Red Velvet & Light Cheese Cake with Pink Ombré Roses

It was my mother's birthday last weekend, just one day after National Day. As usual, the whole family got together to celebrate this joyous occasion with her. We usually dine out at a nice Chinese restaurant of her choice and spent the night, dining and chatting away. I love family gatherings! And it goes without saying that I will bake a birthday cake for the birthday girl. No matter how many times I ask her what kind of cake she likes, she will always answer me the same thing, "Do whatever is convenient, don't need to be too elaborate. Or no need cake also can." That's my mum, forever worrying about troubling other people. Anyway,I figured that its not a bad thing too as I get to choose what I like to try out, hahaha! So I decided on something that I have been wanting to try like forever....Red Velvet & Light Cheese Cake with Pink Ombré Roses.

Baking the layers of the cake was easy, but I was pretty stressed out piping out the roses on this cake! It might look simple, but little did I know piping the roses on the side of the cake can be so difficult, especially when if one didnt get the right piping tip or the consistency of the cream is not right. It cannot be too cold or too warm. I had to redo a few times until I got it right and even so I felt it wasn't nice enough. :P And it was so rush in the end that I didn't have time to get nicer shots of the cake. *haiz!*

Despite of it all, I was still very happy how the cake turned out. It was one of those cakes that I actually won't mind having 2nds or 3rds....if I haven't already had a big dinner. ;P As you all know, old folks just can't stand sweet...so I have to reduce the sugar to considerable amount in the cake recipe and the cream cheese frosting as well. And adding a light cheddar cheese cake layer in the middle was one the best idea for making this, hahaha! Why? Because the light soft and slightly salty cheddar cake makes the taste so well balanced. ;) Perfect balance of sweetness and also making the cake lighter overall. Love it!

The red velvet cake recipe is none other then Martha Stewart's recipe. I have actually made this twice and it was very well received, so I knew I will use this recipe again soon. Was gonna post up the recipe earlier but my poor laptop gave in and I have no access to the photos as yet. Anyway, I will post the red velvet recipe (with slight modifications) here plus the frosting. Kindly refer to the light cheddar cheesecake here.

Ingredients for Red Velvet Cake (Makes 2 X 8" round)
285g cake flour, sifted

1 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

1 teaspoon salt

180g sugar

365ml vegetable oil

2 large eggs, room temperature

1/2 teaspoon red gel-paste food color

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

• Preheat oven to 170 degrees. Line and greased two 8" round cake pan. Whisk together cake flour, cocoa, and salt.
• With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, whisk together sugar and oil until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Mix in food color and vanilla.
• Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, and whisking well after each. Stir together the baking soda and vinegar in a small bowl (it will foam); add mixture to the batter, and mix on medium speed 10 seconds.
• Divide batter equally between the 2 cake pans. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 30 minutes.

Note that I doubled the recipe since it was a 3 layer cake plus roses to pipe. But I will only post one portion of the recipe for easier reference:

Ingredients for Cream cheese frosting:

340g cream cheese, soften227g unsalted butter, room temperature200g-225g confectioner's sugar ( I can't really recall the exact amount)1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Beat butter and cream cheese with a mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low. Add sugar, 1 cup at a time, and then vanilla; mix until smooth.

To assemble, place one red velvet cake as the base and spread some cream cheese frosting over. The top it with the Cheddar cheese cake. Then spread some cream cheese frosting on top and lastly top it off with the 2nd layer of red velvet.

Ice the whole cake with a thin coat of the frosting and chill. Once chilled, decorate as you desire. If you wish to pipe roses, try using the Wilton's 1M or 2D piping tips. Also use Wilton's food coloring gel to tint the frosting. Remeber lightest to strongest. I actually used a very light shade of pink for the cake coat as shown above. I worry the pink roses against the white background might be too big a contrast.

The cake was moist, creamy and incredibly delicious. I really love it to bits! Everyone, even my brother in law whom doesn't fancy cakes, said it's very good and keep sneaking a few mouthfuls from his daughter's share, hahaha! My mum loved it too and polished off her slice pretty fast, heehee. Happy Birthday Mum!! :) As for this cake, I am very sure I will be baking this again.

Okay, gonna end this post here. Have a great week ahead everyone!