It’s really been a hectic week. Well…sort of. I was under a deadline at work and I was venturing into an area of coding where I had not previously been. So there were a few bumps in the road. I managed to put the task to bed and I even had a little nerdy fun doing it. I would explain what exactly I was doing, but I showed Becky what I was doing and she almost went into complete REM sleep. I guess automatic testing of a GUI is only fun for a geek. I’d rather write code that writes code than write code. Capice?

Anyways…

Have you ever wanted to just slap the bejeebus out of someone? I mean you know the type. Like that person who thinks that because they bothered to put their turn signal on gives them the right of way, or that person who stops to taste the food sample in the market and completely blocks the passage of other food seekers, or the idiot who rushes to pull out in front of you only to go really slow AND THERE WAS NO ONE BEHIND ME!!!! I digress, again…

Anyways…

This cake made me want to SLAP my momma! I am serious. Becky has made red velvet cake before, but I tell you what, she NAILED IT this time. Really! This was so delicious. She has used several recipes and like any good cook, she adopted her own method. And the result was 15 lbs for me. Hello treadmill…and Bowflex…and elliptical…and bicycle…oh and now we just came back from the farmer’s market and she bought ingredients to make a hummingbird cake. Yikes! What a tandem huh? I cook, she bakes. It’s like Bonnie and Clyde, Butch and Sundance, Curly and Moe. Now I need to cook…eat…fret!

...

Becky made three layers from this recipe, but she tells me that it is for two layers. I like the three layer method.

Makes 2 layers
For the cake:
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 ½ cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk – room temperature
2 large eggs – room temperature
2 tablespoons red food coloring
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the frosting:
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
½ cup plugra butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups confectioner’s sugar
½ cup chopped pecans - roasted

For the cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder. In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a handheld electric mixer. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet a little at a time and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.

Divide the batter evenly into 2 - 8 inch cake pans. Bake in the oven for about 20-22 minutes, turning the pans once half way through. Test the cakes with a toothpick for doneness. Remove from oven and let cool completely before frosting.

To toast the pecans, spread onto baking sheet and bake about 10-12 minutes.

For the cream cheese frosting:
Mix together cream cheese, butter, vanilla, confectioner’s sugar, and vanilla with electric hand mixer until smooth. Stir in nuts. Frost cooled cake.

It’s just the two of us and this cake was devoured.