Red Velvet Cake -- The Most American Cake There Is, Made in My Kitchen for the Fourth of July Because My Opinion Is the Only One That Matters Here

The Fourth of July fell on a Monday this year, which gave us a proper long weekend and a reason to fire up the grill. The Simms family Fourth of July tradition is simple: we eat until we cannot move, we watch fireworks from the backyard, and somebody burns something on the grill that they swear was supposed to be that color. This year the somebody was Calvin, who took charge of the burgers and produced six hockey pucks and four acceptable patties, a ratio he considers a personal best.

I handled everything else, which is to say I handled the actual food while Calvin handled the performance of grilling. I made baked beans from scratch — not the canned kind, the real kind, with navy beans soaked overnight and then slow-cooked with brown sugar, molasses, mustard, onion, and thick-cut bacon. I made coleslaw with my vinegar dressing, not the mayonnaise kind because mayonnaise in July heat is a gamble I am not willing to take. Potato salad, deviled eggs, corn on the cob, watermelon, and a red velvet cake because I felt patriotic and red velvet is the most American cake there is, in my opinion, which is the only opinion that matters in my kitchen.

CJ drove down from Huntsville for the weekend. He brought a girl — not a girlfriend, he said quickly, just a friend from work, a woman named Tasha who smiled a lot and ate two plates and seemed perfectly nice but who was not, in my assessment, the one. I did not say this. A mother does not announce her verdicts out loud. A mother watches, and feeds, and waits. The verdict will deliver itself in time.

Marcus and his friend DeShawn shot off bottle rockets in the backyard until Calvin told them to stop, which they did not, and then I told them to stop, which they did, because there is a hierarchy in this house and it ends with me. They are seventeen-year-old boys and they believe they are invincible, which is both the beauty and the terror of being seventeen. I watched them laughing in the dark, lit by sparklers, and my heart did that thing it does when I see Marcus happy — it clenches and expands at the same time, holding the joy so tight it almost becomes pain, because joy this large feels fragile, like something that could shatter.

We watched the city fireworks from the backyard, blankets on the grass, the whole family tilting their heads back. The sky exploded in color. Marcus said whoa like a child. He is still a child. He is almost not a child. Both things are true. I sat on the blanket and ate watermelon and held both truths at once, the way mothers do.

That night, after the kids were in bed and Calvin had fallen asleep on the couch, I stood in the kitchen still holding both of those truths — Marcus almost grown, Marcus still mine — and I needed to make something that matched the size of the feeling. Red velvet has always been my celebration cake, the one I pull out when something is so big I don’t have words for it, just flour and buttermilk and that deep, dramatic color that looks like it means something. Here’s how I made it.

Red Velvet Layer Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Prep Time: 30 minutes | Cook Time: 35 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes (plus cooling) | Servings: 16

Ingredients

• For the Cake
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon fine salt
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons (1 oz) red food coloring
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• For the Cream Cheese Frosting
• 16 oz (2 blocks) full-fat cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt

Instructions

1. Prep your pans and oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans, line the bottoms with parchment paper, then grease the parchment. Flour the sides lightly and tap out the excess.
2. Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder until fully combined with no streaks.
3. Mix the wet ingredients. In a separate large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the eggs lightly. Add the oil, buttermilk, red food coloring, vanilla, and white vinegar. Whisk or beat on low until smooth and uniformly red.
4. Combine wet and dry. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in two additions, mixing on low speed (or stirring by hand) just until no dry streaks remain. Do not overmix — a few small lumps are fine. The batter will be thin and deeply red.
5. Bake the layers. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake for 30–35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the edges have just begun to pull from the sides of the pan. Rotate pans halfway through if your oven runs uneven.
6. Cool completely. Let the layers cool in their pans on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then turn them out onto the rack and cool completely — at least 1 hour. Do not frost a warm cake. This is not negotiable.
7. Make the frosting. Beat the softened cream cheese and butter together on medium-high speed for 2–3 minutes until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low and add the sifted powdered sugar one cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla and salt. Increase speed to medium and beat for another 1–2 minutes until smooth and spreadable. If the frosting is too soft, refrigerate for 15 minutes before using.
8. Assemble the cake. Place one cooled layer on a cake plate or stand. Spread a generous, even layer of frosting over the top — about 3/4 cup. Set the second layer on top, pressing gently to level. Apply a thin crumb coat of frosting all over the outside, then refrigerate for 20 minutes to set. Finish with the remaining frosting, spreading it smooth or in swoops as you see fit. It is your cake.
9. Serve. This cake is best served at cool room temperature. If it’s a hot July day, keep it refrigerated until within 30 minutes of serving, then let it come up slightly so the frosting softens. Slice with a long, clean knife, wiping the blade between cuts.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 580 | Protein: 5g | Fat: 34g | Carbs: 66g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 310mg