This cake is a coloured chocolate cake made with little cocoa and red colour. It is a fluffy, soft and moist cake with a perfect velvet texture and a very mild chocolate flavour. Somewhere I read that it is the sweet marriage of buttermilk and vanilla with little cocoa. It is considered as the queen of all layer cakes.
Ingredients
For the Cake
1. Unsalted butter – ½ cup (125 gm)
2. Sugar powder – 1½ cup (300 gm)
3. Eggs – 2 large
4. Vegetable oil – ¼ cup
5. Cocoa powder – ¼ cup
6. Red food colour (liquid) – 2½ Tbsp
7. Vanilla essence – 2 tsp
8. Maida – 2½ cup (350 gm)
9. Baking soda – 1 tsp
10. White Vinegar – 1 Tbsp
11. Salt – ½ tsp
12. Buttermilk – 1 cup (250 ml) (Mix 1 cup warm milk with 1 Tbsp vinegar and keep aside for 10 minutes)
For frosting
1. Cream cheese – 400 gm
2. Unsalted butter – 120 gm (½ cup)
3. Vanilla essence – 2 tsp
4. Sugar powder – 4 cup
5. Lemon juice – 1 Tbsp (optional)
Preparation
For the Cake
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease the baking dish and keep aside.
2. Sift maida, baking soda and salt together in a bowl and keep aside.
3. In a bowl add oil, cocoa powder, red food colour and vanilla essence and mix well till smooth and add vinegar and mix well and keep aside.
4. In another bowl beat butter and sugar well till creamy. Add egg one by one and beat well. Then add the mix of oil and cocoa powder (given at step 3). Stir well.
5. Add half of the maida mix (given at step 2) to the above butter & sugar mix. Then add half cup butter milk and mix well. Then add rest of the maida mix and butter milk and mix well.
6. Pour into the greased pan and bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the centre of the cake. Keep aside for cooling.
For the Frosting
1. Mix and beat together cream cheese, butter and vanilla essence until smooth (almost 3-4 minutes). Mix the sugar powder and beat until fluffy. Mix in the lemon juice and keep aside.
For assembling the Cake
1. Trim the top part of the cake to get a flat surface and cut the cake into two equal layers.
2. Transfer one half of the cake to a serving dish and spread half of the frosting on to the cake evenly.
3. Place the second cake layer on top and use the remaining frosting to cover the top and sides of the cake.
4. Use the crumbled pieces of cake for decoration.
Tips
1. Icing sugar can be used in lieu of sugar powder. Icing sugar gives a better texture.
2. If you have two same sized cake pans, make two cakes instead of cutting the cake into two. In that case 30-35 minutes of baking should be enough.
3. Cup cakes and muffins can also be made. (Bake for 20-25 minutes)
4. For a brighter colour reduce the cocoa powder.
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