Rosy Pretty Red Velvet Cake

On a beautiful Autumn's day we celebrated Ayaana's 3rd birthday, of course the kid's got her hobbies now and ballet being one of them, a themed party was demanded. I couldn't just buy a cake I  had to bake it. The ballet theme was easy but I think I took too much upon myself to bake and decorate a Red velvet two tier cake with sugarpaste icing...but since I committed I had to see it through. Here is a recipe for a basic but beautiful red velvet cake with cream cheese icing taken from friends and here and there.. but omitting all the faff of the sugarpaste and tiering, which of course, having set precedent, I will have to be done again next year....aahh Ingredients:2 1/2 cup flour11/2 cup caster sugar1 tsp bicarbonate of soda1 tbsp Madagascar cocoa (if not available then use regular cocoa)1 tsp fine salt1 cup buttermilk2 eggs1 1/2 cups vegetable oil1 tsp white vinegar5 tsb red food colour (get the best you can or substitute with a beetroot reduction)1 tsp vanilla extractIce with cream cheese icing (below) and decorate with red edible rose petals, slivered pistachios and pomegranate seeds.This recipe is for 1 x 18-cm cake pan... you can make this recipe 3 times for a 3 layer cake or 2 times for a two layer cake. This works well for a red velvet cake.Method:1. Preheat your oven to about 180 deg C (less or more depending on the type of oven you have).2. Take a large non metallic bowl and sift together the flour, half the soda, cocoa and salt.3. In another bowl, cream the sugar with the oil until fluffy (with a hand held electric mixer) and then slowly add the eggs one by one and then the buttermilk slowly. Now add the vanilla and the food colour and mix with a spatula.4. Take the rest of the soda and add it to a small bowl with the vinegar - this will foam up, quickly add this to the egg mixture. Now, slowly fold in the flour into the egg mixture, a big heap evenly sifted in and folded in bit by bit.5. Pour into a parchment and butter lined pan and bake for about 35-40 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Now take out and leave on cooling rack until it' a bit cool and then take out of pan and allow to cool completely before filling, icing and decorating.6. Decorate and fill with the icing below  and use the petals and fruit mentioned above to make it even prettier.Cream Cheese Icing: (remember once you've iced/filled this cake, it can't be put in the fridge as the butter gets too hard and also cream cheese icing needs to be eaten fresh on the day and can't be kept outside for too long, so best is to bake the cake a night before and ice on the day of eating)Ingredients:1 pack (250 g) full fat cream cheese250 g unsalted softened butter2 cups icing sugar1 tsb vanilla extractMethod:1. With an electric wisk (or in a eletric mixer, with a paddle attachment) beat the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Add the sugar slowly and beat.2. Now add the vanilla and mix well.3. A tip is to leave this in a bowl, covered on the surface with cling film. Leave in the fridge for 20 minutes before icing the cake.