Sweet Cornbread and Red Velvet Cake

[amadi]

I thought I'd kick us off with two of my favorite things to bake.



Sweet Cornbread
1 cup yellow corn meal
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup whole wheat flour
½ cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon table salt
1 large egg
1 cup milk
1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C). Grease your choice of small cast-iron skillet, 9" round cake pan or 8" square baking pan.

In a medium bowl, combine corn meal, flours, sugar, baking powder and salt, mixing ingredients together well.

In a small bowl, whisk the egg until lightly beaten. Add milk and butter and whisk until the wet ingredients are well combined.

Add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients and stir together just until blended.

Pour into prepared pan and bake 20-25 minutes at 400°F or until wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean.




Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
For the Cake:
2½ cups sifted cake flour
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1½ cups sugar
1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
¼ cup (two 1 oz. bottles) red food coloring
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and flour two 9" cake pans.

Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt together into a medium bowl. Set aside.

Using a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until well blended and butter is very light yellow in color. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated.

Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk, mixing on medium speed. Add food coloring, vinegar and vanilla extract.

Spread the batter evenly in the two pans. Bake at 350°F for 20 to 30 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pans until pans can be touched bare-handed, then turn the cakes out onto a rack to cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 pound confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese and butter. Beat in confectioners' sugar until fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Use to fill and frost cake.

Comments

[entrenous88]

Wow, those are your pics? Gorgeous! I've never been a huge fan of Red Velvet Cake, but your photos make me want to try to make my own.

[amadi]

Actually, no, I wish they were, the lighting in my kitchen is abominable for food pictures, which makes me sad. They're both Creative Commons licensed photos from Flickr, but I am 100% honest when I say that my cornbread and RVC look like that! Really!

[lian]

Vinegar in cake? I am intrigued and a little bit dubious. How does it influence the taste of the red velvet cake? is it very tangy or barely noticeable?

[amadi]

Did you ever do one of those volcanoes in grade school, with the vinegar and baking soda with food color in it? The vinegar and baking soda together in the cake have the same chemical reaction during the baking, and gift it lift and make it nice and light and airy.

If there's a bit of tanginess in the cake, it's hidden well under chocolate and sugar, and probably comes from the buttermilk, not the vinegar.

[lian]

No, I didn't -- sounds like something I'd want to try, though XD volcano, hee.

Interesting! I do like my cake fluffy -- I may experiment with this :)

[amadi]

Give it a try with just a tablespoon of baking powder, a few drops of food color in a glass, in your sink, with vinegar poured over. The resulting foamy mess is really kind of fun. :D