6/52 Red Velvet Heart Cake

It's that time of the year again.

♡ Hearts. Pink. Love. Red. ♡

Yes, Valentine's Day is coming up.

"I don't need a special day to tell my loved one how I feel", that's what a lot of people say.
And I agree. It would be sad to only express your feelings on that one day of the year.

But, I also think that it doesn't hurt to emphasize your love with a little something on February 14.
A handwritten love letter, for example. Or, Red Velvet Cake. Heart-shaped, of course.

P.S. Read this post all the way to the end to learn about those super-special white bits in the frosting that you can see above. 

Red Velvet Cake

Adapted from Joy of Baking

250 g (2 1/2 cups) sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
114 g (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
300 g (1 1/2 cups) white sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
240 ml (1 cup) buttermilk
2 tablespoons liquid red food coloring
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda

• Preheat oven to 175 °C (350°F). Butter two 23 cm (9 in) round cake pans and line bottom with parchment paper.

• Sift together flour, salt, and cocoa and set aside.

• In another bowl, mix the butter until soft. Add the sugar and beat until light. Add eggs one at a time and combine well. Add vanilla extract.

• In a glass or measuring cup, whisk buttermilk and red food coloring together.

• Alternately add flour mixture and red buttermilk to the butter mix, starting and ending with flour mix.

• Combine vinegar and baking soda in a small cup and allow to fizz. Quickly fold into cake batter.

• Divide batter evenly between both cake pans.

• Bake for 25-30 minutes. Let cool in pans for about 10 minutes, remove from pans and let cool completely.

My modifications:

I used my heart-shaped cake pan and since I only own one, I had to bake them one after the other.

I guess I am too shy when it comes to food coloring. I swear I used a lot already, but as you can see, my cakes did not turn out as red as they should have. I will use more coloring next time.... Don't want to end up with a Brown Velvet Cake again...

I did not make the frosting that is suggested on Joy of Baking. Just because I thought that cream cheese plus Mascarpone plus double cream was a bit heavy. So I turned to Joy the Baker again and used one of her frosting recipes.

Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from Joy the Baker

114 g (1 stick) butter, at room temperature

114 g (4 oz) cream cheese, at room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 tablespoon milk

300 g (3 cups) powdered sugar, sifted

liquid food coloring

• Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add butter and mix until combined. Add vanilla, milk and 200 g (2 cups) of powdered sugar and beat together. Add remaining powdered sugar. When combined, add food coloring.

• Pour half of the frosting on top of one of the cakes you made and spread evenly. Put the second cake on top and distribute the other half of the frosting on top and on the sides.

My modifications:
I used double the amount of butter and cream cheese (since my cake needed more than the cupcakes Joy frosted with the amount above) but I omitted the milk and only used 200 g (2 cups) of powdered sugar. I wanted a pink frosting so I used red food coloring.

The white parts you see in my frosting are pieces of butter. I couldn't wait until the butter was soft enough because it was getting late, the light was going away, I still needed to take pictures of the finished cake, and because I can be a bit impatient at times. There. Thanks for asking.

P.S. The lovely LOVE print seen on the pictures can be downloaded for free.

What's your take on Valentine's Day? 
Anything pink and heart-shaped you would like to share?