A red velvet showstopper

 

Nothing says happy birthday quite like a cake and nothing makes my heart sing more than a cake with layers. Imagine my delight at a cake with layers and food colouring! Before I even conceived making this red velvet cake for a colleague's birthday, I'd been wanting to make red velvet cupcakes and fell in love with Nigella Lawson's recipe in her book 'Kitchen'. 

 

The maiden baking of these beauties took place to commiserate the resignation of a colleague. Cake makes everything better! Rich, chocolately cake and cream cheese icing. Need I say more? If you'd like to try these lovely morsels and you don't have Nigella's book, the recipe is here.

With another colleagues birthday approaching, I took heed when she exclaimed over the delights of red velvet. As delightful as cupcakes are, especially these ones, a full-sized cake seems in order for a birthday so I just had to combine these two ideas, didn't I? Plus I got to make layers, so everyone was happy.

 

Red Velvet Layer Cake

Inspired by a recipe from The Australian Women's Weekly book Afternoon Tea

Ingredients

125g butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups plain flour

2 tbsp cornflour

2 tbsp cocoa powder

250ml buttermilk

2 tsp red food colouring

1 tsp white vinegar

1 tsp bicarbonate soda

 

Method

1.Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease two 22cm round cake tins.

2.Beat butter, vanilla, sugar and eggs until light and fluffy.

3.Stir in sifted flours, cocoa and the combined buttermilk and food colouring, in two batches.

4.Combine vinegar and bicarbonate soda, allow it to fizz, and then fold into the cake mixture.

5.Divide the mixture into two pans, and bake for 25-30 minutes. Once cool, wrap cakes or place in a plastic container and freeze for half an hour (or refridgerate for a couple of hours - this helps reduce crumbling when you cut the cakes).

6. Make cream cheese icing (below).

7. Cut cakes in half horizontally. Spread one-fifth of cream cheese icing between each layer, saving two-fifths to spread over the top and sides.

 

Cream cheese icing

Ingredients

250g cream cheese

60g butter, at room temperature

1 cup icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

300ml thickened cream

Method

Beat cream cheese and butter until well combined, then add sugar and vanilla until smooth. Finally, beat in the cream.

 

I hope you will try this scrumptious recipe. Otherwise just enjoy these photos and send me your ideas for other layer cakes. I've previously done layers of dreamy vanilla, a Donna Hay layered chocolate and a black forest, so what now for me and my need for layers of decadence?

A twist on Nigella's Apple and Cinnamon Muffins

Food has amazing power. Not only does it provide sustenance, bring people together and offer comfort, it can also win people over. I don't like to use bribery, but if it's in good fun, I admit to using food to strike deals with people. And so it is that I made these muffins from the Nigella Lawson book 'Kitchen' when I desperately needed to use a meeting room at a time another colleague had already booked it. Cooking from her recipes always makes me feel like a domestic goddess in training and I chuckle to myself at the vision of her sneaking into the fridge for a midnight snack.

I didn't have a few of the ingredients for these muffins so I made a few adaptations to the recipe. I used slivered almonds in place of unblanched ones and I didn't even have enough of these so I added some white chocolate bits for something different. Greek yoghurt was substituted for runny, natural yoghurt and plain flour was used in place of spelt flour at Nigella's suggestion. Yes, we're on first name basis. My colleague later declared these muffins the best he'd ever eaten so everyone was happy that day. Almost seemed pleased to relinquish the meeting room!

Apple and Cinnamon Muffins: Adapted from Nigella Lawson's Kitchen
(makes 12)

2 eating apples (peeled and cored then diced into 1cm pieces approx)
250g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
125g brown sugar plus 4 teaspoons for the topping
125ml honey
60ml Greek yogurt
125 ml flavourless vegetable oil (I used canola)
2 eggs
50g slivered almonds
50g white chocolate (I used small buds)

Preheat oven to 200C and line a muffin tin with paper cases.

• Measure the flour, baking powder and 1 teaspoon of the ground cinnamon into a bowl. Add half the almonds and half the chocolate. To make the topping, put the other half of the almonds and chocolate into a small bowl with the second teaspoon of cinnamon and the four extra teaspoons of sugar.
• Whisk together the 125g brown sugar, the honey, yoghurt, oil and eggs in another bowl or jug. 
• fold the wet ingredients into the dry. Add the chopped apple, stirring to combine but don't overmix. Nigella says a lumpy batter makes for a lighter muffin.
• Spoon the bumpy batter into the muffin cases, then spinkle the topping mixture over them. 
• Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven or until they are risen and golden. Let stand in the tray for 5 minutes before removing carefully and cooling on a wire rack.