If I haven’t talked about the magic of Bundt pans to impress people before let me say it now. People ohh and ahh over a Bundt cake like nothing else. Go and get yourself a fancy pan or borrow one from a person over the age of 45. They come in cup capacity. If you don’t know the size of your pan, like how could you, it’s not stamped into the metal of the pan, fill it with water and count the cups. If you buy an old pan at the thrift store butter and flour it thoroughly, like grandma did. Not all nonstick surfaces are created equal.

This recipe fills an 11 cup Bundt Pan. The pan shown (Brilliance from Nordic Ware) is a 10 cup pan. I made a few cupcakes too.

Red Velvet Cake

3.5 cups flour

.5 cup cocoa

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups oil

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1.5 teaspoon vanilla

6 tablespoon red food coloring liquid or 2 tablespoons food coloring paste

1.25 cups buttermilk

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons vinegar

Sift together flour, cocoa and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer combine oil, sugar and eggs. Mix until the sugar is close to dissolved. Add the vanilla and food coloring. Mix on low the add the 1/3 of the flour mixture, then half the buttermilk, then 1/3 again the flour, the last half of the buttermilk and end with the last of the flour. Mix on medium high for 3-5 minutes, stopping to scrape the side. Put the baking powder in a small bowl and pour the vinegar into the baking powder and stir to dissolve. Pour this into the cake mixture quick, quick. Pour into a prepared pan, filling 3/4 of the way up. Bake 60-75 minutes or until a tester poked in the middle comes out cleanly. Cool 10 minutes in the pan then invert, remove from the pan to cool completely.

Marscapone Icing

8 ounces marscapone cheese

.75 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine the ingredients. The sugar will loosen the cheese. Don’t add anymore liquid than the vanilla. Artistically dribble and spread it over the top of the cake.