"Reddish-Brown" Velvet Cake

Nahing reminded me that I haven't been making cakes lately and I realized that she's absolutely right! It's just been simple and easy baking this past couple of months - muffins, cookies, and pound cakes. I don't think that I've lost the appetite to make layer cakes but it's more that I haven't had a chance or a reason to make one. Although I have to admit, during my days of eager beaver baking I would bake layered cakes whether or not there's an occasion for it. Thankfully my sister asked me to make cakes for her as a souvenir from Texas when I went for a short visit to San Jose this past weekend. :)


Maria, my sister, had asked for two cakes: a chocolaty one and a fruity one. I kind of have a few ideas on the fruity cake (shown in later post) but I'm quite clueless on the chocolaty one. I don't know if I should make a true chocolate cake that's super rich and dense and moist or a cake with a twist of chocolate. After several days of brainstorming with myself, I finally decided to make Joy of Baking's Red Velvet Cake again with a slight twist. I had tried this recipe before and I loved the results. So this time, I recycled the recipe and added a few changes to it:

1. Instead of making cupcakes, I made one big cake
2. Instead of using buttermilk, I used sour cream

I actually liked how the cake turned out. Surprisingly, even though I omitted the red food coloring, the cake has a reddish hue to it. :) So I'm naming the cake the "reddish-brown" velvet cake. :p

I'm also very happy that I managed to get a good cross-section picture of the cake. I don't usually have the privilege of peeking inside the layers but this time, I made sure I had a thin sharp knife to cut the cake. I'm pretty pleased with how the layers are quite even. :)

I have to say that the hardest part of this cake is in transporting it from Houston to San Jose. The sides of the cake was quite damaged during the trip but luckily, the cake survived!