Ingredients
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon fine salt
• 1 teaspoon cocoa powder - could add up to a couple of tablespoons depending on how chocolaty you want it to taste
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons red food coloring (1 ounce)
• 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Cream Cheese Frosting, recipe follows
• Directions
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In another large bowl, whisk together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla.
Using a standing mixer, mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined and a smooth batter is formed.
Divide the cake batter evenly among the prepared cake pans. Place the pans in the oven evenly spaced apart. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through the cooking, until the cake pulls away from the side of the pans, and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean, about 30 minutes. (20 minutes for cupcakes)
Cream Cheese Frosting:
• 1 pound cream cheese, softened (I just used like a whole tub)
• 2 cups sifted icing sugar
• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
You might need to add more icing sugar depending on your tastes. I used about 2 1/2 cups.
This recipe is for 3 layers, but you can do just two. It makes quite a lot of mixture so you will probably need the two pans. I use a round and a square then just cut the corners off the square since I dont have two round tins. If you can fit into one pan, you could freeze the cake then cut it into two layers when it is a bit thawed and easier to cut.
Actually that was a great tip I learned when making my last lot of 3d birthday cakes for my boys. If you freeze the cake, it makes it much easier to carve into the shape you want. Then you cover with a thin mixture of icing sugar and water and chill. When you go to ice it with frosting, you wont get lots of bits of crumbs in your frosting :-)
Anyway, enjoy!
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