Cake #19: Green Velvet Sheet Cake

Before we get down to business…happy birthday to my mom and sister today! They’re my favorite not-twin twins ever!

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I had volunteered to bring dessert–yet again–to Sunday dinner with the in-laws. It really is one of the easiest ways to make sure I keep churning out cakes. But. (There’s always a “but,” isn’t there?) On Sunday afternoon I realized I had exactly six tablespoons of butter in the entire house.

Six tablespoons of butter will not a cake + frosting make.

So I looked for non-butter-based cake recipe and an alternative to buttercream frosting. (An alternative that wasn’t ganache, because I also had neither good melting chocolate or heavy cream to work with. I bake all the dang time! How do I let myself get into these predicaments?!) I had success on the first count, no such luck on the second, but my mother-in-law saved the day by letting me raid her fridge at the last minute.

Just a basic sheet cake, right?

WRONG.

 

Bam. Green velvet sheet cake. This is one of the reasons I love red velvet cakes so much; the look of surprise on everyone’s faces when you first cut into it is priceless.

And yes, technically this should have been a red velvet cake, but everyone does red. Green is my favorite color, and who says it has to be red anyway? This green velvet sheet cake turned out so pretty!

Yes, I’d love a bite, thanks for asking.

Green Velvet Sheet Cake
adapted only marginally from The Pioneer Woman
 
1 cup Crisco
1 3/4 cup sugar
2 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon vinegar
1 1/2 ounces green food coloring*
1 1/2 teaspoon cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a large (18 x 12) sheet cake pan with nonstick baking spray.

In a small bowl, sift together cake flour and salt. Set aside.

In another small bowl, stir together buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, and baking soda. Add vinegar and stir. Set aside. (This mixture will get frothy, FYI. Baking soda and vinegar do fun things together.)

In a third small bowl, mix together cocoa and food coloring. Set aside.

Using your stand mixer and the whisk attachment, cream together shortening and sugar until fluffy. Alternate adding
the flour mixture and the buttermilk/egg mixture until all combined. Pour the green mixture in and beat until combined. The batter will be quite thick.

Pour batter into prepared sheet cake pan. Use a large offset spatula or knife to even out the surface. Bake for 16-20 minutes. Allow cake to cool completely before frosting.

The Best Frosting I’ve Ever Had
from PW’s Tasty Kitchen

Note: I’ve made this frosting before and I still think it’s super weird. Delicious, but weird. I’ve also never successfully made it without lumps (you can sort of see them in the photos above) but I’m sure it’s possible. I’m guessing if you cover the flour/milk mixture with plastic wrap–so that the wrap touches the mixture–while it cools, that might help. I’ll have to play around with it one of these days.

5 Tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar (not powdered sugar!)

In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it is very thick. Remove from heat, stir in the vanilla, and let it cool to room temperature.

While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. You don’t want any sugar  graininess left. Then add the completely cooled milk/flour/vanilla mixture and beat it until it all combines and resembles whipped cream.

Spread on your cooled green velvet sheet cake, slice and serve.

*I honestly don’t know if green food coloring is sold in large bottles at the grocery store like red is. I used some AmeriColor stuff I found a while back at Hobby Lobby. Each one was .75 ounces so I used two full bottles. (Insert unretouched iPhone photo here.)

You really could do any color you wanted, although I imagine bold colors work better than pastels. I think next time I’ll do a blue velvet cake. Or purple velvet! That would be awesome!

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