Blue Velvet Cake
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 30 minutes plus cake cooling time
Cooking time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- 2 cups cake flour*
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon bicarb
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons cream
- 100g/3.5ozs. dark chocolate
- 225g/8ozs. butter, softened
- 2 cups caster or superfine sugar
- 4 eggs, at room temperature
- Blue gel or powder food colouring (avoid using cheaper colourings as they require that you use more and can affect taste)
- Black gel or powder food colouring
- 1 cup buttermilk (I used whey)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Cream cheese frosting
- 250g/8.83ozs. cream cheese, softened
- 150g/5ozs. butter, softened
- 6 cups icing sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- Juice of 1/2 a lemon
- Blue and black food colouring
*To make cake flour, fill a measuring jug with 4 tablespoons of cornflour/fine cornstarch and then fill to the 2 cup mark with plain flour.
Step 1 - Line 2x 20cm/8inch tins with parchment on the base and sides. Preheat oven to 130C/266F. In a large bowl whisk the cake flour, sifted cocoa powder, bicarb and salt.
Step 2 - Heat the cream and chocolate together in a microwave and stir until melted and smooth. Set aside. Cream the butter and sugar together and beat for 4 minutes. Add the eggs in one at a time. Don't worry if it looks curdled.
Step 3 - Mix the food colouring (how much depends on the type you are using, but I went for a strong colour with the black) with the buttermilk, vanilla and chocolate and add this in two lots. Then add the flour mixture in three lots making sure not to overmix.
Step 4 - Spoon into the prepared tins and bake for 1 hour and 5 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool completely. I placed them in the freezer.
Step 5 - If you are icing these on the same day you baked them then a tip is to freeze the cakes to make them easier to handle. This is a very soft, moist cake and can break otherwise especially as you will be splitting them in half horizontally. I partially froze them and then sliced them in half and then froze them again placing parchment between each layer.
Step 6 - Make the cream cheese icing. Beat the cream cheese and butter until very smooth. Add the sifted icing sugar in on low speed and then increase the speed. Add the vanilla, lemon juice and colouring until you get a colour that you like.
Step 7 - Place the cake on a serving plate and scoop the icing into a large piping bag (you may need to fill it in two lots). Pipe the icing onto each layer.