Mini Red Velvet Cake

First I have to say Red Velvet Cake should never be served with anything besides cream cheese frosting! Don't do it! I learned this when I had a taste test with my wedding cake couple. The cream cheese brings out the richness of the cake -- buttercream just can't do it justice.

It's funny, I had this cake stored in the freezer for a while and I kept meaning to pull it out and use it when we had people over but I tend to want to make new things.... Finally, I remembered to get cream cheese for the frosting and the rest was a piece of cake - literally. I like red velvet cake, but nothing quite compares to my friend's great aunts recipe. She never wrote it down and now that she is gone I'm pretty sure no one will be able to recreate it. It was amazingly light and each layer was so thin. I'm not sure how she did it without tearing them. I decided to follow in this fashion and cut my little cake into 4 layers. I frosted the fill layers lightly with cream cheese and added a little more to the top. I find this cake quite stunning. Deep saturated red with bright white frosting. Super delicious and moist.

The deep red filling seemed a strange pairing the horror movie we watched that night. What I saw of it (peeking over M's shoulder)

was pretty gross with B movie acting. Bloody looking cake, blood spraying from the girls nose.... If I haven't managed to gross you out too much this might be a good cake for Halloween, or a Southern wedding shaped like an armadillo. So many funny options you have.

Red Velvet Cake Adapted From Annie's Eats 2 eggs 1 1/2 C sugar 1 1/2 C vegetable oil 1 tsp white vinegar 2 C cake flour

1/2 C all purpose flour 1 tsp baking soda 3 tbsp cocoa powder 1 cup buttermilk 1 tsp vanilla 5/8 ounce bottle red food coloring

Preheat the oven to 350˚. Line the bottom of two 9-inch round cake pans with parchment paper. Cream the eggs, sugar, oil and vinegar. Sift the cake flour, baking soda, and cocoa together. Add the flour mixture to the creamed ingredients while beating. Slowly add the buttermilk. While still beating, add the vanilla and the food coloring. Pour into prepared cake pans and bake for about 25 minutes. Press lightly; if the layers are spongy, then the cake is done. Frost the cooled layers, assemble and frost the top and sides. Serves 12 to 14.

Cream Cheese Frosting