Yum Peaceful Cooking: Happy BirthdayNewYearBlogaversaryDittoBirthDay

Monday, January 4, 2010

Happy BirthdayNewYearBlogaversaryDittoBirthDay



Whew...thats a mouthful isn't it? But its all true. Within 3 days I celebrated a birthday,  New Years, my blogaversary and Sir Sportsalot's birthday.

Busy days and nights, let me tell you!

And to celebrate it all (well....since my birthday came first, this was technically my birthday cake....but I'm willing to share), I made a Red Velvet Cake with a Raspberry Cream Filling and Cream Cheese Icing, topped with fresh raspberries.

I'm not going to tell you how old I am...lets just say I'm in my late 20's again. (Hell, I'd be happy if I were in my late 30's again). My blog is a YEAR OLD!!!! (wooooo hoooooo) and lets just say Sir Sportsalot is older than I am.

For Christmas I received, from a co-worker, a darling cake pan mold with hallow heart shape center for filling with fun stuff. And from another co-worker I received an adorable cake server shoe. So of course I had to put them both to use. I just love them!!!

We spent my birthday / New Years Eve with some close friends, eating, drinking and just enjoying each others company. New Years Day was spent cooking my traditional New Years Day Meal, which I will be sharing with you throughout the month. (Actually, I posted the Southern Fried Okra part already). The following day was Sir Sportsalots birthday and we went out for dinner with our friends and once again had lots of food and drinks and well....whew...I think my blood stream needs a break from all that alcohol. (of course I say that as I sip my strawberry / banana / coconut rum drink.)

When I mentioned that I'd be making my own birthday cake....I got a response of "awww...(and some sorry sad "why" type of comment)". But I was so excited and loved it! What a way to spend the day? In my favorite part of the house doing one of my favorite things. Plus....this was a recipe I had never tried (bonus) and I got to use "toys" I'd never played with (double bonus!).

A recipe on the Food Network came highly recommended but the reviews were touch and go. For the most part I followed the recipe as listed --->here<--- but I did make a few minor changes based on a few of the reviews (tastes like flour, has no flavor, dry). Funny how one recipe can have such a wide range in reviews. Mostly people raved about it. But I was nervous and therefore made some precautionary alterations.....which are noted in red:

Red Velvet Cake:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup buttermilk
2 lg eggs (room temperature)
1 oz. red food dye
1 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Raspberry Filling:

12 oz. thawed whipped cream
1 cup raspberry jam (or preserves if you like seeds)

Cream Cheese Icing recipe can be found within my Carrot Cake post

Preheat your oven to 350'. Spray the cake pans with cooking spray




Btw....if you don't have the fun pans I have, just omit the Raspberry filling (or use it between layers) and bake the cake in your regular cake pans.

In a large bowl, sift together your dry ingredients



Or just use a wisk and call it a day



In a large mixing bowl, cream your butter then add the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar and vanilla




Let me just warn you now....if your bowl isn't deep enough, you may want to put on an apron. It's a "bloody" mess

Add the dry ingredients



Combine until batter is smooth



Divide the cake evenly between your two pie pans



hmmm.....here's something in the recipe that I didn't notice until now....you're suppose to rotate the pans halfway through the baking time. Well, I didn't do that, but go ahead if it'll make you feel better.

Anyways....Cook for about 25 - 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean

Oh ya...did I tell you that I couldn't use my oven? I had a huge boston butt in my oven so I ran next door with my cake pans full of red batter and used my neighbors oven. Have I told you about Ruth? I think I've mentioned her before (she's the little old lady that has lived here longer than anyone and she use to babysit Sir Sportsalot when he was a baby). She was just too sweet and let me use her oven even though her boyfriend had just arrived to spend New Years with her. (she's going to be 90 this month...isn't that just the cutest thing?!)

Anyways...let the pans cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then I remove the cakes from pans and let cool completely.

Meanwhile mix together your whipped cream and jam. Once the cakes are completely cool...fill up the hallow centers







This next step really had me nervous. First of all...you need to make sure you have the (correct) bottom of the heart on your cake plate (you don't want an upside heart, do you?) and now you have to carefully place the top section onto the bottom half. Thank god for cooling racks. I used it as leverage and support as I matched up the edges and put my cake together.



Now for the fun part. It's time to frost that cake. I really should take the time to attend a class, but here's my finished product




And man was it GOOD!!
It wasn't dry. It didn't taste like flour and it did have flavor.

Happy New Year!
and may you always have a friend near by to pick you up when you need it

26 comments:

  1. First of all, best, best wishes for everything you celebrated in those intense three days. That's a lot of stuff, but even more fun.
    Second, I'm in love with that slice in the first picture. So wish I had something similar. I'll have to invent something ;)
    I haven't had a slice of a good cake in a while. Sounds so delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Happy birthday Danielle!
    Happy birthday Sir-Sports-Alot
    Happy new year!
    This cake is gorgeous, and I can't believe how red the batter is! Nice that you have a neighbor who can provide an oven during such emergencies.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Happy Birthday!
    Happy New Year!
    Happy Blogaversarry!

    I love the sound of the filling in the gorgeous cake! It looks so pretty, the color is wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a fun looking cake. I am still trying to figure out how a heart comes out of that but ours is not to wonder why.... Congratulations on the blogiversary and other events.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Happy birthday to you both, happy blogaversarry, and happy new year. Your cake is gorgeous. If I were as talented a baker as you are, I would definitely make my own too. As I write this I can see that yummy fried okra below. I'm hungry now.

    How nice that you can dash next door and use your neighbor's oven. She sounds like a sweetheart.
    Sam

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow, happy everything!
    Love that cake, and great new toys!
    The heart in the middle is so gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a great looking cake! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Blog Anniversary too! Oh and of course, Happy Birthday to the hubby. lol

    ReplyDelete
  8. great, now I have cake pan envy...

    I can sure picture this on amnya Valentine's day table

    ReplyDelete
  9. congrats on all the celebration-worthy events! and wow, i'm enamored of this cake. i didn't know such a pan existed, but given my love for all things heart-shaped, you'd better believe i'm heading to amazon.com right now to find my own!

    ReplyDelete
  10. That is the prettiest piece of cake I have ever seen. I love the heart. I'm really impressed with it!! Happy Bday, Blogiversary, and New Year! I love red velvet cake. Great choice for your celebrations!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Congratulations on all counts!
    And that cake is gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Happy Birthday to you and your blog!That cake looks beautiful and absolutely delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Happy Birthday Danielle and Mr. Sportslot and Happy Blogaversary! Your cake is so amazingly cool!!!!!!


    Laura

    ReplyDelete
  14. Great color on the cake! Mine never seem to get really red but yours is wonderful! And I love the cream heart in the middle...just so elegant!

    Happy Birthday and please tell Mr. SportsaLot I said Happy Birthday to him as well.

    I can't believe your blog is only 1 year old. So much as happened and my how you've changed...for the better!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Happy Everything! Your cake looks marvelous and I'll bet it was tasty, too. I've never made a red velvet cake. Now I want to try...

    ReplyDelete
  16. What and AWESOME photo, seriously cool!

    Congrats on everything.

    ReplyDelete
  17. OK, First... Happy Birthday!!!! Second... That cake pan is SO cool!! Where did you find it?
    Three - How much Buttermilk is in your recipe...?
    Four - LOVE the Cake... Now I am hungry for one of those myself... :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Oh yeah! And Five... Happy Blog-Versary!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Dajana - Thank you :). do you have Wiltons Cake Pans in Italy? If you could invent something, that would be way cool

    FLB - Thank you! I love my neighbor. I don't know what I'd do without her.

    Donna - Thanks! I can't decide which I liked best...the filling or the cream cheese icing.

    Linda - LMAO It took me all day to figure that out before I get my head lined up...the heart isn't in the direct center...its all the way around...radius like

    Sam - I'm not a talented baker by any means. I swear. You could so make this cake.

    Natasha - thank you...it was lots of fun playing with my toys :)

    Michele - Your so funny...so, how many times have you said happy birthday to me? LOL. Btw...I was looking at some of my original post and was reminded that you were my first dedicated follower. Thank you for the inspiration and support :)

    Dave - LMAO! It could be worse

    Grace - I expect to see a heart shaped something in the way of a cake (depending on what you found on Amazon) any day now :)

    Kim - Thank you! I'm glad I chose red velvet too. It was a lot of fun to make

    Erica - Thanks girl!! I wish I could share it with you

    Laura - thank you and Happy New Year to you!

    Michelle - I'm wondering if its cuz it seems this recipe has less cocoa powder in it than some of the other recipes I saw. :)

    Cathy - Red Velvet....just make sure you wear an apron LOL

    Moni - Thanks girl!!

    Shane - OMG...I forgot to include the buttermilk? Crap...ok, it's fixed. thank you sooo much! btw....its 1 cup of buttermilk.
    Thank you for the happies. I got the cake pan as a gift. you can't have red velvet cuz of the dye though, right? bummer :(

    ReplyDelete
  20. Happy, happy Everything! ;-) Congrats on all the celebrations and that red velvet cake looks amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  21. You know, I think it's fun making my own birthday cake, too. Otherwise, I'll probably get a storebought one. This looks and sounds sooooo good :) I hope your birthday was awesome...and happy new year, blogoversary...and SirSportsAlots drink! birthday ;)!!!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Happy Blogiversary Baaaaaby!
    Got you on my miiiiiiiiind!

    (remember that horrible anniversary song?)

    I'm glad you showed your secret to getting that filling, I was perplexed at first!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Happy BirthdayNewYearBlogaversaryDittoBirthDay!!lol!! that cake looks amazing! :)

    ReplyDelete
  24. Happy Birthday and Happy everything else day too!! I, too, wish to be in my late thirties once again!!

    I love that cake mould. Your cake looks fantastic!

    ReplyDelete
  25. I've been offline for awhile and I come back to this??? And you say you're not a "baker"? Pffft, ok, whatever...girl you seriously ROCKED IT OUT! I love it!!!

    ReplyDelete
  26. Beautiful cake! I've never seen cake pan like that before. Oh, Happy belated Birthday, New Years, and blogaversery!

    ReplyDelete

I apologize for having to use the word verification but you know how spammers are. All comments with links will be treated as spam. Thank you for visiting. I will do my best to return the visit.
Cheers!