Mary Berry is one of the best bakers when it comes to cake recipes, from her classic Victoria sandwich cake to her delicious coffee and walnut cake, you are sure to find something you love.
One cake recipe that stands out as “impressive but easy” is her red velvet cake recipe.
Red velvet cake is undoubtedly a classic favourite as the vibrant red hue and smooth, velvety texture make it a real head-turner.
It also boasts a subtle chocolate taste that pairs perfectly with the gentle tanginess of the frosting.
Mary claimed that her recipe is “so simple” that “even a complete beginner can knock it together”.
Ingredients
For the cake
Butter, for greasing
250g plain flour
One tablespoon cocoa powder
Two teaspoons baking powder
One teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
250g light muscavado sugar
200ml buttermilk
150ml sunflower oil
Two teaspoons vanilla extract
One tablespoons red food colouring
Two large eggs
Eight white chocolate truffle balls, to decorate (optional)
For the icing
250g butter, softened
Two teaspoons vanilla extract
300g icing sugar
250g full-fat mascarpone
Method
Start by preheating the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4, grease two 20cm sandwich tins and line the bases with baking paper.
Measure the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and sugar into a bowl and mix well.
Mix the buttermilk, oil, vanilla, food colouring and 100ml of water in a jug. Add the eggs and whisk until smooth. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk until combined.
The mixture should be bright red, but it will get a little darker as it cooks. If it’s not as vivid as you’d like, add a touch more colouring.
Divide the mixture evenly between the two tins and level the surfaces before putting them in the oven for about 25 to 30 minutes, or until well risen and shrinking away from the sides of the tins.
Leave the cakes to cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then turn out, peel off the paper and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.
To make the buttercream icing, place the soft butter and vanilla extract in a large bowl and sift in half the icing sugar. Mix with an electric whisk until smooth. Sift in the remaining icing sugar and mix again. Add the mascarpone to the bowl and gently stir with a spatula (don’t beat with a whisk as it may split). Put a fluted nozzle in a piping bag and spoon about 150g of the buttercream into the bag.
The next step is to assemble the cake. To do so, sit one of the sponges on a cake plate and spread one-third of the buttercream over the cake, then sit the other cake on top. Ice the cake by first spreading a thin layer of icing – a crumb coat – over the whole cake before chilling for 30 minutes.
Pile the remaining icing from the bowl on top and spread it with a palette knife over the top and around the edges to completely cover the cake. Make sure that the icing is smooth around the edges before starting to create lines up the sides. Make wide lines up the sides and swirl the top.
With the leftover buttercream in the piping bag, pipe a rope design around the edge of the top of the cake. To do this, start at the edge of the cake and pipe continuous swirls of icing overlapping each swirl as you pipe around the edge of the cake. Decorate with the chocolate truffles to finish, but this is optional.
