It is that time of year again when I start thinking about Christmas cake. For the past six years I have been obsessed with the heavy fruit cakes (and Christmas puddings) that my mom always made in September. She would wrap them up in layers and layers of tinfoil and keep them in a sturdy Tupperware. Every so often she would open up the container and douse them liberally in brandy, then re-wrap them in tinfoil with such care, akin to the way you swaddle a newborn.
In December the Christmas cakes would make their debut along with tons of marzipan and Royal Icing and we would spend all day sticking our fingers into bowls, or trying to steal pieces of the marzipan, or arguing about who gets to put which special cake ornament where. It was a very special time for us, so much so that I have attempted to recreate it here at home. The only major issues with this whole endeavor lead to the expense of the cake, and the few people who would actually eat it.
I personally am incapable (as is my mom) of having Christmas cake in the house in my freezer. I know logically it can keep for years. You have to understand that in my thinking, Christmas cake with a thick wedge (the thicker the marzipan the happier I am) of marzipan clinging for dear life onto the apricot jam smeared side of a dark heavy brandy laced fruit cake is the perfect 100% complete meal for breakfast, lunch, dinner as well as any tea times... or midnight snacks. A single piece of the cake, about the length of your index finger, and about an inch thick, has at least 400 calories. So I DON'T want to make a cake like that, not until we have a full house again for Christmas. Or I will be forced to eat it whilst entirely sedentary in the recliner, covered in a blanket, in the dark basement, all by myself...
Which lead me to thinking about other alternatives for our Christmas cake. My mom recently came back from London with a bevy of miniature fondant snowmen and 'silver balls' which you can not get here in the USA because the FDA has decided that silver food coloring is harmful. The FDA has already stolen Biltong from me, as well as Royal Icing is considered dangerous because of the salmonella threat. So the FDA really can go and jump. I think they should go and target some of the strange Asian foods and leave my cake and dried meat alone. Back to the silver balls, they look amazing on cupcakes.
So I first thought that carrot cupcakes would be fun. But then my mom reminded me what about Red Velvet Cake, which we both don't eat because of all of the red dye you have to use in the recipes... so I went on a little research binge on the history of the Red Velvet Cake. It was supposed to (many different theories) be first served at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York in the 1920's. It is a light chocolate, moist cake, coloured with beetroot! In the South, Red Velvet Cake is a big favourite, just like sweet tea.
All Natural Red Velvet Cake
2 large beets (enough for 1 1/2 cups puree)
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon vinegar
2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened, but not quite room temperature
1 8 ounce package of cream cheese, softened slightly
2 1/3 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
4 tablespoons natural (not dark or dutch processed) cocoa powder
cream cheese frosting (recipe follows)
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (165 degrees celsius). Place beets in a small baking dish and add a 1/2 cup of water. Cover with parchment paper and foil, and roast until quite tender, about 60-90 minutes. Allow to cool completely.
2. Butter 3 8 inch cake pans. Cut out parchment paper circles and place in the bottoms of the pans. Butter the parchment paper and dust with flour. Set aside. Peel the beets and cut into large chunks. Place in a food processor (or a very good blender) with the lemon juice, and pulse until smooth and pureed. Stir in the vinegar.
3. In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and cream cheese. Pour in sugar and mix until smooth. Add in eggs, one at a time, mixing well until each is incorporated. Mix in vanilla.
4. While ingredients are mixing, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder in a separate bowl. Slowly add flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Measure out 1 1/2 cups of the beet puree mixture, and fold into the cake batter. Divide the batter evenly between the cake pans. Tap pans on the counter to remove any air bubbles.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean. Invert cakes onto cooling racks, and allow to cool completely. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze until ready to frost.
cream cheese frosting
2 packages cream cheese, at room temperature
2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 pound (4 cups) confectioner’s (powdered) sugar
2-3 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon pure almond extract
Combine all ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Switch to the whisk attachment, and mix until smooth and slightly fluffy.
From http://www.sophistimom.com/
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