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