double if baking at low altitude)
• 2/3 c. cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 c. flour
• 1 c. sour cream
• ½ c. water
• 1 c. mini chocolate chips
• 2 tsp. red gel food coloring

1.  In a large bowl, beat together eggs, brown sugar, and olive oil, and instant pudding mix, creaming until very well mixed. 

2.  Add salt, baking powder, cocoa powder, and flour. Beat just until incorporated. 

3.  Add sour cream and water, and beat again just until incorporated. 

4.  Fold in mini chocolate chips, then scoop batter into a bundt pan which has been generously greased and floured (use cocoa powder, instead of flour, for a nice chocolatey finish to the outside of your cake). 

5.  Bake in an oven preheated to 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes, or just until the center part of the cake ring springs back to the touch. Watch your cake closely! You don’t want to overcook it! Once cooked, wait for the cake to cool to the touch before turning it out onto a cooling rack. Allow to cool, then cover tightly in plastic wrap and store in the fridge overnight before frosting.

The Best Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks butter
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-2 Tbsp. milk 

Directions:

1.  In a large bowl, beat together butter and cream cheese until very light and fluffy.

2.  Slowly add powdered sugar until well mixed. Add vanilla extract.
3. Tip in a Tablespoon or two of milk, if needed to make frosting piping consistency (soft but not drippy). 4.Spoon into a large plastic zip-top bag. Snip a 1-inch hole in the corner of the bag and pipe giant frosting petals onto cooled cake. Enjoy!

Brown Sugar Blackberry Bundt Cake

I'm baaackk!!

Wowowowow! I had a great family reunion and Stuart's and Jane's (Kellen's brother and now sister) wedding was amazing! Portland is absolutely beautiful and it was such a bummer coming back to such hot and humid weather.  It's 112 degrees here today, can you believe that?!  It's hell...literally!

I'm just going to do what I did when I went to New York and let the pictures I took describe the trip because words can't do it justice. *Warning: This is a picture heavy post.

Chicago: 

Had to do it!  The Bean in Millennium Park.  P.S. My cousin just played there!

Portland:

All of the pictures so far have been taken at Jane's parents' beautiful home.

At the coast!

My poor attempt at a heart.

Yakuza Lounge... where I had the BEST burger of my life.
Not even exaggerating.

Original Pancake House!

VOODOO!!

Demolished.

Candy seeds?? Awesome!

Completely homemade.

My favorite picture. Such a ridiculously good looking family.

Anyway, like I said, I had an awesome time in Chicago with family and my aunt did a great job setting up and preparing everything for us.  It was so good to see all of my family that I haven't seen in such a long time!  I couldn't have asked for a better time in Portland.  The scenery is beautiful and we were so lucky to have been able to see the best of Portland right in Jane's backyard.  The wedding ceremony was breathtaking, the weather was gorgeous, the food was delicious, and the hospitality was outstanding.  I can't use enough positive adjectives to describe the time we had.

Buuttt, that was vacation and vacation always ends, so here I am!  I'm happy to be back and baking, though, especially since I have something so yummy to share with you all.  This recipe turned out awesome!  I wasn't expecting the best of it because it's one of those "I have too much of something, so I need to get rid of it" kind of recipes.  I had a surplus of blackberries just sitting in the freezer, so I decided that I'd make blackberry budnt cake.  I didn't have any eggs, so I used flax eggs and the cake came out a little dense, but the taste is phenomenal!  I was pleasantly surprised at how great this tastes.  A+!

Brown Sugar Blackberry Bundt Cake

Adapted from: Baseball Baking and Books

1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sour cream, room temperature
2 eggs at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 & 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 & 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blackberries

1 tablespoon flour

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1. Preheat your oven to 350 and grease and flour a 9" bundt pan. 

2. Place blackberries in a small bowl and toss with 1 tbsp flour and 1 tbsp lemon juice.

3. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy; beat in eggs one at a time; stir in sour cream and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Stir it into the butter mixture until well blended; gently fold in your “floured” blackberries.  Carefully pour or spoon the batter into your prepared bundt pan.
4. Bake the cake for 55 to 60 minutes in a preheated oven. (I took mine out at 50 because a toothpick came out clean, but it could have stayed in a little longer; the center ended up being a little gooey.)  

5. Cool cake (in the pan) on a wire rack for about 10 minutes before turning out onto a cake plate.  

*I added a lemon glaze on top of mine!