Beautiful blue

Today is one of my favorite people's birthdays, and we had a celebration Friday night. I always try to do something special for her cake and this year I set out to make her a blue velvet cake.

From Betty Crocker

Before you get too impressed - this is not a photo of the cake I made. This is a photo of the cake I used the frosting recipe from. Kudos to Betty Crocker. I didn't think to take a photo of my cake (there were pirate candles involved), but it was delicious so here are the recipes I used so you can make your own and see what it looks/tastes like.

Cake recipe (slightly adapted from Adventures in Cooking)

1 1/4 cups of cake flour

1 1/4 cups of sugar

11 egg whites

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

3/4 teaspoon of royal blue gel paste food color

1 1/2 teaspoons of cream of tartar

1 tablespoon of cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon of salt

Preheat the oven to 375 and grease (the more Crisco the better) two 9-inch (I used 8-inch and it was fine) round cake pans. 

In a medium bowl, combine the cake flour, 1/2 cup of the sugar and the cocoa powder. In a large bowl, beat together the egg whites, vanilla extract, cream of tartar and salt until it forms soft peaks. Then beat in the remaining 3/4 cup of sugar and gel paste until the mixture forms stiff peaks (around 4 minutes or so).

Slowly fold in (use a spatula, don't mix) the flour mixture 1/4 cup at a time until it's all incorporated. 

Pour batter into cake pans and bake for about 30 minutes. I checked mine at 27 minutes and they were ready to come out.

Frosting recipe (from Betty Crocker)

1 7 oz. jar of marshmallow creme

1 cup of butter, softened

2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar

1/8 teaspoon of salt

In a large (microwaveable) bowl, microwave the marshmallow creme uncovered on high for 15-20 seconds to soften it. Add butter. Beat with electric mixer on medium until smooth. Beat in powdered sugar and salt until smooth.