Delectables with Dan: Birthday Girl, A Cheesecake filled Red Velvet Cake

I was so happy when my co-worker and friend asked me to bake her a birthday cake this year. She'd had some of the treats that I'd brought in to work for the various holidays and she loved them. She told me how her wedding cake had been red velvet and that it's her favourite; I told her that it would be no problem for me to get inventive with red velvet and of course, the cheesecake icing that traditionally tops it. I wanted to explore flavours and give her the best birthday cake she could have asked for. She sent me a recipe that had a cheesecake centre. I loved it. I also knew what I could do to put my own birthday twist on it. This is a non-vegan recipe, I'm working on trying to create one that is vegan and still holds up, LITERALLY to its counterpart.

What You Will Need:

For the Cheesecake:

2 packages cream cheese, softened (should be 16oz total)
1/2c. caster sugar
1/2c. regular sour cream
4 tsp all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
2 large eggs
rainbow sprinkles (or sprinkles of choice)

For the Red Velvet Cake:

If you are not using a boxed cake mix, you will need the following to make the red velvet cake.
1 1/2c. caster sugar
1c. buttermilk
1 1/2c. canola oil
2 large eggs
1 bottle (1oz) red food dye (I think the gel doesn't work as well)
2 tsp cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 1/3c cake flour
2 tsp. baking cocoa
1 1. tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp sea salt

For the Cream Cheese/ Chocolate Icing: 

If you are not using a store bought icing you will need to make the cream cheese icing, followed by what you will need for the chocolate icing. The chocolate icing will make enough for leftovers. I was too tired to reduce the recipe by 2/3.

3 packages, cream cheese, softened (24oz total)
1 1/2c. butter, softened (2 1/2 sticks)
1 tsp vanilla essence
3-31/2c. icing sugar

2 3/4c. icing sugar
6 tbsp butter, softened
6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
5 tbsp evaporated milk
1 tsp vanilla essence

It's going to take a while to create this cake, an hour and a half or so, so let's get cracking. It's important to note that in order to make the cheesecake you will need a springform pan. Some of the other methods to make a cheesecake really don't work out all that well in my experience. We're going to be using a 9in one because the cake pans are also 9in.
Before starting out, preheat your oven to 350F and line your springform pan with baking parchment paper and grease it. You can use a non-stick cooking spray to do this. You're also going to need a few bowls to whip up this dreamy cake. We're going to start out with making the cheesecake first

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar together until the mixture is smooth. Once you've done that beat in the sour cream, flour and vanilla essence. Ad in the eggs, beating on low speed until blended; you can hand mix at this point if you desire. Do not over blend. Add in the sprinkles, pour into the springform pan that is placed on top of a baking sheet. The baking sheet doesn't need to be greased. The cheesecake will need to bake between 40-50 minutes. Make sure that the centre is set before removing from the oven. Allow the cheesecake to sit on a cooling rack for at least 15 minutes before attempting to remove it. I usually like to wait until the dish is completely cold. Losen the sides of the pan and allow more cooling time; keep refrigerated until you are ready to use it as the cake centre.

While the cheesecake is baking, it's the perfect time to whip up that cake. If you're using a box mix, simply follow the instructions on the back, if you're not keep on reading. In a large bowl beat sugar, oil, buttermilk, eggs, food dye, vinegar and vanilla essence together until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients, gradually beat into the sugar mixture once whisked together. Make sure that your pan is well greased, think about that Always Sunny episode where Danny Devito is greased up and naked-yeah, you want it that well greased. You want that cake to pop out when it's down like a baby out of a woman who's pumped out 10 kids before. Think that Duggar cunt. Yeah. Right, right where was I? Got it. Pour the batter into the cake pans, making sure that the batter is evenly spread out. Put into bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes. Make sure that cakes are fully baked before removing them from the oven. Allow the cakes to cool in the pans completely before attempting to remove them. I like to chill them in the fridge.

While we're waiting for everything to cool down and firm up (why does this remind me of an angry woman who's just had botox injections??) we're going to whip up the icing. Again, if you are using storebought, you can just skip this and wait until everything is all cooled. In a large bowl (how many bowls do you guys have? I'm always looking for mixing bowls, smsh.) Beat together the cream cheese, butter and vanilla essence until the mixture is smooth. Gradually beat in the icing sugar, until you reach a thick, creamy and smooth consistency. Set the bowl to the side. In another bowl, beat together the butter, vanilla essence and cocoa powder. Slowly add in the icing sugar and the evaporated milk while blending. Icing will be thick and creamy upon completion. It should be a rich chocolate colour. Colour may vary based on the type/brand of cocoa powder that you are using.

Once the cheesecake is set and the cake is cool, all of the cooling should take an hour, maybe a little over, it's time to assemble the cake and ice this bad boy up. I let the cheesecake firm up overnight, but that's up to you; in the icebox for an hour should do you just fine. Truth is, I fell asleep and didn't have time to assemble and ice the cake. Remove the cakes and set one carefully in the centre of a plate, using the cream cheese icing, ice a thin layer over the top of one of the cakes. Remove the cheesecake from the springform pan very carefully. Cheesecakes are delicate and you need to keep that in mind when you're handling it; try to handle it as little as possible. Gently set the cheesecake on top of the first iced red velvet layer. Allow the two layers to sit for a few minutes before icing the cheesecake layer with a thin layer of the cheesecake icing. Do note, that if you don't wish to ice with a cream cheese icing, a classic vanilla icing works just as well! Once you have iced the top of the cheesecake carefully set the last red velvet cake on top; it will make the final layer. Allow the cake to settle together. You may need to trim the edges of your cheesecake so that all of the layers line up evenly; it's easy to do with a serrated knife by carefully trimming around the edge of the cake.

Once you have become layer master, take a decent sized layer of cream cheese icing and ice the top and the centre of the cake. Make sure that you apply a thick, but not too thick, layer of icing evenly around the cake and on top of it. I know I was supposed to have chocolate and cream cheese icing on the top, but I thought that was too much, so I just used the vanilla to ice around the top with a star tip. Its really up to you if you want to use the chocolate or not. Carefully, using an icing tool or a bag of icing with the star tip, pipe swirling loops of icing around the outer rim of the top layer of the cake. On every other loop of icing, add a second smaller layer to create a nice layering texture. At the end, it will look magical. And because it's a birthday cake, it wouldn't be complete without some party sprinkles! Carefully add sprinkles around the top layers of the cake and on the inside right where the top icing layers begin to form. It's a nice burst of colour I think. Now take a step back to admire your handiwork. It's beautiful!



I really love doing rather challenging cakes. I've not done them in a while; I think the last ones I did was the chocolate chip cookie centre cake with the whipped cream icing and then the German chocolate black mirror cake. Those were fun to do. I can't wait to try and make a vegan version of the mirror cake. I imagine that will be difficult. Thanks for reading! I'm sure I'll have many other cake blogs as I've offered to make cakes for several friends and co-workers this year :D