Red Velvet Cake

Years ago, Kathleen, my friend Rosemary’s mother taught me how to make her traditional family  cake that everyone requested as their special cake for their birthday.  As she was directing me, the recipe seemed strange – like mixing a teaspoon of soda with a tablespoon of vinegar and adding it in at the last minute, and making a paste with cocoa powder and 1 ounce (a whole little bottle!) of red food coloring!  It seemed odd but I had tasted the cake before and knew it was delicious and trusted her to teach me how to make it.  The frosting also starts out funny by cooking flour and milk into a thick paste, letting it cool, and whipping it together with a creamed butter and sugar mixture.  The frosting is fluffy and delicious and I am always looking for the same Red Velvet cake Kathleen made when I see it at a bakery and am usually disappointed with the cream cheese frosting so many people make instead.  It’s not the way Kathleen made it and not as good!  For Rosemary’s birthday cake, I piped roses all over the cake and printed a little birthday banner and tied it to skewers with some ribbon and placed it in the cake for a decoration.  Thanks Phoebe for the first photo!  Click here for the recipe….  Click here for the free printable birthday banner….