Taste and See: Red Velvet Cake and Cream Cheese Frosting

So, today was David's 22nd birthday and in honor, I made one of his favorites- red velvet cake! It was my first time to make it so I thought I'd chronicle it for anyone else a little nervous to attempt it. I based it around the recipe from www.joyofbaking.com. You will need the following ingredients:

Cake:

2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons liquid red food coloring
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 - 8 ounce (227 grams) cream cheese, room temperature
1 - 8 ounce (227 grams) tub of Mascarpone cheese, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease two 9" round pans. (If you want to place parchment paper in the bottom of the pans, you can, but I didn't have any so I didn't.)

In one bowl mix together the flour, salt and cocoa and set aside.

In another bowl, beat the butter until its soft.

Add the sugar and beat it until it's light and fluffy.

Add each of the eggs one at a time and beat until smooth.

Then, add the vanilla and make sure to scrape down everything on the sides of the bowl so it's all combined!

In a measuring cup, whisk together the red food coloring and buttermilk.

Add the flour mixture and the milk alternately, starting and ending with flour.

In a separate bowl, combine the baking soda and vinegar. Let it fizz and then quickly fold it into the batter.

Quickly divide the batter between the two pans and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

While that's baking, you can start on the frosting. I really like this frosting because it has a light texture and still really good cream cheese flavor. The recipe made the perfect amount to cover the entire cake.

Beat together the cream cheese and mascarpone cheese.

Then add the vanilla and powdered sugar.

Gradually add the whipping cream and beat until it's thick enough to spread. If you have a whisk attachment, you can use it but I don't and it turned out fine. When adding the cream, it will be pretty runny at first but will thicken!

After the cake it baked, let it cool completely. Don't be impatient like me and take it out of the pan too early. If you do, this will happen :/ Yes, one side totally tore. But thankfully, under all the frosting you can't tell and it tastes just as good!