A “Great British Bake Off” Cookbook Is Coming Soon and This Red Velvet Cake Recipe Proves It’s Going to Be Good
The Great British Bake Off has long been a favorite show of mine. The mix of dry, witty British humor mixed with creative baking is right up my alley. Of all the judges on the show, my favorite is Paul Hollywood; I always felt he embodied a level of quality baking I could only aspire to have one day. When I saw that there was an official GBBO cookbook titled Favorite Flavours coming soon, however, I knew that my baking could improve.
While fans can already assume that the 288 pages will be packed full of delicious recipes, a preview of the new cookbook (which is set to release on September 29), gives us a peek into what we can expect with Paul Hollywood’s tasty version of red velvet cake. The decadent taste of red velvet can be the perfect way to cap off a delicious meal this holiday season.
As the recipe notes, you’ll kick things off by making the cakes. Preheat your oven and, in a stand mixer, beat the sugar and butter together. When everything is creamy and pale, slowly add in the eggs.
In a small bowl, combine vanilla, red food coloring, cocoa powder, and hot water to form a paste. After mixing in the bowl, add to your larger bowl and beat all the ingredients until they are well-mixed. In a separate bowl, mix buttermilk and salt before pouring 1/3 of it into your larger bowl. Finish by adding another 1/3 of the flour and alternate between the two until the buttermilk and flour are mixed well.
In another bowl, combine a bi-carbonate of soda with vinegar then add it into the other bowl, carefully beating until smooth. Divide the mix between your two lined tins and bake for only 25 minutes. Once done, allow both sponges to cool for five minutes in the tins before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
For your filling and icing, using a stand mixer with the whisk attached, mix cream cheese, vanilla, cream, mascarpone, icing sugar, and salt until it is smooth but with a little stiffness. Split the icing between two bowls and refrigerate until ready for use.
Now it’s time to put your masterpiece together! You’ll want to slice your baked and cooled cakes into six thinner sponges. Take a cake plate and add a layer of the icing before topping it with one layer of the sponge. Then, add a layer of icing to the sponge and top it with another layer of the sponge, repeating this process until six sponges are divided by five layers of icing.
Using a palette knife, smooth half of the icing on the outside of the cake until everything is neatly sealed. Finish by cleaning your knife and smoothing off any excess icing so that there’s a nice and smooth finish. Using the previous method, take half of the remaining icing and spread it on the top of the cake.
The remainder of your icing goes into a piping bag with the closed star nozzle to create rosettes around the top edge of the cake before finishing things up sprinkling any leftover sponge pieces on top of the rosettes and at the bottom third of the cake.
Still looking for more red velvet inspiration? These red velvet waffles or this recipe for red velvet hot chocolate will cure your craving.