Most People Make Red Velvet Cake Wrong! The Old Way Mama Made It

If your red velvet ever came out of the oven dry and heavy as a brick, it was never your hands. Mama baked hers one day a year for the Christmas table, stirred in green-striped bowls up a Kentucky holler, and us young'uns weren't allowed a crumb till Christmas Day. The secret is two plain pantry things meeting at just the right minute, and a hand that knows when to quit. The crown is the old cooked milk and flour frosting some call ermine and some call boiled-milk frosting, which Mama just called the white, lighter and not near as sweet as cream cheese. Tell me below whether your mother or grandmother frosted hers with the white, what county her people were from, and what her name was. THE RECIPES Mama's Red Velvet Cake (serves 12) Ingredients: - 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (or cake flour) - 1 1/2 cups sugar - 1 teaspoon baking soda - 1 teaspoon salt - 1 level tablespoon cocoa powder - 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil - 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature - 2 large eggs, room temperature - 1 teaspoon vanilla - 1 teaspoon white vinegar - 1 to 2 tablespoons liquid red food coloring, or a small dab of gel Steps: 1. Set the eggs and buttermilk on the counter for 1 hour. Heat the oven to 350°F. 2. Grease two 9-inch round pans, line with paper circles, grease again and dust with flour. 3. Sift the flour, sugar, soda, salt and cocoa into a large bowl. 4. Whisk the oil, buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, vinegar and red coloring together. 5. Pour the wet into the dry all at once and fold with a spatula only until the last streak of flour disappears, about 40 turns. Do not beat. 6. Divide between the pans right away and tap each pan once on the counter. 7. Bake on the middle rack at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick in the center comes out clean and the top springs back. 8. Cool 10 minutes in the pans, turn out onto a rack, peel off the paper and cool completely, about 1 hour. The White (Ermine Frosting) Ingredients: - 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour - 1 cup whole milk, cold - 1 teaspoon vanilla - 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature - 1 cup granulated sugar, not powdered Steps: 1. Whisk the flour and cold milk smooth in a small saucepan before turning on the heat. 2. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, 5 to 7 minutes, until thick as pudding. Off the heat, stir in the vanilla. 3. Scrape into a shallow bowl, press plastic wrap onto the surface and cool to room temperature, about 1 hour. Push through a sieve if lumpy. 4. Beat the butter and sugar on medium-high for 5 minutes, until no longer sandy. 5. Beat in the cooled paste a spoonful at a time. If it looks broken, chill the bowl and beaters 10 minutes and beat again. To Assemble: 1. Level the layers. Set the first cut side up and spread about 1 cup of frosting on top. 2. Set the second layer upside down. Spread a thin coat all over and chill 20 minutes. 3. Frost with the rest, swooping with the back of a spoon. Pat saved crumbs on the sides if you like. 4. Keeps covered 2 days at cool room temperature or 5 days in the icebox. Unfrosted layers wrapped in plastic, then foil, keep 3 months frozen. CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro 0:26 Butter and Buttermilk Rest 0:50 Making the Flour Paste 1:08 Cooking the Paste 2:10 Cooling the Paste 2:49 Preparing the Cake Pans 3:37 Mixing Dry Ingredients 4:32 Mixing Wet Ingredients 5:26 Buttermilk Meets Vinegar 6:32 Baking the Layers 7:19 Making the Frosting 8:23 Assembling and Storing 9:40 Recipe Recap and Storage