Ingredients

Cake:

1 1/4 cups vegetable oil

1 cup buttermilk

2 eggs, room temperature

2 tablespoons red food coloring

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon fine salt

1 tablespoon high-fat cocoa powder (such as Callebaut)*

Frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

4 ounces unsalted butter, softened

2 cups powdered sugar (measured then sifted)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation

Cake:

  1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Using an electric mixer, combine the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for 1 minute.
  3. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder.
  4. Add dry ingredients to the wet 1/2 cup at a time. Do this slowly so that the batter doesn’t develop clumps.
  5. Pour the batter into pans that have been greased and floured. The recipe will make one (10 to 12 cup) bundt cake.**
  6. Bake until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean and the cake doesn’t jiggle when shaken, about 45 minutes.
  7. Cool the cake in the pan for at least 15 minutes. Then invert onto a serving plate. If cake resists, cool for an additional 15 minutes. Cool completely before frosting, at least 1 hour for a single large bundt cake.

Frosting:

  1. With an electric mixer on medium speed, cream the cream cheese and butter until soft and completely smooth, at least two minutes.
  2. Turn the mixer speed to low and slowly add the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time, making sure to scrape down any frosting stuck to the sides of the bowl.
  3. Add the vanilla extract.
  4. Mix on medium speed until the frosting is smooth and fluffy.

*Test Kitchen note: we used unsweetened dutch-process (processed with alkili) cocoa powder **Instead of a single large cake, the recipe states it will make about 1 dozen “baby bundt” (1 cup capacity) cakes, 2 (9-inch) round cakes, and 14 to 18 cupcakes.