Red Velvet Bundt Cake

I made my first bundt cake!  Yay!  The recipe came highly recommended by my sister, who made it and loved it.  After seeing a picture of hers, (it looked super good) I bought a bundt cake pan so I could try it too.  :-)  It's a copycat recipe from Nothing Bundt Cakes.  And the best part is that if you don't like that red velvet flavor, you can just use a regular chocolate cake mix rather than a red velvet cake mix.  Here's the recipe:

For the cake:

 

1 package red velvet cake mix*

1 package instant chocolate pudding mix

1 cup sour cream (not low fat, thank you very much)

4 large eggs

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup oil

* You may substitute any chocolate cake mix if you can't get your hands on a red velvet mix, but you'll need to add red food colouring - use the Wilton no-taste red. Add a tablespoon of white vinegar also to give your cake the red velvet "bite".

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In mixer, blend all of the ingredients on low speed until lightly blended and then crank up the speed for about a minute. Don't overbeat.

Pour batter into a bundt pan that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Bake for 45-50 minutes and remove to cool on a rack. The cake should release from the pan easily after 15 minutes. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

 

For the frosting:

2 (8 ounce) packages of cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter, softened

3 to 4 cups confectioner's sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Using your stand mixer, blend the cream cheese and butter until it is very smooth and there are no lumps. Add the vanilla and then the confectioner's sugar, one cup at a time. You will need to scrape the bowl periodically. Depending on how warm your kitchen is and how sweet you like your frosting, you may not need the full four cups of sugar. The main thing is that your frosting is easy to pipe from a bag using the largest round tip you have but thick enough that it doesn't slide right off the cake. Pipe around the cake, one stripe at a time, making sure each stripe is a different length. Finish with a fresh flower or a fluffy bow!

 

 

 

This cake was soooo good!  My husband even had several pieces of it, and he's not the biggest fan of cake. The frosting was amazing too.  (By the way, this recipe makes a TON of frosting, so feel free to half it).  Seriously, I don't think I'll ever buy frosting from the store again - this stuff was heaven.  

I only cooked mine for about 43 minutes and it was done, so be careful not to overcook!  

Here's the picture, which is sort of embarrassing because I do NOT have skills when it comes to frosting bundt cakes.  Oh well, it's just the taste that matters anyway right?