Once people find out you make cakes, look out! I recently made this cake for a friend’s daughter who was turning 17. She wanted a red velvet cake and her favourite colour is turquoise. Those were the sum of the instructions I got. I have daughters so it was pretty easy to come up with a design I thought she’d like. Firstly, I had to research just what was this red velvet cake which has lately become a bit of a National obsession and just what flavour is RED? After scouring books and asking questions it became apparent that red velvet cake and cream cheese icing are quite often a popular and successful pairing. But I wanted the look of fondant and the taste of cream cheese. As luck would have it I found this fabulous recipe for “Crusting Cream Cheese Buttercream” on the RecipeZaar website courtesy of one of their members. THANKS!

Recipe – Crusting Cream Cheese Buttercream

SERVES 1 , 4-5 cups (change servings and units)

Ingredients :

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 lb cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon clear vanilla extract
3 1/2 lbs sifted confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1.   Cream butter, shortening, cream cheese and extracts. Gradually add confectioner’s sugar and salt. Beat on low speed until nice and creamy. If you want whiter icing, try to use butter without dyes available at most health food stores.

2.   This recipe is for a stiff consistency. For a thinner consistency, use 3 pounds of powdered sugar instead.

3.   If you want a very smooth cake, let the cake sit for 15 minutes after icing (longer for a thinner icing). Then using your spatula or fondant smoothing tool (this works best)and smooth it with a plain, non-patterned Viva paper towel. To do this, take your paper towel and lay it on your icing (after it crusts) and lightly rub over the paper towel with your hand, spatula or fondant smoothing tool to get a smooth surface. If the icing sticks to the paper towel, you didn’t let it “crust” long enough. Stick it in the fridge for 20 minutes or so to let it “crust” then try again. If you let it dry too long it will get harder to achieve the smooth look.

4.   This recipe will ice, fill and decorate an 8″ double layer cake with icing left over.

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When a buttercream is called “crusting” it means that it dries out and hardens enough to be smoothed with a paper towel and/or your smoothing tool. It doesn’t get as hard as royal icing but hard enough to handle. If your room is warm or the icing starts to get sticky you can pop the cake back in the refrigerator or freezer for a few minutes until it firms up again. If you like the look of fondant but not the taste this can be smoothed to achieve the same visual appeal. I made the first red velvet cake but it just wasn’t “red” enough. It looked more like chocolate cake that had a red tint to it. So I remade both the 12×12 and the 6×6 cakes again and this time they were RED! They also turned out to be very moist and tasty. I made some gumpaste from a Nicholas Lodge recipe and then proceeded to make various sized stars to which I inserted wires and painted with edible silver and edible turquoise glitter. Then I coloured some gumpaste to a turquoise shade, made a plaque for her name and a few more stars for good measure. I sprinkled the top of the cake with a little more glitter and called it done. My friend Susan was so happy with the cake I made for her daughter she cried. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MORGAN! Things I learned from this cake adventure… RED velvet cake gets on EVERYTHING and leaves a stain – be warned! Stick wired objects into the cake AFTER you drive across town to deliver it – they wobble a LOT! Happy baking! ~ Colleen

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting


Ingredients

3 cups all purpose flour
3 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (I like to use Madagascar)
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
1 1/2 cups shredded coconut (I always leave this out)
1 1/2 cups pureed cooked carrots
3/4 cup drained crushed pineapple
1/2 cup water (optional)

Method

1.    Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease two 9 inch layer cake pans line bottom with parchment circle, you can also use pan with removable bottom.
2.    Sift dry ingredients into a bowl.  Add oil, eggs and vanilla.  Beat well.  Fold in walnuts, coconut, carrots and pineapple.
3.    Pour batter into the prepared pans.  Place on middle rack of oven and bake for 40 – 50 mins, until edges have pulled away from sides and a cake tester inserted comes out clean.
4.    Cool in the pan for a few minutes then on a rack for 3 hours or until completely cool.  Fill and stack cakes and frost sides with cream cheese icing.  Decorate sides with crushed walnut pieces if desired.  I also made some carrots out of coloured marzipan.

Colleen’s Tips -  Use at your own peril!

1.    I give my cake pans a whack on the counter before I put them in the oven to release any large air bubbles and give the crumb of the cake a finer texture.

2.    When my cakes come out of the oven, while hot I push any domed top down to make the cake level.  No need to trim with a knife and it makes the cake dense to hold the weight of all that cream cheese!

3.    When colouring marzipan (or gumpaste) I first rub my hands with shortening as you would with hand cream.  MOST of the time the colours wash straight off with hot soapy water when I’m done.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

16oz cream cheese, at room temperature
2 sticks of butter, at room temperature
6 cups confectioners/powdered/icing sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Juice of 1 lemon (optional but it adds a nice kick)

Method

1.    Cream together cream cheese and butter in a mixing bowl.
2.    Slowly sift in confectioners sugar and continue beating until fully incorporated.  Should be free of lumps.
3.    Stir in vanilla and lemon juice if you choose to use it.

Enjoy!