What is it about red velvet and Valentine's Day that just goes together? What is that about? Shouldn't every 2nd and 4th Wednesday, and the occasional Friday, of every month be red velvet occasions?
So, I have been sitting on a red velvet cheesecake recipe for well over a year. And I've been dying to try it, but also I've been dying because it's a good 3 pages long. THREE. It also spans about 3 days of time to make it. I'm not really down with that. Then, THEN!, I found another food blog to follow (I know, another one?) and I saw that she had a recipe for that very cake! And it seemed slightly manageable! And it IS slightly manageable! In fact it's way manageable. I did make it over the course of two days, because I wanted the cheesecake to be really well set up when I assembled everything, but it's entirely up to you. Make it all in one day if you'd like! If you do, you should let the cheesecake sit in the fridge for at least 4 hours.
And people, PEOPLE!, I will not lie. When I make a cake, I typically make it from a box, and throw in some pudding mix to make it more moist. This red velvet cake recipe Is. A. Maze. Ing. AMAZING.
I will make it again for just the cake alone!
Red Velvet Cheesecake
Cheesecake
20 oz full fat cream cheese, at room temperature
2/3 cup white sugar
Zest of half a lemon
1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
20 oz full fat cream cheese, at room temperature
2/3 cup white sugar
Zest of half a lemon
1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and set a kettle of water to boil.
Grease a 9″ springform pan, and line the bottom with a round of parchment paper. Wrap the outside of the pan with heavy duty aluminum foil, and set the pan into a larger pan (for the waterbath.)
In the bowl of a mixer, beat the cream cheese on medium until fluffy. Add the sugar and beat until smooth. Switch to a wooden spoon and beat in the lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt. Add eggs one at a time, making sure they are combined but not overmixing. Add the sour cream. Stir in flour and gently mix just until combined.
Pour the batter into the greased pan. Pour boiling water into the larger pan halfway up the cheesecake. The aluminum foil should protect the cheesecake from seeping water. Bake until the cheesecake is just set in the middle, about 40 minutes. Run a knife around the sides and let the cheesecake cool completely. Press plastic wrap onto the surface of the cheesecake and refrigerate overnight.
Red Velvet
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp white distilled vinegar
Red food coloring, as desired
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp white distilled vinegar
Red food coloring, as desired
For the red velvet, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9″ pans.
Sift the flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. In the bowl of a mixer, beat the eggs, oil, buttermilk, vanilla extract, and vinegar until well combined. Add the dry ingredients and as much food coloring as you like. Beat until well combined, about two minutes.
Divide the batter between the two pans. Bake 25-30 minutes, rotating the pans halfway, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool the cakes in the pans for five minutes, then run a knife around the edges. Invert them onto cooling racks and cool completely.
Cream Cheese Frosting
12 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
6 tbsp butter, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
3 cups sifted powdered sugar (sift, and then measure)
12 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
6 tbsp butter, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
3 cups sifted powdered sugar (sift, and then measure)
Beat the cream cheese and butter in an electric mixer until very smooth and lump-free. Beat in the vanilla and almond extracts. Then stir in the powdered sugar a cup at a time until very smooth.
Assembling the cake.
Use a cake leveler or serrated knife to level the tops of the red velvet cakes. Put one of the layers, cut-side up and parchment paper removed, on a serving plate. Spread with a very small amount of frosting, just enough to cover the cake in a thin layer.
Take the cheesecake out of the fridge. Open up the springform pan and peel off the plastic wrap. The cake should be pretty sturdy. Flip over the cheesecake (it should be pretty sturdy) onto the cake, so that the parchment paper and the bottom of the spring form will be on top, and remove those.
If you're cheesecake is wider than the red velvet layer, gently saw off the edges with a serrated knife until it's even.
Spread another very thin layer of frosting on the top of the cheesecake. Flip the remaining layer of red velvet, cut side down, on top.
Use about a third of the cream cheese frosting to cover the whole cake with a crumb coat. Basically, you want to frost the cake with as little frosting as possible, picking up all the red crumbs and sealing the cake. Refrigerate the cake for half an hour, or until the crumb coat is hardened.
Then frost the cake with the rest of the cream cheese frosting.
Keep the cake in the fridge. It can stand at room temperature about half an hour before serving, if necessary.
Side notes from the crazy woman: I did not like the almond extract in the frosting. After a day or so, it wasn't as prevalent, but when I make this again I plan on leaving it out completely. Other than that, it's all good! I would recommend that you make the frosting while the cake layers are cooling, just for efficiency's sake :)
Have you ever bathed a cheesecake? Don't forget the tear free shampoo! Not really, but this is what it should look like :) It helps it to bake more evenly! And GUESS WHAT. I didn't have a crack on top of my cheesecake! It was really weird baking it without a crust though... You know, until it's sandwiched between two layers of cake... (p.s. I have yet to figure out a way to remove the springform pan from the pan of water without somehow getting hot water on some part of me and completely drenching two hot pads. If you can think of a better way, LET ME KNOW)
Everybody's getting some CHEEEEEESECAAAAAAKE!!! That's what Oprah would say right here.
So it turns out that red velvet cake is controversial. Some people feel that red food coloring will give you cancer or herpes or black lung, and so therefore they feel the red should come from something "natural." Like beets. These are the people that generally breastfeed their kids until they're 15 years old. But then a friend of mine told me that there is supposed to be some sort of chemical reaction between ingredients that makes the cake red? I don't know about y'all, but I dumped a whole (very small) bottle of liquid food coloring in mine to get the red. It was much easier than smashing and straining beats. Or being smart at chemistry.
Do me a favor and line your cake pans with parchment paper. I forgot (I forget 7 times out of 10) and I had a couple moments of sheer terror in which I thought my cake was breaking completely.
Special thanks to Martha Stewart for teaching me how to keep a cake stand from getting gross with crumbs and frosting. Just put little squares of parchment paper (or any paper) under the bottom layer, and then remove when done decorating!
Behold the glory of the crumb coat. Do not, I repeat, do NOT skip this step. Have you ever done a crumb coat on a cake before? It's GENIUS. It kind of seals everything in, and after being refrigerated, makes the cake smooth enough that you don't have crumbs swimming around in the main layer of frosting.
Right? RIGHT????
Seriously, this is not as daunting as it seems. I know there's a lot of steps, but if you read through the recipe a couple of times, and become familiar with what comes next, then you will be a pro at making red velvet cheesecake!
Enjoy! And happy Valentine's <3
Recipe Source: 17 and Baking