Waldorf-Astoria Red Velvet Cake

I get excited around cakes and sweets but, I get really excited around the famous Waldorf-Astoria Red Velvet cake. I have been itching to make a red velvet for so long but when I finally made it, it felt like an accident.

The original recipe was supposed to make two dozen cupcakes but I made 3 layers of cake.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

from Miki's Kitchen

Ingredients

• 2½ cups cake flour
• 1½ cups sugar
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tbsp. cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1½ cups vegetable oil
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 tbsp. (1 oz.) liquid red food coloring
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. distilled white vinegar

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 12 oz. cream cheese
• 8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 3/4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

Directions

1. To make the cucpakes, preheat the oven to 350° F.  Line cupcake pans with paper liners.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the cake flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt; whisk to blend.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the eggs, vegetable oil, buttermilk, food coloring, vanilla and vinegar.  Beat on medium speed until well blended.
4. Mix in the dry ingredients on low speed and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes.
5. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared liners.
6. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18 minutes.
7. Let cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
8. To make the frosting, combine the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer.  Beat on medium-high speed until well combined and smooth, about 2-3 minutes.  Mix in the vanilla extract.  Gradually beat in the confectioners’ sugar until totally incorporated, increase the speed and then beat until smooth.
9. Frost cooled cupcakes as desired.

I hope you don't mind my bad, amateur photography skill. Plus, I was short on materials so I had to make many substitutions.

Instead of using a mixer like I was supposed to (I didn't have one), I had to do some vigorous whisking. But the batter was quite merciful on me, thank goodness.

 

Yes, I used my cutting board and parchment paper. It's simple. 

 

 

You see that green bowl over there? That's where I did my most intense whisking for fifteen minutes to get the cream cheese frosting just right. But it did not ended smooth and soft like it's supposed to, as you can see below.

 

 

This is my favorite part! It's crumb-coating time! I used one whole cake for this and had half leftover. All you have to do is wait for it to cool down a bit and then jab at it with your spatula.

 

TA DA! To get the edges clean, use a wet cloth or sturdy paper towel and hold it over the sink and wipe!

 

You see the piping bag there? I made that, too. I used parchment paper and a sandwich bag. I had to squeeze real hard to get the thick cream cheese out.

 

This was the trial piece I gave to my sister at 6:30 am before school. I added whip cream for extra flavor. (Don't follow my bad example, children. Do NOT eat sweets in the morning!)

This is just so you could see the texture.