Red Velvet Sheet Cake

On Christmas Eve we had dinner with my sister and her family. It was wonderful, especially seeing my nephew. Food was delicious as always. I was in charge of dessert so I decided to make this gorgeous red velvet sheet cake. I’ve never made red velvet cake before, only red velvet whoopie pies which were just wonderful. But I came across this red velvet sheet cake across Pioneer Woman’s website and I thought I’d try it. This cake turned out so gorgeous and so elegant looking. I was really impressed, especially with how easy it was to make. The icing was a different kind of icing than I usually make and I must say I really enjoyed it as well. The fresh raspberries add a little extra touch and made the cake that much better.

There’s a lot of sugar and butter in this cake, so it’s not a cake I’d make for no special occasion, but it was perfect for Christmas Eve.

You’ll need a sheet cake pan, I used just a regular baking pan, 18 in x 12 in, which you need to spray with nonstick baking spray. In a medium size bowl, mix together the buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, baking soda and salt together.  Stir in the vinegar and set aside. In your mixer, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the flour and the buttermilk mixture and mix until mixed well. Add the cocoa and food coloring and mix for a couple more minutes, scraping the side of the bowl if necessary. Pour the batter into the baking pan and using a spatula even out the surface.

Bake in a preheated 350 F degree oven for 20 minutes. You need to let the cake cool completely. Since it’s winter I put mine outside on the deck so that it cools faster. After it’s cooled you’ll need to place a large cutting board on top of the cake pan, and then you need to flip it over, the cake will nicely fall out. I didn’t have a cutting board big enough, so I just placed a parchment paper over the top of the cake pan then flipped it over. You will need to do this so that you can ice the cake.

While the cake was baking I made the icing. As I mentioned, this was an interesting icing, I’ve never made it this way before. In a saucepan add the milk and the flour and cook over medium low heat whisking continuously, until the mixture thickens. It needs to be really thick, basically until it becomes hard to whisk. At the end whisk in the vanilla extract. Let this cool.

In your mixer beat the sugar and butter together until it’s light and fluffy. Since you’re using granulated sugar for this you need to beat it for a long time, 5 to10 minutes. Add the flour/milk mixture to this and continue mixing for a couple more minutes. Spread the icing over the cake evenly, then cut the cake in squares. If you prefer, add a raspberry on top of each slice.

This cake was a total success and enjoyed by all.

Printable recipe:

Enjoy!