Baking ingredients
- 560 g self-raising flour
- 8 tbsp cocoa powder
- 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 pinch salt
- 440 ml buttermilk
- 4 tsp vinegar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 tsp red food colouring
- 240 g butter - room temperature
- 680 g caster sugar
- 4 large eggs
Decorating ingredients
- 250 g unsalted butter - softened
- 800 g icing sugar
- 6 tbsp milk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 15 kg Renshaw White Ready to Roll Icing
- 250 g Renshaw Poppy Red Ready to Roll Icing
- 250 g Renshaw Lincoln Green Ready to Roll Icing
- 250 g Renshaw Yellow Ready to Roll Icing
- 250 g Renshaw Atlantic Blue Ready to Roll Icing
- 250 g Renshaw Deep Purple Ready to Roll Icing
Renshaw products used
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Instructions
Baking Instructions:
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F/gas mark 3.
Step 2
Grease and line two 16cm round cake tins and two 20cm round cake tins.
Step 3
In a large bowl, sift together the self-raising flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of salt.
Step 4
In a smaller bowl, mix the buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla extract and red food colouring.
Step 5
In a mixing bowl beat (by hand whisk or electric hand whisk) the butter and caster sugar together until light and fluffy.
Step 6
Into the creamed butter and caster sugar, beat in the egg a little at a time. Mix in a third of the flour mixture, followed by half the buttermilk mixture, then another third of the flour, the rest of the buttermilk and finally the last of the flour mixture.
Step 7
Divide the mixture between the four lined cake tins.
Step 8
In two batches, bake the cakes for approximately 20 minutes, until risen and springy.
Step 9
Leave the cakes in their tins on a wire rack for 10 minutes.
Step 10
Turn out on the wire rack and leave to cool completely.
Decorating Instructions:
Step 11
To make buttercream, put the unsalted butter into a mixing bowl and beat until creamy in colour and light in texture. Sift the icing sugar into the bowl and combine, then add 3-4 tablespoons of milk and one teaspoon of vanilla extract and beat until smooth.
Step 12
Take half the prepared buttercream and spread on the top of the bottom layer of both the smaller (16cm) and larger (20cm) red velvet cakes. Please the top layers of sponge on top of the buttercream layers to create two sandwiched red velvet cakes.
Step 13
Place the larger (20cm) red velvet cake onto a 10 inch round cake drum and the smaller (16cm) red velvet cake onto a 6 inch round cake board. Take the remaining buttercream and spread evenly over the top and sides of both the sandwiched red velvet cakes, masking evenly. Remove any excess buttercream.
Step 14
Knead half the Renshaw White Ready to Roll Icing until pliable before rolling out. Lightly dust your work surface with icing sugar and roll out icing to desired thickness.
Step 15
Lift the white icing over the larger (20cm) red velvet cake, smoothing down the sides with the palm of your hand. Trim excess any icing from the base. To give a sheen to the surface, smooth with the palm of your hand.
Step 16
Knead the remaining half of white icing until pliable before rolling out. Lightly dust your work surface with icing sugar and roll out icing to desired thickness.
Step 17
Lift the white icing over the smaller (16cm) red velvet cake smoothing down the sides with the palm of your hand. Again, trim any excess icing from the base. To give a sheen to the surface, smooth with the palm of your hand.
Step 18
Taking the larger (20cm) cake, evenly space and insert four pieces of plastic cake dowelling into the centre of the cake, ensuring that the smaller (16cm) red velvet cake will cover the dowels when placed on top. Trim the dowels to the same height as the larger (20cm) red velvet cake using wire cutters or strong scissors.
Step 19
Gently stack the smaller (16cm) red velvet cake on top of the larger (20cm), first removing the cake board and securing in position with royal icing.
Step 20
Knead the Renshaw Poppy Red, Lincoln Green, Yellow, Atlantic Blue and Deep Purple Ready to Roll Icings separately on a work surface lightly dusted with icing sugar. Roll out each icing to the same thickness, and using a heart shaped cutter, cut out the different coloured icing hearts required to decorate your cake.
Step 21
According to your preferred colour pattern, stick the coloured icing hearts in two rows around both the smaller (16cm) and larger (20cm) iced red velvet cakes using cooled boiled water, ensuring that each row displays a different colour than the icing heart displayed above or below.
