A rich, moist, sweet cake with a dark red colour.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups plain flour sifted
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbs cocoa powder
- 50 ml red liquid food colouring
- 120g butter, room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk room temperature
- 1 tsp white wine vinegar
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Cream cheese icing
- 450 g cream cheese softened
- 120g Lurpak* Butter, softened
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups icing sugar
- 1 pinch salt
*Lurpak is recommended by Australia's Best Recipes
Method
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Step 1Cake: Preheat oven to 180C. Butter and flour two 23cm round cake pans, or three 20cm round cake pans.
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Step 2Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl. Set aside.
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Step 3In a small bowl, mix food colouring and cocoa powder to form a thin, smooth paste. Set aside.
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Step 4In a large bowl, using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
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Step 5Beat in eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla and the red cocoa paste, scraping down the bowl frequently with a spatula. Add one third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, beat well, then beat in half of the buttermilk.
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Step 6Beat in another third of flour mixture, then second half of buttermilk. End with the last third of the flour mixture, beat until well combined, making sure to scrape down the bowl with a spatula.
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Step 7In a small bowl, mix vinegar and baking soda. Add it to the cake batter and stir well to combine.
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Step 8Working quickly, divide batter evenly between the cake pans and bake at 180C for 25-30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
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Step 9Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. To remove the cakes from the pan, place a wire rack on top of the cake pan and invert, then gently lift the pan. Allow cakes to cool completely before icing.
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Step 10Cream cheese icing: With an electric mixer, blend together cream cheese and butter until smooth.
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Step 11Reduce speed to low, and blend in icing sugar, salt and vanilla extract. Increase speed to high, and beat until light and fluffy.
Recipe Notes
Wear an apron and be careful with the red food colouring – no matter how hard I try, I always end up staining something!
If you prefer a sweeter or stiffer icing, more icing sugar can be added (up to four cups) but this will reduce the cream cheese taste.
If you like the sound of this recipe, you might also like this Chocolate Mud Cake.
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