Red Velvet Cake

In celebration of Mother's Day, Gary and I made a red velvet cake with fresh cream cheese frosting. Not only did we make the cake, but designed it by using different frosting dyes to make flowers, the borders, and leaves. This was such a fun cake to make, and so delicious. Happy Mothers Day! This recipe yields two 9" pans.

Cake Ingredients
-1/2 cup Spectrum Naturals Organic Shortening
-1 1/2 cups white sugar
-2 eggs
-2 tablespoons cocoa
-4 tablespoons red food coloring
-1 teaspoon salt
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1 cup buttermilk
-2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
-1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
-1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients
-1 pound of cream cheese (or 2 packages of 8 ounce)
-1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
-4 cups sifted powdered sugar
-2 sticks of butter

Directions for Cake
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F & Grease two 9 inch round pans.
2. Cream shortening and 1 1/2 cups sugar WELL. Add eggs and beat well.
3. Make a paste of cocoa and red food coloring. Add to creamed mixture.
4. Mix salt, 1 teaspoon vanilla and buttermilk together. Add alternately the flour with the milk mixture to the creamed mixture.
5. Mix soda and vinegar and FOLD INTO CAKE BATTER. DON'T BEAT OR STIR NOW.
6. Bake for 30 minutes. Allow to cool before applying frosting (approx 1.5 hour)

To make frosting: Mix all ingredients into the stand mixer. To add to the cake, it helped to make the frosting cooler by refrigerating for at least 30 minutes. By doing this it made the consistency stiffer.