Red Velvet Trifle

In an attempt to make something yummy for a trivia night tomorrow night I thought I would make some red velvet something. My first attempt was the Red Velvet Pudding I made a couple days ago but that didn't go down too well with anyone except my No. 2 son who said he loved it but not too sure about that. 

Back to the drawing board. So Hubby said he doesn't like red velvet cake. Well - why not...???? I got him to try some last night after I cooked a slab of it and his response was - "It tastes like cake!". Well der but hello it is red velvet. Anyway. I am ashamed that my hubby doesn't like it. Just made. Anyway - this recipe is yummy and it has now been made in to Red Velvet 'Trifle'. Not trifle in the traditional sense as it has no jelly or custard but I guess the modern day type with the individual glasses. 

The Red Velvet cake was cooked but I actually halved the recipe but did one cake last night and another today (but to find I didn't need to- dang it - as I had to cut the 'rings' of cake in half as they were really thick). Made the 'Cheesecake' to go with it and blitzed some Oreos in my food processor. Yummo. 

Red Velvet Cake (my halved recipe)

1 1/4 cup plain flour (I used cake flour though)

1 cup sugar

1/2 Tbs cocoa

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda 

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 Tbs vinegar

1/2 tsp vanilla 

25gms red food colour

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Grease and flour a cake pan. I used a 10 x 10 inch cake pan

Lightly stir eggs in a medium bowl with a wire whisk. Add remaining liquid ingredients and stir together with whisk until blended. Set aside.

place all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir together with a wire whisk.

Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix on medium-high speed for about a minute or until completely combined.

Pour into cake pan and drop pan on counter to get rid of air bubbles.

Bake for about 25mins or until a toothpick comes out clean.

After ten minutes, remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack. Cover in plastic wrap when cooling. 

Cheesecake

2 x 250g Cream cheese

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup whipping cream

1 tsp vanilla

Mix both cream cheese blocks in mixer until really creamy. 

Add the sweetened condensed milk and mix until well combined. Add cream until mixed well. Add vanilla. 

To layer:

Get a circle cookie cutter that will cut a circle the size to fit your glass - I used a 2 3/8 inch cutter and cut out the required number of cake. I cut out 8 circle and then cut them in half so I had 16 circles. 

Blitz 1 packet of Oreo cookies in food processor and heap a large spoon full in to your glass/cup. Grab a spoon full of cheesecake mix and put on top of Oreo's. Layer a circle of cake and then another layer of cheesecake. More cake and then more cheesecake. Top with a small sprinkling of Oreos. Done. 

Just the ingredients before ready to go. 

Red Velvet Pudding with Cream cheese

So I love red velvet. You all know that. I know that. I can't get enough. If I could I would eat it at least once a day - the cake especially but alas it is packed full of sugar, so it is definately a sometimes food for me here. No one else in the house is much of fan - go figure. My little girl likes it but is not in love with it. Boo hoo. 

Anyway - I bought an instant pudding mix the other day and it tastes good. Even though it was sugar free and fat free I still love it. So thought I would try and make it myself here at home. While looking up recipes I wondered if anyone had done a Red Velvet Pudding - yep sure had. I got the recipe from here at Completely Delicious. Absolutely awesome.

As no one else in the house really likes Red Velvet (seriously - oh the horror) I thought I would half the recipe. I did not make the pudding pie just the pudding. I made a 'Cheesecake' and crushed up some Oreos and tossed on to the top. The pudding by itself is really yummy and I must say that all of this together is so so so yummy. I think it is the 'saltiness' of the Oreos or the cream cheese in the topping. Either way it is yummy. 

My 7yr old son tried the pudding by itself and did not like - in fact my little girl didn't either so she has a separate dessert with just the topping and some oreos but she will live. Anyway - experimenting is good. You can't have triumphs all the time and I think this is a mini one. Yay....!!!

Red Velvet Pudding
3/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar
20gms cocoa (I just put in half a 1/3 cup)
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 Tablespoons corn flour
21gms unsalted butter
1/2 tablespoon red food colouring
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
Combine milk, cream, sugar, and cocoa in a medium saucepan and stir to dissolve the sugar and cocoa. Heat the mixture over medium heat until steaming and bubbles appear around the edges. 

Whisk together the eggs, buttermilk and cornflour. Add the heated chocolate mix to the egg mixture while whisking constantly. When fully combined, return the pot to the stove on medium high heat. With a spatula, stir constantly until mixture thickens, about 5 mins (mine took less than that). Do not allow to boil or buttermilk may curdle.  

Add butter, vanilla and red food colouring and stir until smooth. Strain mixture through a mesh strainer to remove any lumps (I didn't have to as there was no lumps). 

To make the cream cheese topping:In a large bowl mix 250g Cream cheese with 1/4 cup sugar. Add 200ml of whipping cream and mix until well combined. Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and mix until just mixed. Add to the top of you Red velvet pudding (when cooled). 

Crush up some Oreos and sprinkle on top. Enjoy...!!!!

Red Velvet Brownies

If anyone knows me they know that I love love love love Red Velvet Cake. If I could I would have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner but alas it is so very very naughty and it would be impossible to do that - drat....!!!!! LOL. Today at my little girls kinder they are having a farewell afternoon tea for the assistant teacher Carol and her favourite it Red Velvet so I had to make some cupcakes - they are all iced and ready to go and then I made this - Red Velvet Brownies with Cream Cheese Frosting. Okay so my diet is well and truly suffering from all this yummy goodness but this is so yummy. So decadent and the frosting makes it oh so yummo.

I am not very good at frosting things so it is a big mess but I will one day get it right.

Red Velvet Brownies from How Sweet it is - go to her blog to see the whole kit and kaboodle. I used Cream Cheese Frosting not White Chocolate Frosting but I am guessing it just brings that added bit of sweetness which it does not need (I think anyway).

Enjoy.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

I love love love love Red Velvet cake. Ever since I bought some from Cupcake Central here in Melbourne a year back for the first time I was in love. So I bought some Red Velvet cake mix. Yummo but I have been wanting to try them from scratch and when I received my 'Cake Boss' cookbook - lo and behold there is a recipe in there for it. So I thought I would make them before my second lot of Buttermilk doesn't go bad.

Seeing my middle child was home sick from school today due to an extremely sore throat I thought I would make them as he wants to be the chef. I used half the recipe as it actually makes 2 x 9inch cakes or 24 cupcakes but I didn't want to make that much.

The below recipe is the full recipe not what I used. I halved the quantities - yep I put in half an egg.

Red Velvet Cake from 'Baking with the Cake Boss'

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups vegetable shortening - I used Crisco

2 cups sugar

1 tablespoon (TBS) unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder (I used normal)

4 1/2 teaspoons (ts) red food colouring gel

3 cups of cake flour

1 1/4 ts salt

1 1/4 ts vanilla extract

1 1/4 ts baking soda

1 1/4 ts white vinegar

3 extra large eggs

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

- Something to grease the pans

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius

1. Put shortening, sugar, cocoa, food colouring, flour, salt, vanilla, baking soda and vinegar in a stand mixer with paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until mixed, then raise speed to medium for about a minute.

2. Add eggs - one at a time and mix for about 1 minute each until mixture absorbs them. Add the buttermilk in two portions - make sure you scrap the sides between each addition.

3. Grease your baking dish or cupcakes pan (I just used patties and skipped this step).

4. Divide the batter into your pans - for the mini cupcakes I used 1 teaspoon for each one and the big ones 1 ice cream scoop each.

5. For 9inch cake bake for 35-40mins - mini cupcakes bake for 10mins and big cupcakes for 18mins.

Ice with cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/4 cup butter

1 cup icing sugar

250g block cream cheese

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Mix butter and cream cheese together until well mixed

Add vanilla and mix. Add icing sugar in batches (1/4 cup at a time if you can) and mix each batch for about a minute. Put on cupcakes and put in fridge or serve straight away. As it has cream cheese you can't leave out.

Red Velvet Whoopie Cookies with Cream Cheese frosting

As you all know I have been looking up yummy recipes and I stumbled across Whoopie Cookies. Never heard of them before but they sounded good, as you know cake mix made in to a cookie it pretty darn good to me - so thought I would give them a go.

This is a really simple thing to make. Not many steps. I don't know where I got the recipe from as when I print them off - if they don't have the blog or website on the page I don't remember to write it down so very sorry for that.

Cookies ready for the oven.

Just out of the oven.

Ready to be iced with cream cheese frosting.

My miss enjoying the frosting.

Frosted and looking oh so yummy.

I tried one or two of the cookies by themselves which was oh so yummy. I ate one of the put together cookies and must admit that it was so very sickly sweet. Maybe it is because I am not one for super sweet things anymore. Next time (if there is one) I will make them without the frosting. They are good - seriously - by themselves.

Red Velvet Cake Whoopie Cookies

Ingredients:

1 box of red velvet cake mix

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Frosting Ingredients:

225gms cream cheese (8oz) softened (I used the spreadable)

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 teaspoons milk

1 tsp vanilla

3-4 cups powdered sugar

Method:

Preheat oven to 185degrees celcius

Mix together cake mix, eggs and oil. Roll the dough in to balls the size of walnuts. Place two inches apart on baking tray.

Bake in the preheated oven until tops start to crack, about 8 minutes. Cool on trays for 10 mins and then put on wire rack to cool completely.

In a large bowl combine cream cheese, butter, milk and vanilla. Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing well with each addition. If consistency is too stiff, add more milk.

Spread a generous amount of icing on the bottom cookie and sandwich it in between another cookie until the icing comes to the edge. Repeat for remaining cookies. Makes about 15-20 cookies.

The recipe for the frosting makes a large amount. Next time I will be halving it as I had to throw half of it out.