Ingredients:

– 2 cups all-purpose flour (plus a little extra to line your baking pans with)
– 1 teaspoon baking soda
– 1 teaspoon baking powder
– 1 teaspoon salt
– 2 tablespoons unsweetened, cocoa powder
– 2 cups sugar
– 1 cup vegetable oil
– 2 eggs
– 1 cup buttermilk
– 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
– 1-2 oz. red food coloring
– 1 teaspoon of white distilled vinegar
– ½ cup of prepared plain hot coffee (no skipping this ingredient!)
– Shortening, Crisco, (used for lining baking pans)

Step 1:

Make sure to preheat your oven to 325 degrees before anything else, that way the oven will be ready once everything has already been prepared. Using a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder, and salt. Then place to the side for later use.

Step 2:

Grab a larger, separate bowl and combine the sugar and vegetable oil. Once those two ingredients are mixed, add in the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla extract, and red food coloring until completely combined (as you see in the picture I didn’t realize that I didn’t own enough red food coloring so I thought I’d be clever and add all the colors together…which later came out looking ugly). Then stir in the hot coffee and white vinegar. Helpful hint, by adding the coffee that’s what is actually allowing the cake to remain so moist once it is baked.

Step 3:

Slowly combine the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, mixing thoroughly between each pour just until the two are completely combined.

Step 4:

Make sure to generously grease your two 9 inch cake pans with the shortening (Crisco) and flour. This will ensure that the cakes do not stick to the pan after baking. Don’t get too crazy with the Crisco though… it is basically pure yummy fat.

Step 5:

Pour the batter evenly into each individual pan and bake in the oven, on the middle rack, for about 30-40 minutes or until you are able to place a toothpick in the center of the cake and pull it out cleanly. My two cakes took about 30 minutes to bake. Just remember, once you bring the cakes out and let them cool within the pans on the cooling racks they will continue to bake on their own. Once the baking pans are warm to the touch, slide a knife around the sides and remove the cakes to allow them to cool on their own on the cooling racks.

Step 6:

Once the cakes have cooled completely, frost them up with the icing and enjoy! (Make sure to place the cake in the fridge, it contains dairy)

FYI… the reason my cake ended up looking brown instead of red is because I did not place enough red food coloring into the mixture and the cocoa color took dominance. It’s okay though because it still tasted moist and delicious!

Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients:

– ½ cup of butter (1 stick), at room temperature
– 8 oz. of Philly cream cheese (1 package), at room temperature
– 2-3 cups of powdered sugar
– 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Step 1:

Using an electric mixer, combine the butter and cream cheese together on medium speed for about 3 minutes until the mixture is very smooth. Make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula to ensure that you are evenly mixing the ingredients. (In order to allow the butter and cream cheese to become room temperature, let them sit out for about 2 hours)

Step 2:

After that has been completed mix in the vanilla extract with your spatula. Then slowly add in the powdered sugar, mixing after each cup. The amount of powdered sugar you include determines the consistency and sweetness of the icing so feel free to take taste tests in between each addition.

Step 3:

Apply the frosting to your completely cooled cake either with a knife or spatula and enjoy!

FYI… a great tip is if you are a huge sugar lover, try adding scrapings of vanilla bean into your icing. That adds extra sweetness to your already heavenly creation.