Seeing Red

I was originally going to make this cake as a Sugar High Friday event entry, but alas things just didn't work out the way I had hoped. In fact, I wasn't going to bother blogging about it at all, except that Josh is crazy about the darn thing. He has had a piece every night he's gotten home from work. Don't tell anyone, but tonight he had two! I agree that the cake is mighty tasty, although I'm not 100% over the moon for the frosting and cake combo. Anyway, I made the cake and icing last Friday night, but once they were each done it was late, so I wrapped everything up and stuck it in the refrigerator. Saturday I leveled the cake layers, got them stocked and put my crumb coat on. That was a little rough, thanks to my laziness in preparing the baking pans with only grease. The outside of the cake was a bit crumby, so I had my doubts about the crumb coat working at all. Well, I popped it back in the fridge, but then ran out of time. I left early Sunday morning for Louisiana for Uncle Sammy's funeral, and didn't get home till late Monday night. So the cake I baked Friday night wasn't completed till Tuesday afternoon. Which only adds to my surprise at Josh thinking it is so great. I pulled this recipe from my grandmother's recipe boxes. It's signed at the bottom with the name of her best friend and former neighbor, so it's not quite a family recipe. And it's almost common knowledge at this point that this cake doesn't actually have it's roots at the Waldorf Astoria, but I'm keeping the title all the same.

Waldorf Red Cake
Recipe from Pat Gilliland; Makes 2 9" cakes

1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
1/4 cup red food coloring
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon vinegar

• Cream shortening, sugar and eggs. Make paste of cocoa and food coloring and add to mixture. Add buttermilk and salt alternately with flour. Then add vanilla. Lastly add soda and vinegar.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes in 2 9" pans.

My notes: I ended up baking my cakes for about 35 minutes. Also, I used one small bottle of red food coloring, which wasn't quite 1/4 cup. As you can see there wasn't any problem telling what kind of cake it is, so you could definitely use less coloring. I made a basic cream cheese frosting for this cake.

Cream Cheese Frosting
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 8 oz. block cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup confectioners sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla

• Beat the butter on medium for 2 minutes. Add the cream cheese and beat for another 2 minutes.
• Sift the confectioners sugar and add to butter and cream cheese. Beat for 2 minutes.
• Add vanilla and beat until well blended, light and fluffy.

My notes: Here in Texas, especially in the summer, this frosting can't stand up to much so this cake has to be kept in the refrigerator.