Saturday, September 02, 2006

Red Raspberry Velvet Cake

Last Sunday, my SS class was asked to make desserts for the college ministry. They have started to have SS after lunch that they offer to the students for free! So, I decided to take a Cooking Light recipe, Red Raspberry Velvet Cake! It is a really good dessert; I think it is MADE by the raspberry between the layers. It is a tad dense and light on chocolate flavor (so I added more) but it is still good for a lightened cake.

I also took boiled cookies! The last two times I've made these, they haven't turned out the same way I remember by Aunt's turning out during my childhood. We think that maybe something is different about the margarine now. Who knows!

Red Raspberry Velvet Cake
Cooking Light, Dec. 2004

Cooking spray
3 cups sifted cake flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 large egg whites
2 cups fat-free buttermilk
1 (1-ounce) bottle red food coloring
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting:
7 ounces 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups powdered sugar

Remaining ingredient:1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam

Preheat oven to 350°. Coat 2 (9-inch) round cake pans with cooking spray, and line bottoms of pans with wax paper (I didn't do this)

Lightly spoon 3 cups cake flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, cocoa, and next 3 ingredients (through salt). Set aside.

Beat granulated sugar and butter with a mixer at medium speed 4 minutes or until well blended. Add egg whites to sugar mixture; beat at medium speed 5 minutes or until fluffy.


Combine buttermilk, food coloring, and 1 teaspoon vanilla in a small bowl; stir well with a whisk. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix just until moistened.

Pour batter into prepared cake pans. Sharply tap pans once on counter to remove air bubbles. Bake at 350° for 28 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean (do not overbake). Cool in pans 10 minutes; remove from pans. Cool cake layers completely on wire racks.

To prepare frosting, combine cheese and 1 teaspoon vanilla in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed 3 minutes or until fluffy. Add powdered sugar, and beat at low speed just until blended (do not overbeat).

To assemble cake, place 1 cake layer on a plate. Spread with jam; top with second cake layer. Spread frosting over top and sides of cake. Store cake loosely covered in refrigerator. Yield: 18 servings (serving size: 1 cake slice)

NUTRITION PER SERVINGCALORIES 308(23% from fat); FAT 7.9g (sat 4.9g,mono 2.1g,poly 0.3g); PROTEIN 3.9g; CHOLESTEROL 22mg; CALCIUM 29mg; SODIUM 269mg; FIBER 0.5g; IRON 1.3mg; CARBOHYDRATE 56.7g

Boiled Cookies
2 cups sugar
1 stick butter*
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 cup peanut butter
3 cups uncooked oatmeal
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine sugar, butter, milk, and cocoa in a saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat. Cook for 1 minute. Add peanut butter and vanilla. Cook for additional minute. Remove from heat and stir in oatmeal. Mix well.

Drop by teaspoons onto wax paper. Allow to cool. These can be stored in the refrigerator.

*(I think that these have too much butter in them! They left tiny grease spots/pools on the wax paper after cooling. You might want to try decreasing the amount of butter.)

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was trying to figure out what a boiled cookie was. Once I saw them I knew. If you care, they are also called no-bake cookies. And in my family (thanks to a twisted uncle) they are also called "dog piles". He said that's what they always looked like to him.

Unknown said...

Terry - I used to call them no-bake cookies as well, but all the recipes I've seen for them call them "boiled cookies." I've never heard dog piles, but in MS "cow patties" is a popular name! Thanks for visiting!

Anonymous said...

Now this is a cake that I have always wanted to try! Thank you, Claire. It looks delicious!

Anonymous said...

Oh wow, those cookies are called "no-bake cookies" in our family, and they are probably the first thing I ever learned how to make. I love them, they really remind me of my mom.

Our recipes are similar, mine uses the same ingredients, but in slightly differing amounts. Mine does call for one stick of butter/margarine though. I've always used light margarine and not real butter, but I doubt that would make too much difference. Mine has more cocoa in it though!!!

I'm going to have to make some of these soon, I love these things :)

Unknown said...

Ivonne - Go for it! This is a really good cake. I would probably add some more cocoa to it though.

Stacy - I always called them no-bake cookies growing up, but all the recipes I've found call them boiled cookies. I don't ever use butter for cookies (except one specific recipe) because I don't like the flatness that it produces. Maybe more cocoa would help. More sugar might as well, but I'm not going to add more sugar to a recipe that already has 2 cups!

Culinarily Obsessed said...

The boiled cookies are have been a Christmas tradition for my family since before I was even born. I tried for years to make them and they never seemed to come out right. Without fail my grandmother's were always perfect batch after batch, but mine would never set up, they stayed soft. I could never figure out what I was doing differently, I even tried adding extra oatmeal, or boiling them longer, boiling them less and that never helped.

Finally (knock on wood) I have mastered the boiled cookie. I still have no clue what I was doing wrong. I've known several other people that had problems with them also. It just seems to be a very tricky recipe, even though it seems so simple.

Have you tasted them without the cocoa powder? Those are my favorite =)

Unknown said...

Jaay - Thanks for dropping by! If you ever figure out what you are doing to master the cookies, let me know! I have not tried it cocoa-less, but I think I would prefer that to the chocolate version!