Rich and smooth red velvet cake has a lot of fans. If you are baking this cake to make the Christmas tree cake for your holiday party, you will need two batches. Its deep red color makes it makes it a good fit for the red and green Christmas color theme, but this cake will elicit oohs and ahhs any time of year.
Red Velvet Cake
3-3⁄4 cups sifted cake flour
1-1⁄2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1-1⁄2 teaspoons salt
1-1⁄2 teaspoons baking soda
1-1⁄2 tablespoons white vinegar
2-1⁄4 cups granulated white sugar
3⁄4 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1-1⁄2 cups buttermilk
1-1⁄2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 ounces red food coloring
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9-x-13-inch cake pan, and set it aside.
In a large bowl, combine the cake flour, cocoa powder, and salt, and whisk them together with a balloon whisk.
In a small bowl, dissolve the baking soda in the vinegar. Stir well to make sure the baking soda is fully dissolved.
In a large bowl, beat the sugar and oil together until blended. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add the flour mixture to the sugar and oil mixture in four additions, alternating with the buttermilk. (Begin and end with the flour.) Mix each flour addition just until blended.
Beat in the vanilla and food coloring. Stir the baking soda mixture again, and fold it into the batter with a rubber spatula.
Bake the cake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs attached.