Carmine Carmeleona Cake

Ah, the Carmine* Carmeleona# Cake.

There is nothing better.

First, a bit of background:

* Carmine is a deep soulful pink colour.
# Carmeleona is type of fabric worn only by royalty in the land of Kamrua in the 8th century. Archeologists have recently discovered a fragment of this cloth in the ancient tomb of one of their queens.

This Carmine Carmelona Cake has recently exploded and has taken the baking world by storm. No surprise, especially given its especially moist and rich texture.

Has the Carmine Carmelon Cake phenomenon reached you yet?

Oh, alright.

Okay, okay.

If you must know, I was actually attempting...

A red velvet cake.

I go by the philosophy of "If I cannot do justice to the recipes, then I can at least reframe them".

I used 2/3 of this red velvet cake recipe by Art of Dessert.

Red Velvet Cake

3/4 cups butter, melted
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups vanilla yogurt
1 ounce red food coloring (liquid or gel)
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 1/4 cups flour
3 tbs cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees celsius. Grease and flour two 8-inch or 9-inch cake pans or line three muffin pans with cupcake liners.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs one at a time. 
4. Add yogurt into a small bowl.
5. Cry out "Shoot!" because you realise that you do not have enough yogurt. 
6. Get to the store. At the aisle, devote significant amount of time to think, "Should I buy the 2-tub yogurt because it is cheaper per tub, or buy only 1 tub because that's all I need. But if I buy the 2-tub, I will have leftovers and what will I do with it? I'll have to buy more ingredients. But if I..."Repeat loop as many times as necessary up to the desired level of satisfaction.
7. Next, grab yogurt. Dash out of the store. Come back all sweaty.
8. Then add the required yogurt, vanilla extract and red food coloring to the small bowl.
9. At this time, if you must know, in addition, the
- kitchen trolley counter
- my t-shirt
- my fingers
were also recipients, albeit unwilling ones, of the stain-happy red colouring. It was not brought to my attention that the colouring I had bought was contagious in nature.
10. Then sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in another bowl.
11. Alternate adding the yogurt mixture and flour mixture into the large bowl.
12. Pour batter into prepared pans or lined muffin pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes (15-20 minutes if making cupcakes) or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool completely.
13. When the cake is cooled, slice in the middle, slap on frosting and serve. I used the flour frosting.

So while it is not true that this is the Carmine Carmelona Cake, it is true that it does have a moist and rich texture.

Yummy!

Just looking at the colours makes me feel all patriotic.

What would The Failed Chef do next time?

• The cake texture was great, but a deeper chocolate accent is missing, though cocoa has been added. Perhaps to add in chocolate chips and cocoa powder like the recipe in the red wine cupcakes?
• Use another brand of red colouring that gives a deeper red - I used up the whole 28ml bottle just to get this colour!