Who doesn’t love red velvet cake? I really love it, and so do my mother-in-law and Luis, so that gives me a good reason to bake one! For my birthday I decided to make one, which was pretty exciting. At the time, I still had an older hand mixer that was about to die. That eventually happened when I was making the frosting for this cake.
Anyway, that’s life in the kitchen. At the time, this hand mixer cost 10 euros at the Blokker (a big Dutch home goods chain) and lasted for five years, so it had already had a long and fulfilling life. Through a friend on Instagram I got a recipe that I followed. But I didn’t think the recipe was completely clear which really stressed me out. The cake came out really tasty and good looking, but I still decided to try to develop my own recipe. After a lot of research, I decided to give it a try because I want to be able to make and develop everything myself!
I bought a new stand mixer the day after my birthday because I had wanted one for a long time and came across an offer that I couldn’t pass up. So when I got home with the mixer I thought I’d finally try making my red velvet cake. In the end this attempt failed because I didn’t know the mixer very well, but I was finally able to try out something I always wanted to do: cake balls!
That is the best thing about cake: even if it is not beautiful or not quite successful, it is very satisfying to completely destroy a cake and then turn it into something beautiful new! And that’s how these delicious little treasures came about that I presented on Instagram on Valentine’s Day! I decided to share the recipe with love, because everyone should enjoy life!
So I am very curious what you will make of it, literally!
Ingredients
Chocolate coating
- 400 gr white chocolate
- toppings/decorations
Cake batter
- 250 gr flour
- 150 gr of sugar
- 120 gr soft butter
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons of red food colouring
- 2 tablespoons of cocoa
- 2 tablespoons of baking powder
- 1/4 tablespoon of baking soda
- 100 ml buttermilk (or 100 ml milk with 1 tablespoon lemon juice)
- 1 tablespoon of white vinegar (optional)
- pinch of salt
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Grease a baking tray and dust it lightly with flour so that the cake does not stick. You can also bake it in a round baking pan if you prefer, but since you are going to break the cake, it is no use using special baking tins.
In a large bowl, mix the butter and sugar together until it turns into a fluffy pale cream. This usually takes 3 to 5 minutes. Meanwhile, stir the lemon juice and milk well together. Then let this mixture rest for a while.
Mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt and stir well. First add an egg to the buttercream, then half of the flour mixture, then another egg and then the rest of the flour mix again. Then gradually add the buttermilk to the batter and let your stand mixer mix it all on a medium speed. Add the vanilla, red food colouring and vinegar (if using) to this batter and let it mix for a while.
Pour the batter to the baking tray and put it in the oven. Depending on your baking pan, the cake should bake for 15 to 20 minutes. When this time is up, poke the cake with a toothpick. When it comes out clean, the cake is ready. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool for about 5 minutes. Remove the cake from the baking tray (by placing a plate on top and turning it over) and let the cake cool on a wire rack until it is completely cool.
Melt the white chocolate au bain marie. Prepare a baking tray with a sheet of oven paper. Start breaking the cake with your hands (I really loved doing this!) And turn it into balls.
Using a fork, roll the balls through the melted white chocolate until completely covered and place on the oven paper. Repeat this process until done, then sprinkle the balls with decorations if you want to use them. Let the balls harden equally in the refrigerator.
Voilà, a delicious cake ball that melts in your mouth!
The result
I had some frosting left, which you can also mix through the cake when you’re spinning balls. My red velvet recipe is not quite perfect yet, but this is a really good start to get the desired result. I won’t stop until I get my recipe right!
In the meantime I have really learned to work with my new standing mixer. What a wonderful invention those are! Mine makes things a little easier in the kitchen so that I can do several things at the same time. Really a time saver!
Like I said, this was only the first time I’ve made my own red velvet cake with my own recipe, but certainly not the last! So look out, baking world, I am coming!
I am secretly very curious if you also know how to make the best red velvet cake. Do you dare to tell me your secret or do you have tips and tricks? Drop it at the bottom of a message or send me an email!
