Red Velvet Layer Cake with Peppermint Cream Cheese Frosting
A moist three layer red velvet cake covered in smooth peppermint cream cheese frosting and crushed candy canes. A perfect holiday cake!
Prep Time15mins
Cook Time18mins
Total Time1d
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Cake
Servings: 10plus
Ingredients
Cake:
3/4Cunsalted buttersoftened
2/3Cgranulated sugar
2/3Clight brown sugar
3large eggs
6Tbspcocoa powdersifted
1 1/2TbspMcCormick Red Food Color
1Tbspvanilla
3/4tspsalt
1 1/2tspbaking powder
1Csour cream
2 1/4Call purpose flour
3/4tspvinegar
3/4tspbaking soda
Frosting:
16ozcream cheesesoftened
1/4Cunsalted buttersoftened
6Cpowdered sugar
1 1/2tspMcCormick Pure Peppermint Extract
Crushed candy canes
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Grease three 8-inch round cake pans with baking spray. Line the bottoms with parchment paper. Lightly grease the top of the parchment paper. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together butter and both sugars. Mix in eggs, followed by sifted cocoa powder, vanilla, salt, baking powder and red food color. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl as needed. Alternate additions of sour cream and flour, finishing with flour. Finally, in a small bowl combine vinegar and baking soda. Immediately add to cake batter, mix just until combined.
Divide cake batter between prepared pans, roughly 1 1/2 cups of batter per pan or 6-7 large cookie scoops worth. Use a small offset spatula to spread into an even layer.
Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean or with only a few moist crumbs clinging to it.
Cool for 5 minutes in pan, then carefully remove from pans to cool on a wire rack. When room temperature, wrap in plastic wrap to chill thoroughly.
When ready to proceed, prepare frosting in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat cream cheese until smooth. Mix in butter, followed by 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time. Cover mixer with a clean towel to prevent sugar escaping. Mix in peppermint extract in last 60 seconds.
Level off and remove any dome from chilled cakes with a serrated knife.
Add several large cookie scoops worth of frosting to first layer of cake, spread out into an even layer. Top off with second tier and repeat. Finally add third cake, top off with additional frosting to cover the top and sides of the cake. *This is just a crumb coat. A thin layer of frosting is sufficient.
Chill cake for 1 hour.
Cover cake with remaining frosting, smoothing out with a bench scraper. Use a spatula or spoon to create a swirl in the top. Decorate with crushed candy canes.
Chill cake until nearly ready to serve. This will help to set the frosting.
Notes
Recipe serves roughly 10-20, yields 1: 8-inch round, 3 layer cake.An original recipe from Baked by Rachel