Red Velvet Cake

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened (1 stick)

1/2 cup shortening

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

2  1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

3 Tbs. powdered cocoa

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp. white vinegar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 oz. bottle of red food coloring

For a good frosting click here.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cream butter, shortening and sugar together until fluffy with electric mixer. 

3. Add eggs one at a time.

4. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa.  

5. Add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk alternating a little of each at a time and mixing after each addition. 6. When it's mixed well (don't over mix), add the vinegar, vanilla and red food color.  

7. Mix just until the food coloring is evenly distributed. 

-You don't need to beat this on high, but mix as much as needed to get it all red.  If you over mix it, the cake will be dry. See how it looks here.  It gets darker when it is baked.-

8. Prepare (3)  9 inch cake pans by cutting a circle of wax paper or parchment paper to fit in the bottom of each one and then spraying it liberally with nonstick baking spray.  This cake has a tendency to stick, but if you use the paper it will come out fine.

9. Place in the oven for 30-35 minutes. A pick inserted in the center should come out clean.  Remove from oven and cool for about 30 minutes.  Run a knife around the edge of the cakes to loosen and then they will turn out. 

-I doubled the usually amount of frosting (recipe here) called for in most of the recipes for red velvet cake, because this is a 3 layer cake and the lesser amount is really skimpy to cover it all.  You might not need all of the frosting, but half of it is not enough.  Save the leftover for up to 10 days and use it cupcakes or cookies.-

10. Lay the first layer down, with the flat side up on your cake plate.  You can keep your cake plate cleaner if you place a little wax paper just barely under the edges of the cake.  

11. When you have finished frosting, gently pull the paper out and voila...clean all the way around.  I am not a neat when it comes to frosting a cake so this really helps me.                          

12. Proceed with the other two layers and then finish your sides.

Slice and Serve!!