Layered Red Velvet Cake

I made this dessert for the first time on New Year's Day 2011. While it does call for a number of ingredients, it was pretty easy to make. Below is the recipe, courtesy of Sunny Anderson from the Food Network.





Ingredients for cake batter:
2 sticks butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 ounces red food coloring (a standard tube of food coloring from the grocery store is about .3 ounces, so I used the entire bottle and then supplemented with a few drops of water)
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
Pinch salt
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
Butter, for pan

Ingredients for frosting:
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
2 sticks butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

Hint: I used this exact recipe and my frosting was a bit thin. I would recommend adding 1 more tablespoon of flour for a slightly thicker frosting.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Using a mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Using a small bowl, make a paste out of the red food coloring, cocoa and salt. (Remember, I used a few drops of water to supplement until a thick paste was formed.) Using a spoon, mix in paste to the creamed butter. In a measuring cup, stir eggs with buttermilk and add to batter. Mix in vinegar and vanilla, and then add flour and baking soda. Mix until combined but do not over mix.

Butter a sheet pan. Lay parchment paper (same as wax paper) on top. Butter the parchment. Pour batter into pan and smooth the top to even the batter out, using a spatula. Bake cake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool in pan.

While cake is baking, make the frosting: Heat all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Whisk until sauce thickens, about 15 minutes. Let cool slightly before using. (Be sure not to turn your burner too high or the milk will scald and burn on the bottom of pan.)

Invert cake onto a cutting board and slice into quarters from the longer side. To assemble cake, spread 1 of the quarters with some of the frosting to cover. Sprinkle with a quarter of the pecans. Add another layer of cake and repeat. Continue until last layer is added. Frost the top of that and sprinkle with remaining pecans.