Behind-the-Scenes @ S.P.T – A Birthday Cake for a Special Mum

I love chocolate. Who doesn’t love chocolate. So when I had the pleasure of creating a birthday cake for a loving, dedicated mother of two my first thought was she needed to be spoilt and what better way to spoil someone special than with chocolate.

One of my favourite cakes to bake (and eat) is the Red Velvet. For those who are not familiar with this cake the Red Velvet is a rich, moist buttermilk sweet cake that is dark red, bright red or red-brown in color, usually prepared as a layer cake somewhere between chocolate and vanilla in flavour topped with a creamy white icing (often cream cheese frosting being the icing of choice).

The different hues of red are attributed to the ratio of red colouring to cocoa added into the batter. I have to confess my Red Velvets most of the time is red-brown in colour as I often find myself quietly chanting in my head “just a little more cocoa…just a tiny bit more” in aiming to bring out that yummy chocolatey taste.

Cocoa Powder & Red Food Colouring

 For me the contrasting red and white layers of the Red Velvet not only sets a mood of sophistication, anticipation and romance but can also showcase (or not) the bakers skills of leveling and icing. In terms of taste every mouthful of this buttermilk cake needs to be accompanied with an adequate mouthful of frosting.

The first time I baked this cake as a regular size cupcake I found myself eating the cupcake with no frosting when I had reached the bottom half of the cake. So with each bite-size cake then torn from the rest of the cupcake I “dipped” each piece into the extra cream cheese frosting I had left and once again I was on my way to Red Velvet heaven.

Strawberry Velvet Mini Cupcakes:
Red Velvet cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting lightly sprinkled with desiccated coconut topped with Milk Chocolate coated strawberry

 For this special mum I had chosen a 2 tier Red Velvet cake. The top tier was a 6” mini layered cutting cake accompanied with a bottom tier of mini cupcakes. Cream cheese frosting for some can be a bit too sweet and heavy so to cut through the possible sweetness and heaviness I like to add fine desiccated coconut. The coconut not only provides an exotic, tropical aroma but can also add a crunchy texture to the smooth cake. In line with the red theme I topped the mini cake and cupcakes with milk chocolate coated strawberries.

6" Mini Strawberry Velvet Cutting Cake

 Well...I did mention I wanted to spoil this mum.