I Must Be Turning Into A Real Southern Girl!

Growing up in Upstate New York and spending most of my adult life in the Northeast I had never even heard of some of the southern delicacies that I have encountered since Ole and I moved here 12 years ago. The first time I ever heard of Red Velvet Cake was in one of my all time favorite movies...."Steel Magnolias". I will never forget that scene when they "Hacked into that red velvet armadillo cake". I thought to myself how could anyone eat anything that red? Well, after hearing from several reliable sources that it is truly TDF, I decided to give it a try today. Henry and I are home alone and he loves to help me bake so we made our first RVC. After reading lots of RVC recipes and reviews we decided on the Waldorf-Astoria version.

BTW: Red food coloring and a 3 year old are NOT a good combo! Just FYI...

Waldorf Astoria Red Velvet Cake

CAKE:
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 ounces red food coloring
2 tablespoons cocoa (heaping)
1 cup buttermilk
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vinegar
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FROSTING:
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup butter (must be butter!)

Directions

For Cake:
Cream shortening, sugar and eggs.
Make a paste of food coloring and cocoa. Add to creamed mixture.
Add buttermilk alternating with flour and salt.
Add vanilla.
Add soda to vinegar (it foams!), and blend into cake batter.
Pour into 3 or 4 greased and floured 8" cake pans.
Bake at 350 F. for 24-30 minutes.
Frost with the following frosting.
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For Frosting:
Add milk to flour slowly, avoiding lumps.
Cook flour and milk until very thick, stirring constantly.
**COOL IT COMPLETELY!!
Cream sugar, butter and vanilla until fluffy. Add to cooked mixture.
Beat, high speed, until very fluffy. Looks and tastes like whipped cream.