Red velvet cake is a chocolate cake prepared by adding red food coloring to the cake to give it the well known red color. Originally this red color was obtained by adding beets! Well, I think I will take the food coloring!

This cake has been very popular for many centuries. The most basic ingredients for this basic cake are flour, baking soda, buttermilk, vanilla extract, sugar, cocoa powder, vinegar, eggs, and salt. Ingredients required for the preparation of red velvet cake, as all other cakes also, should be measured using measuring cups or spoons. Different ingredients have different ways to measure, in order to receive the accurate amount of ingredients.

Mixing the ingredients together for this scrumptious cake is the initial step in the preparation of a red velvet cake. You can use spatulas, hand blenders, or electric blenders to prepare batter for a red velvet cake. After done mixing the ingredients, the oven needs to be preheated. This basically means that the oven needs to be at the proper temperature before the cake ever enters the oven for baking. Don’t forget this important step!

The baking pans need to be greased before baking. You can use non-stick cooking spray, butter and flour, or butter and powdered sugar. As for baking time, it is usually based on the size of the red velvet cake being baked and the type of oven being used. Typically, these cakes are baked at 350° F, but all recipes are different so be sure never to assume. Read all recipes carefully.

After baking, all red velvet cakes must be left for cooling for around 5-15 minutes and then removed from the pans. Frosting is spread on the cake once the cake is COMPLETELY cool, no sooner or the frosting may melt right off the cake. Usually cream cheese icing is preferred for red velvet cakes but other frostings are also creative choices. A true Southern lady wouldn’t dream of any other frosting except the cream cheese version.

These delicious red velvet cakes are most popular in South America and the southern United States, although they are popular in other areas too. Red velvet cakes are also sometimes called “devil’s attraction” because of the red color. The red color, in today’s baking world, is traditionally caused by red food coloring. Sorry to burst your bubble but for those of you who are wondering, red food dye hasn’t always been the “red” of choice. Back in the older days, people used beets to make the original red cake. I don’t know about you, but the thought of beets in my cake seems a bit disgusting.

If you are interested in purchasing one of these red velvet cakes for a special event or occasion, they start at around $10, and go up from there based on the size you may need. They may be prepared in tier structures for wedding celebrations or in single layers for a special afternoon snack.

For diet conscious people, low fat red velvet cakes can be prepared using low calorie sugar, cream, and a chocolate supplement which may contain less fat but it definitely does not lack in flavor so do not worry about what you might be missing out on.

The red velvet cake can be purchased in bakeries or pastry stores. Some specialty stores even offer home delivery packs and those special cakes can be ordered online, via internet, or over the phone.

No matter how you slice it, the red velvet cake is a classic and can be enjoyed for any occasion. They have an original color which never goes unnoticed and a yummy flavor which is sure to tantalize taste buds.

A red velvet cake is your solution for any craving for a cake break so dig in.

Jewish Coffee Cake Superb

Now here is a coffee cake that will make you want no other coffee cake, and once you prepare this coffee cake and get a real working idea about this cake you can become very creative and use some different jams, jellies, fruits and so on.

Always remember that there is a lot that you can do with a recipe providing you don’t exceed the parameters of the original recipe.

All ingredients should be at room temperature.

Half cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 ounces sour cream
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder

Cream the butter and sugar together then add eggs one at a time and mix the rest of the ingredients together slowly.

In a separate bowl combine 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup diced walnuts and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon or as much as you like and mix them together.

Using a 10 inch x 3inch tube pan, make sure that the pan is well greased and floured, place some cake mix in the bottom and then some of the sugar, walnut and cinnamon mixture and then repeat this procedure until you have all the cake mix in the pan and the top layer is the cinnamon mixture.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes or until a pick placed in the center of the cake comes out clean, cool and enjoy, I like mine warm with some raspberry jam on it.

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Making Chocolate Cake

Making chocolate cake is a pleasure not just for kids but also for adults. It is one of the universal favorites and making it can certainly give you an edge and flair when hosting certain occasions. Except for the rare few who are allergic to chocolates, chocolate cakes can cause one to have a better mood, as attested to by scientific research on endorphin hormones which come in larger proportions from chocolate. The endorphin rush can also be attained by having fun in creating your own chocolate cake.

Here are the basic steps for making chocolate cake.

Les Ingredients (The Ingredients)

The basic ingredient for chocolates include coffee powder, chopped butter, dark chocolate, water, brown sugar, cocoa powder, flour, lightly whisked egg, cocoa powder, and cachous for decoration. Proportions vary according to the level and degree of sweetness you prefer for you chocolate cake. The amount also varies based on the required number of servings you need.

The Steps

As with any cake, preheating to about 160 degrees Celsius. The base must also be created and greased to about 20 centimeters for standard size. After settling this, you can now add the coffee, butter, chocolate, sugar and water in a pan. Place it only on low heat. Stir this for the next few minutes until it melts and balances. Once this is established, set it aside for a few minutes and let it cool down.

Grab a bowl and transfer the entire mixture. Do some sifting and get the cocoa powder and combined flours. Add the almonds in this particular stage. After mixing all these, add the eggs and fold the flour. Keep stirring and pour it into the pan.

After all this is finished, bake the cake for at least one hour. If at all possible, monitor the progress of your cake by using a skewer. Once this is finished, take the cake out of the oven and prepare it for icing. The icing must be made of fresh cream and chocolate placed in a bowl, stirred to smooth perfection. Place the icing in the middle of the cake and in the outer surfaces, ensuring uniformity and balance in the elements. Add the decorations afterwards.

Some Additional Pieces of Advice

Cooling is essential in every stage of making chocolate. You need to make sure that the chocolate is cooled before you decide to add any more ingredients. You must also exercise caution in establishing proportions of the ingredients so that there will not be overpowering elements in your chocolate cake. Have somebody test your cake from time to time and practice doing it to refine your style and speed in making chocolate cake.

At the outset, you must have high quality chocolate to begin with. Your techniques come in secondary to the quality of your ingredients, so make sure that you are making your chocolate with the best ingredients there is in the market. It can also be made more fun if you share the chocolate cake making activity with friends and family to make the affair and learning even sweeter.

Other techniques may come in but essentially, it is advisable to look for the perfect manner with which you can do your best cooking or baking skills and at the same time, maintain the richness of excellently made chocolate cakes.

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You may not be able to have your cake and eat it too, but you can certainly learn how to make one!

Gone are the days when cakes were considered a luxury. These days cakes are part and parcel of every day life, finding their way into Sunday dinner, church socials, and birthdays. Most of us think that gourmet cakes are hard to make, but that notion is incorrect. Gourmet cakes are one of the easiest deserts to make.

Just go to a search-engine like Google or Yahoo, and type in “elegant Gourmet cake recipes.” Click the button and you’ll find numerous sites offering recipes like ice cream cakes, walnut mud-cake, pear and raspberry cake, Sydney mud-cake, Russian cheesecake, Bailey’s marbled cheesecake, chocolate peanut-butter cheesecake, just to name a few.

I think most of us know that by using crock-pots, you can make quick and easy dishes in the morning that are ready for you when you get home from work. How mundane. But for something truly sublime, you should try one of the great recipes for ice-cream cakes.

Ice cream cakes are considered gourmet cakes since they are something special. They are a perfectly blended rich ice-cream with smooth frosting and moist cake. You can make one of these masterpieces with just a little bit of imagination and some store-bought ingredients.

When you go shopping for the ingredients for this cake, pick up fresh chocolate as garnish, fresh fruit, frozen whipped topping, your favorite flavor of ice-cream, and some angel food cake.

After getting all of your ingredients, put the ice cream and cake in the freezer for about two hours. You should thaw the frozen whipped topping on the counter for at least 30 minutes just prior to starting. Now slice the fresh fruit and shave the chocolate into attractive pieces to garnish the top of the cake. Remove the ice cream from the freezer and thaw it for thirty minutes. Now remove the cake from the freezer and slice it into three pieces, horizontally.

To produce your wonderful gourmet ice-cream cake, stir the ice cream with a wooden spoon until it becomes smooth and creamy. Now spread the ice cream between the layers of cake. Once you have finished assembling the layers, frost the exterior and top of the layers with the whipped topping. Now garnish the cake with the fruit slices and/or chocolate.

Put the cake back into the freezer until you are ready for your dinner. This recipe for gourmet ice-cream cake is sure to please your friends and family, and makes for the perfect finish for dinner.