Memories

When I was growing up, my mother made the best red velvet cake EVER.  Yes.  I said EVER!  Sometimes we had it at Thanksgiving, but we always had it at Christmas. When it was our birthday, we got to choose what kind of cake we wanted and Mama would make it.  My brother's birthday was only a few days before Christmas and his favorite cake was red velvet.  So lucky us would all get to enjoy his favorite cake.  He was the easy one to bake for.  I had so many favorites, it was an ordeal for me to narrow the choices down to one.  I still have this problem.  And my brother?  His favorite is still red velvet.

This is my mother's made from scratch recipe.  Bon appetite!

Red Velvet Cake

½ cup of butter

1 ½ cup of sugar

2 eggs

2 oz. of red food coloring

1 tsp. vanilla

2 Tb. cocoa

1 tsp. salt

1 cup of buttermilk

2 ½ cup plain flour

½ tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. vinegar

1 tsp. baking soda

Cream the butter, sugar, and eggs until light and whippy.  Make a paste with the food coloring and cocoa.  Add to previous mixture.  Add salt and baking powder to flour.  Add this to the above mixture.  Add buttermilk a little at a time.  Add vanilla.  Mix vinegar and baking soda together.  Add last.  Beat lightly.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Make 2 8” or 9” layers.

Icing

1 cup of butter

1 cup of sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 Tb. of cornstarch

1 cup of water

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.  Cook together vanilla, cornstarch, and water until thick.  Stir with a whisk to keep lumps from forming.  Let cool.  Combine with butter and sugar.  Beat until light and fluffy.