Keeping in mind the variation of the recipes, the ingredients of the Red velvet cake most used are flour, butter, sugar, buttermilk, cocoa and food coloring. Its taste is slightly acidic due to the cheese frosting cream filling: it is a mascarpone cream based on fresh cream and powdered sugar that goes perfectly with the soft base (which does not require any wetting). As an alternative to mascarpone you can fill this sumptuous Red velvet cake, of American origin, with other basic pastry preparations, such as the delicious Butter cream. Try your hand at preparing the red velvet cake with us to amaze your guests and give that final touch of sweetness necessary at the end of each meal!

Preparation

1

Take a bowl and dilute the yogurt and milk with the squeezed lemon juice. Leave the ingredients to rest for about half an hour (this step will be used to recreate the buttermilk).

2

Meanwhile, in another larger bowl, pour the sugar, the softened butter cut into small pieces and extract the seeds of the vanilla bean with the help of a small knife. Operate the electric whisk (or the planetary mixer) and start mixing the ingredients.

3

Add the eggs to the mixture, which in the meantime begins to become creamy, and continue to beat to mix everything well.

4

Take back the bowl with the milk, yogurt and lemon juice and add a teaspoon of red food coloring, making it melt inside.

5

Add the sifted flour, unsweetened cocoa and buttermilk with the red coloring to the butter and sugar mixture. Mix all the ingredients well.

6

Take a cup and pour in the vinegar together with the baking soda: when a light foam forms on their surface, incorporate them into the bowl of the dough and mix with a spatula. Now get a greased and floured mold with a zipper and fill it with the cream created; put in a static oven and bake for about 35/40 minutes at 170 °.

7

At this point, insert the gelatin sheet in a bowl full of cold water and let it soften for about 10 minutes; after the necessary time, put on the fire a saucepan with the softened and well-squeezed gelatin together with 4 tablespoons of water and boil over very low heat, until it is completely dissolved.

8

Take the fresh cream and the icing sugar and place them in a bowl starting to whisk them; once these ingredients are ready, add the mascarpone and continue mixing. Now add the melted gelatin too. After mixing all the ingredients well, place the bowl in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

9

Remove the cake from the oven once cooked, allow it to cool completely and, with the help of a knife, cut it into 3 discs of about 2 cm in height each. Insert the mascarpone cream, taken out of the refrigerator, into a piping bag with a smooth nozzle. Cut a disc of parchment paper, as large as the diameter of the cake and place it on a serving dish: place the first disc of sponge cake on top and, with the pastry bag, start decorating the surface.

10

Create many small tufts of cream on the whole base of the disc starting from the outside to get to the center. When carrying out this operation, pay attention to keep the sac a poche perpendicular to the cake and always apply the same pressure to obtain tufts of cream of the same size. Overlap the second disc of sponge cake and repeat the passage with the sac a poche; so then also for the third and last album.

11

Now decorate the surface of your red velvet cake with previously washed and cut strawberries or with other red fruits.

Accessories

• Two bowls

• Juicer

• A large bowl

• Knife

• Electric (or planetary) hand mixer

• Table spoon

• A cup

• 24 cm mold with zipper

• Small saucepan

• Sac a poche

• Spatula

• Greaseproof paper

Tips and tricks

• Originally the dark red color of the cake was given by the chemical reaction between the cocoa powder with acid ingredients, such as sour milk or buttermilk. Now the coloring is given with the addition of afood coloring (if you use the powder one, just dissolve 8 g in 30 g of water).

• The original recipe for the red velvet cake involves the use of buttermilk (ie the by-product of the transformation of cream into butter) but which is difficult to find in Italy. So you can replace it by mixing yogurt with milk and lemon.

• If you prefer, you can prepare the base a day in advance: let it cool, wrap it in plastic wrap and store it in a cool place.

• The red velvet cake it does not need to be wet but if you prefer, for greater taste and a softer consistency, you can wet the layers with a raspberry puree and also add fresh raspberries between one layer and another.

• Another tip is not to throw away the vanilla pods you used. To prepare a English cream, for example, they will be very useful; or let them dry and blend them together with the sugar to obtain a vanilla sugar!

storage

You can keep the red velvet cake in the refrigerator for about 2/3 days closed inside an airtight container; a tip is to put the cream on top only on the day you serve it or you risk it being colored in contact with the red cake.

History

The recipe for the red velvet cake originated in the 1920s but only in the 1960s, thanks to some films Hollywoodians, has become one of the most popular cakes especially on special occasions. The Red velvet cake ‘red velvet‘is a very popular cake in the United States: the red color can vary between dark red, bright red and red brown. It is usually prepared as a base for a layer cake, then garnished with vanilla cream or with one Cheese cream.

However, although it is a typical cake of Southern United States cuisine, its popularity has greatly increased in recent years, so much so that it can be found more easily in pastry shops all over the world.