Actual Cook Time: 3 hours and 30 minutes
Red velvet cake became popular in the Victorian era as a contrast to the rich chocolate flavor of devil’s food cake. Red velvet originally got its name and traditional color from the reaction of acidic vinegar and buttermilk with pigments in the cocoa powder. These days, most cocoa powder undergoes “Dutch processing” which deactivates the natural reddish pigments in the cocoa powder. In most recipes, including this one, the red color is added using red food dye. If you don’t wish to make your cake red, you can skip the red food color and the cake will still be just as yummy. We’ve paired this cake with cream cheese frosting which provides a great tang to the sweet cake as well as being incredibly easy to make. We finished off our cake with a little sparkling sugar for a little extra glamor but that’s completely optional.
Slow Cook: Red Velvet Cake
Ingredients
- ¼ cup butter, at room temperature
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp red food coloring
- 1½ tsp white vinegar
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1¼ cups flour
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
- ¼ cup butter, softened
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups powdered sugar
Directions
Butter a Suvie pan, then line bottom of pan with a piece of parchment paper and set aside.In a standing mixer or a large bowl with a handheld mixer beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
Add egg, beat until combined and repeat with vanilla extract.
In a small bowl combine the cocoa powder, red food coloring, and white vinegar together until cocoa is fully incorporated.
Mix into batter.
Whisk together salt, baking soda, and flour in a medium bowl. Add ⅓ of the dry ingredients to the batter, beat until combined.
Add ½ of the buttermilk and mix. Repeat steps alternating dry ingredients with buttermilk again and end with last ⅓ of dry ingredients. Pour batter into prepared Suvie pan.
Insert pan into your Suvie, input settings, and cook now or schedule.
Suvie Cook Settings
Bottom Zone: Slow Cook High for 2 hours
After the cook remove the cake from Suvie and place on a cooling rack.
While the cake is cooling, make the frosting. Combine cream cheese, butter, and vanilla extract in a large bowl and beat with a handheld mixer until well combined (could use a standing mixer if available).
Add 1 cup of powdered sugar and beat. Taste and add as much of the 2nd cup of powdered sugar as you like according to your preferred level of sweetness. When the frosting is finished return it to the fridge.Cut the cake along the outside edge to loosen it from the pan. Flip the cake onto the wire cooling rack and let cool until it’s reached room temperature (can also speed up the process by placing it in the freezer).Once the cake is cool, peel the parchment paper from the bottom and flip the cake right side up onto a tray or cutting board.
Cut the cake in half horizontally and place the top piece aside (we used a piece of parchment paper slid in between the two layers to aid in this process).
Frost the bottom layer of cake in an even coating using approximately ⅓ of the frosting.
Place top layer back on the cake and frost the top and sides.
Slice into pieces and enjoy!
Note: If you would like to make this recipe in Suvie 1.0, insert pan into the top zone of Suvie, fill reservoir, and set to Slow Cook on High for 2 hours.