Buddy Valastro's Red Velvet Cake

Cake Boss is a laugh to watch. I love the personalities, but mostly, I love watching the cakes being decorated. Everybody raves about Buddy's Red Velvet Cake. Up until a few years ago, I'd never known what Red Velvet Cake was. Rumour has it, Red Velvet Cake was popular at wartime when ingredients - such as cocoa - were rationed and in short supply. People boiled beets or used food colouring to enhance the chocolatey colour (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_velvet_cake for more). My family, especially my husband, was curious about the flavour of Red Velvet Cake and so I began to experiment with recipes.

Buddy's recipe is not the first recipe I've tried, but its certainly the best. I'll admit that the first time I tried it, the flavour was bang on, but the texture was lacking. This is because I neglected to bring all ingredients to room temperature before mixing. I've made the same recipe three times since and each time has been better than the last. Buddy's Red Velvet Cake recipe is by far the BEST cake I've ever baked. EVER!

Buttercream frosted Red Velvet Cake

I've used this recipe for both layer cakes and cupcakes and it works well each and every time. The cake is moist and faintly chocolatey, but not at all sweet. The link I've provided pairs the cake with it's traditional cream cheese icing. The first time I made the icing, I used a brick of light Philedelphia Cream Cheese and didn't care for the tartness of the cream cheese in the icing. The last two times I made it I used a traditional butter cream (link also provided) and enjoyed the cake much more. To make the buttercream even creamier, I use whipping cream instead of milk in the recipe.

One tip is to watch for baking time. Each oven works differently. Buddy uses industrial ovens to bake his. I've found that convection ovens do not work well for baking. When you bake this as a cake, underbake it by 5 to 7 minutes and then test with a toothpick to see if it is done. If it is not done, continue to bake in 5 minute increments until a toothpick comes out clean. When I use this recipe for cupcakes I use a pan that makes small-to medicum sized cupcakes. I purchase medium to large cupcake cups (depending on the make) and fill each with a standard ice-cream scoop-sized dollop of batter. I cut the baking time in half and continue to bake at 5 minute increments until the toothpick comes out clean.

• Buddy's Red Velvet Cake Recipe 
• Traditional Buttercream Frosting