Happy 4th of July everyone! I hope you all have a fun holiday filled with good food, great company, and fireworks. I’ll be spending most of the day working, but tonight I’m driving down to the waterfront with some friends to watch the fireworks. I haven’t gone to see the professional fireworks in years, and I’m so excited because fireworks are my favorite part of this holiday. When I was younger, my mom would buy a ton of fireworks, so we’d have some leftover to use on my birthday. Yes, my birthday isn’t until October, but we’d keep them in our garage anyway because they add a fun, “wow” factor to any birthday party.
Speaking of “wow,” that’s exactly what people say when they see this red velvet cake. It’s a showstopper. The cake is very rich and has a unique texture. Most cakes are fluffy and light, but because this cake is made in crepe layers, it has a dense texture. A friend and I first made this cake together just for fun, and then I made it again for my boyfriend’s birthday. After cooking it twice, I have a few pieces of necessary advice for anyone who wants to make this cake. I added my tips into the original recipe’s instructions.
First of all, it takes about 2 hours to cook and put this cake together. Yikes! But don’t worry, it’s totally worth it. The recipe makes two cakes, but I made 1 extremely tall cake instead.
Ingredients:
1 package (18 ¼ ounces) red velvet cake mix
2 ¾ cups whole milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
¼ cup butter, melted
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
Frosting:
5 packages (3 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
1 ¼ cups butter, softened
½ teaspoon salt
12 cups confectioners’ sugar
5 teaspoons vanilla extract
The original recipe calls for 12 cups of powdered sugar, which is way too much. Too much powdered sugar, and the cake becomes tooth-ache sweet, but if there’s not enough frosting, the cream cheese makes the cake a little too gooey. I haven’t found the right amount yet, but the recipe makes a lot more frosting than what I needed.
Directions (adapted from the Taste of Home website):
In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, milk, flour, eggs, egg yolks, butter and vanilla; beat on low speed for 30 seconds. Beat on medium for 2 minutes.
Heat a lightly greased 8-in. nonstick skillet over medium heat; pour ½ to ¾ cup batter into center of skillet. The original recipe calls for ¼ cup, but this makes layers that are very thin and hard to flip. Lift and tilt pan to coat bottom evenly. Cook until top appears dry (it cooks just like a pancake, so wait for the bubbles to pop!); turn and cook crepe 15-20 seconds longer. In order to flip the layer, use a non-stick turner to lift the edge of the cake. When you’re about to flip, the outside of the cake should be slightly raised, so all you have to do is slide the turner into the center of the cake and flip. If you’re good at flipping pancakes, this will be easy! Remove cooked cake layer to a wire rack and let dry. Repeat with remaining batter.
The outer edges of the crepes are thinner than the center and become somewhat crispy and flaky when cooking, so I used kitchen scissors to trim off the crispy edges. It made the cake much easier to frost. When cakes have cooled, stack them with waxed paper or paper towels in between.
For frosting, in a large (very large) bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and salt until fluffy. Add confectioners’ sugar and vanilla; beat until smooth.
To assemble two crepe cakes, place one crepe on each of two cake plates. Spread each with about ½ cup frosting to within 1/2 in. of edges. Repeat layers until all crepes are used. Spread remaining frosting over tops and sides of crepe cakes. Yield: 2 cakes (8 servings each).
Garnish with blueberries for a fun 4th of July touch!
A City of Hidden Sparkles 