Southern Red Velvet Cake Recipe

Directions

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 10 inch round pans.
Cream 1/2 cup of shortening, 1 1/2 cups of white sugar, eggs, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, and 1 teaspoon of butter flavored extract in a large bowl. Make a paste of cocoa and food coloring in a small bowl and add to shortening mixture. Pour in 2 1/2 cups flour alternately with the buttermilk, mixing until just incorporated. Mix 1 teaspoon of salt, baking soda, and vinegar in a small bowl, and while fizzing fold into the batter; mixing just enough to evenly combine. Pour the batter into prepared pan.
Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.
To make frosting: Cook 3 tablespoons of flour, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and milk in a skillet over low heat, stirring constantly, until thick. Let cool completely. Cream butter, 1 cup sugar, and 1/2 cup shortening in a separate bowl. Stir in 2 teaspoons each of vanilla extract and butter flavored extract. Then add flour mixture to bowl and cream together. Frost cooled cake.

Reviews (34)

QUEENOFRULES

Apr. 14, 2009

"This is a beautiful and delicious cake. MAKE SURE you let the flour,salt, milk mixture for the frosting COOl COMPLETELY!!! before you add the remaining butter etc. or it will curdle. Done right this ..." See morefrosting makes the cake. "

miki

Nov. 2, 2010

"This is an excellent red velvet cake. The only thing I did different is I used about 1-1.5 oz. of food coloring because I like my red velvet cake really red. This cake has a nice light chocolate flavo..." See morer and great texture. A little chewy without being too dense. For those of you who complained the cake was dry you may being using too much flour. Make sure you are not scooping the flour into the cup but spooning it in and leveling the cup. Keep the flour light by sifting. This also makes it easier to incorporate into the batter without overmixing and thus creating higher gluten levels = overly dense cakes that dry out. If you live in a dry climate add an extra egg yolk and a T. of oil to keep your cake moist. This is a southern cake and it is very humid in the south. They don't worry about anything drying out :) Also, you must really whip the butter/sugar/eggs till they are really fluffy and airy. I add eggs one at a time and then just let it keep going. As for the frosting I must admit I did use all butter and it is excellent. I just kept whipping it until it was not longer gritty. The butter was very soft so this didn't take too long. I also found it to be very thick. I didn't want to use milk to thin it because I wasn't sure if it would make the whole thing colapse. I used 2 heaping tablespoons of sour cream and that make it spreadable. This is an excellent recipe if you have the patience to make it. This is not a 123 cake so please don't try to rush it."

amydoll

Nov. 24, 2010

"Wonderful recipe. The frosting absolutely makes this cake!! If you don't have butter flavored extract, don't make a special trip to buy it because I didn't think it added anything to the cake. I also..." See more used paste food coloring (comes in little jars, made by Wilton, buy at a hobby shop) because liquid can affect the taste. Make sure you only mix the cake ingredients until just mixed together, overmixing will dry it out! Beat your frosting for a while, it needs to be whipped very well to get the right consistency. Finally, I always make my own buttermilk by adding a teaspoon or so of white vinegar to my milk, and let it sit for about 10 minutes."

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