Red Velvet Cake

Ingredients

Cake

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar (granulated)
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder (unsweetened)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup of coffee (hot)
• 1 tablespoon red gel food coloring

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 1/2 cups whipping cream
• 16-ounce cream cheese
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups icing sugar (same as powdered sugar or confectioner’s sugar)

Directions

1. Set the oven's temperature to 350 F.

2. Two 8-inch cake pans should be prepared for baking. Cut out 2 circles of parchment paper to fit within each pan and coat them with cooking spray. Don't forget to spray some cooking spray up the pans' sides as well.

3. To prepare the cake batter, place the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, and the paddle attachment in the bowl of a stand mixer. Use the paddle attachment to beat the ingredients on low speed until thoroughly incorporated.

4. It's a good idea to have a backup plan in case something goes wrong. Add the coffee and food coloring by whisking.

5. The wet components should be added to the mixer bowl. Stir everything together for roughly 2 minutes at medium speed. As necessary, combine after scraping the bowl's bottom with a spatula. If additional red food coloring is required to get the desired color, do so. Distribute the batter evenly between the two prepared pans.

6. Bake: Use a toothpick in the center of the cake to check for doneness; if it comes out clean, the cake is ready. Once the cake has cooled in the pans for approximately 30 minutes, remove it and let it cool on a cutting board or a cooling rack.

7. Prepare the cream cheese frosting: Whipping cream is whipped in the mixer bowl until soft peaks form. When ready to use, remove from mixer bowl and place in refrigerator.

8. Beat the cream cheese, vanilla extract, and icing sugar until smooth in the bowl of your mixer. The whipping cream should be gradually added and well blended.

9. Assemble the cake: First, we cut off the cake's top and crumbled it into a dish; later, we'll utilize this as decoration.

10. Each cake should be split in half. On your serving dish, start by laying 1 cake layer. Then, evenly apply 1/4 of the cream cheese frosting over the cake layer. Continue with the remaining layers of cake. The cream cheese frosting should be uniformly applied to the cake's top and up its sides using a spatula. If you'd like, garnish the cake with the leftover cake crumbs.

11. When ready to serve, keep chilled.