Red Velvet Cheesecake Cake

Today is Tom's birthday.  Happy birthday Tom!  I always let him pick out whatever kind of cake he wants for his birthday.  I think the last 2 years it was Guinness chocolate cake.  But this year, I was at the Cheesecake Factory for a lunch with coworkers before Christmas and they had this cake that was layers of cheesecake and red velvet cake.  We were all ooh'ing and ahh'ing over it but were too stuffed after lunch to get a piece.  Then, literally the next day, this post from Beantown Baker with almost the exact same cake showed up in my Google reader.  I sent the link to Tom and said "I think I found your birthday cake!"  This cake is time consuming but totally worth it.  I added a little more cocoa powder to the red velvet cake than the original recipe and altered the frosting recipe a bit.




Red Velvet Cheesecake Cake
Adapted from Beantown Baker


Cheesecake
1 1/4 pounds cream cheese (20 oz), room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp lemon zest, plus 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 tsp coarse salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream

Cake
2 1/2 cup cake flour
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 Tbsp (1 oz.) red food coloring
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp white distilled vinegar

Frosting
12 oz. cream cheese, room temp
2 sticks of butter, room temp
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3-4 cups confectioners' sugar

Cheesecake Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line bottom of a springform cheesecake pan with a piece of parchment paper.  Set a pot of water to boil.


2. Beat cream cheese on medium until fluffy, scraping down side of bowl. 


3. Add sugar 1/4 cup at a time and mix until fluffy.  Add in lemon juice, zest, and salt.  Then mix in eggs, then sour cream.  Scrape down sides of the bowl as needed.


4. Pour batter into springform pan.  Place pan in a roasting pan and then pour boiling water in roasting pan so it comes about halfway up the springform pan. 


5. Bake for 50-60 minutes until set in the center.  Remove pan from water and let cool.  Once cool, run a knife around the edge of the pan, remove edge of springform pan, cover cake in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.  Once chilled overnight, freeze the cheesecake before assembling the rest of the cake.

Red Velvet Cake Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour 2 9" cake pans and cover bottom of each pan with a parchment paper round.  I do this for ALL cakes now, just in case.  It makes taking them out of the pans so much easier.


2. Sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa, and salt in a medium bowl.

3. Beat eggs, oil, buttermilk, food coloring, vanilla, and vinegar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until well combined. Add dry ingredients and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes.

4. Divide batter evenly between two pans.  Bake for 25-30 minutes. 


5. Let cakes cool for 10-15 minutes and then invert cakes out of the pans and cool on a wire rack.  Wrap cakes in plastic wrap and freeze.  Cakes are much easier to frost nicely if they're frozen first, you won't have as many crumbs flaking off into the frosting.

Frosting Instructions
1. Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla together in a large bowl with an electric mixer until combined. 


2. Add sugar in 1/2 cup increments and beat until frosting is light and fluffy, 5–7 minutes.  Add  more sugar as needed if frosting is not stiff enough.

Assembly Instructions
1. Place bottom cake layer on plate or cake stand. Make sure you level the bottom layer either with a large knife (a long carving knife or a serrated bread knife works well).  After you remove the rounded part of the top of the cake, spread frosting on it, fold it in half, and enjoy a cake taco!


2. Spread a thin layer of frosting on outside edge of the cake then add frozen cheesecake layer on top of the red velvet layer.  My springform pan was slightly wider than my cake pans, so the cheesecake layer stuck out a little.  You can just easily work your way around the cake with a serrated knife and saw off the extra edge.  


3. Spread another thin layer of frosting on the edges of the cheesecake layer, then add the second red velvet layer.  I never bother leveling the top layers of cakes, I like having the top rounded.  If you prefer a flat topped cake, then feel free to level it before adding the layer.


4. Spread a thin layer of frosting around the whole cake.  This is called a crumb coat.  It's best to set aside a small bit of the frosting for this layer so that if you're dipping the knife in to the bowl of frosting you don't get the crumbs from the knife in the frosting.  This layer can be really thing, you just want something for all of the crumbs on the edges to stick to so they stay put when you put the final layer of frosting on. Once you have the crumb coat on, stick the cake in the freezer for a few minutes.


5. Add second layer of frosting evenly around the cake.  Decorate however you want - sprinkles, chocolate shavings, etc.