Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Icing ~ by Sarah

This is the recipe for the cake I made for Grandma Shirley's birthday. It came from my Pioneer Woman cookbook.  The frosting makes it very rich!

Cake:
1 cup shortening
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/4 t. salt
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 t. vanilla
1 t. baking soda
1 1/2 t. vinegar
1 oz. red food coloring (2 oz. if you want it really red--I only used one, though)
1 1/2 t. cocoa powder

Icing:
1 1/2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 pounds powdered sugar
1/4 t. salt
2 t. pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease two round 10-inch cake pans (2 inches deep) with non-stick baking spray. Blend together the shortening and sugar in a mixing bowl, using an electric mixer. Set aside. Sift together the flour and salt. Set aside. Mix the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, baking soda, and vinegar in a separate bowl. Alternate adding the flour mixture and the buttermilk mixture to the shortening mixture in the mixing bowl, mixing after each addition. In a small bowl, mix the red food coloring and cocoa powder. Pour into the mixing bowl. Mix until just combined. Don't overbeat. Pour the batter evenly into the cake pans and bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 20 minutes before removing the cakes from the pans. Cool completely before icing.

Icing: Place the cream cheese and butter in a mixing bowl and whip until smooth. Sift the powdered sugar and add it to the bowl. Add the salt and mix. Add the vanilla and mix until smooth.

Ice between the two cakes, the sides, and the top. (I had plenty of frosting left over.) Refrigerate any leftovers.