Mothers Day: Red Velvet!

For Mothers Day this year, my mum requested red velvet cake. I really wanted to make this a special cake, so I decided on a three tier with buttercream piping. It also needed to be gluten free so my dad and boyfriend could eat some.
I hit problems as soon as I went shopping for this! After buying the bottle below, I thought that it didnt sound right, and on opening it, it was horrible and gloopy, not the liquid I wanted.
A quick google told me Dr Oetker don't do the artificial red anymore, just this 'natural red', but that it would cook out when baked, giving an orangey brown colour. Not red velvet appropriate!!
I already have a set of Wilton gel colours, so I spent a good while trying to mash the gel around in water until I thought I had enough..

 After all the mixing was done I did add an extra toothpick full..just incase it wasn't red enough already!

Didnt need to worry, all three sponges came out very red. I only have two tins the same size at the moment, so I was a bit worried the mix would settle too much between bakes, especially being gluten free, I didnt want to lose any air I'd worked in.

Unfortunately I didnt take any piping photos the next morning, but I did make a little Vine out of it!:Vine Red Velvet!

I hate it when I make something where I cant test it before I give it to people, even when I'm confident in the bake! This is my mum cutting it up for everyone at my grandmas, great colour alongside the frosting!

I almost did roses all round, but didn't want to make a mess I couldnt fix, the top seemed much easier. Turns out it was really simple, next time I'll go for the full cake.

The cake itself was really nice, made better by the cream cheese frosting! I never really make it but it was really good, I've seen a lot of recipes with vanilla cream cheese frosting too, something else to add to the list of things to try!