Welcome as we celebrate the 70th anniversary of this spectacular movie.
Let's have some cake specially made for this occasion...
Deep in plantation country in Louisiana is a traditional recipe that is as rich and beautiful as Scarlett O'Hara.
SCARLETT RED VELVET CUPCAKES
Recipe:
Cake (or cupcakes) Ingredients:
1/2 ounce red food coloring (optional)
2 heaping teaspoons cocoa
1/2 cup shortening
1 and 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 and 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon white vinegar (cider vinegar would be too strong)
Make a paste of red food coloring and cocoa in a small bowl. Cream shortening and sugar thoroughly. Add eggs and mix well, then add the cocoa paste (or the cocoa if omitting the red food coloring). Add butermilk alternately with the flour and salt. Beat well after each addition (important to do this step to get a light, fluffy cake texture). Then add the vanilla. Mix soda and vinegar in a small bowl and fold into the cake batter. Pour batter into a greased and floured cake pan or into cupcake pan with paper liners.
Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 25 - 30 minutes. Watch carefully and test with an inserted toothpick. Let cool completely before frosting.
Icing:
This is an old fashioned roux icing. Rouxs are the basis of much cookery in Louisiana plantation territory. This is a rich buttercream icing that is cooked.
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1 cup room temperature butter
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
Cook flour and milk until thick while stirring constantly.
Then thoroughly cool. In separate bowl cream together butter and sugar. Add vanilla. Beat the two mixtures together until the consistency is that of whipped cream. Refrigerate to cool completely before frosting cake or cupcakes.
Note: I did add a small amount of red food coloring - most modernized recipes use a bottle of red food coloring. You get a natural red color with the mixture of the vinegar, buttermilk and cocoa.
A Scarlett Red Velvet Cupcake Tower:
I printed up Scarlet in her famous red velvet gown and glued the picture to a toothpick (making sure to apply glue only to the very top of the toothpick). This cute little toothpick paperdoll is useful to adorn cupcakes or other food items.
This was a lot of fun to make a classic Southern cake for such a wonderful celebration. I truly anticipated having half a cupcake with total excitement.
Thank you Nikki for hosting this and I can't wait to find out what the other blog partygoers put together!
