buttermilk red velvet cake with chocolate fudge frosting

I made you a cake! Partly because I wanted to. Partly because I wanted to make my friends fat and happy. And partly because HOLYGOOOOSH, we reached 500 followers on GFC last weekend! That would be 500 people who actually READ this blog. 500 people who like food as much as me. 500 people that follow along on this baking journey of mine. 500 people who encourage me to keep on doing what I love to do. Thank you! I love you guys as much as a fat kid loves cake.

Guess that makes me a fat kid. Ha. 

Moving on… I think as food bloggers, we do some pretty extreme things just to get a good picture of food. Like, really? And a lot of our friends and family suffer from our weirdness. God bless 'em. Someone comes walking in while I'm taking pictures of cookies… And then I scream "NO DON'T TOUCH THAT!", tilting said cookies just so. Not many people I know do that. Actually, no people I know do that.  

And if you're like me, you may or may not slice into a cake before your company arrives. It may seem kinda… rude maybe. But I NEED A PICTURE! Really though, I deserve it. After all, I made you people a pretty cake. A layered one at that! We're getting serious here. 

So, let's talk about this cake shall we? It didn't turn out super red… But, let's just call it a Burgandy {I'm pretty sure that's not how you spell it. But life goes on.} Velvet cake, mmkay? Cool. Thanks for agreeing. The buttermilk in this cake gives it a little kick in the pants, adding some extra flavor. Seriously perfection. 

The frosting… Umm whoa. It's pretty dang thick and fudgey. Literally FUUUUDGE. When you lick the spoon {don't deny it. I know you do.}, it'll make you want to close your eyes, go to your happy place, maybe do a little dance, and thank God for all things chocolatey and fudgey. Amen. 

I just had to take a bite of that fudgey frosting. And a little cake too. Maaaaybe just another bite. 

Fine, I'll be done. 

Just one more. 

Buttermilk Red Velvet Cake 

2 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 eggs
1 1/2 c. butter, softened
1 c. milk {see note on buttermilk}
2 tbsp. vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla
red food coloring {just add it drop by drop until you have the desired redness.}

Chocolate Fudge Frosting 

1/2 c. chocolate chips, melted
1/2 c. milk
4 3/4 c. powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

Note: For the buttermilk flavor, I just used vinegar and milk. However, if you're not using this option and want to use regular buttermilk, use 1 c. buttermilk.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease and flour two 8 inch cake pans.In a medium bowl, whisk together the butter, eggs, milk, vinegar, and vanilla.In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients mix until completely combined. Add in the red food coloring. Pour into cake pans and then drop the pans on the counter a few times to release any air bubbles.Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. After about ten minutes, remove from pans and cool completely on a wire rack. After the cakes were completely cooled, I wrapped them in plastic wrap and refrigerated them over tonight so they were ready to frost. When you're ready to frost the cakes, combine all the frosting ingredients until smooth. First, frost one layer of the cake with about half of the frosting. Place the other cake on top and repeat with more frosting. Frost the sides, if desired!