im using the paula deen recipe

4 attempts

2 different ovens

3 different pans

all 4 failed

grrrrrrrr... and im following the recipe, they all seem to rise nicely and then bam, they all fall and i have a crater in the middle

what really annoys me is that i use good quality product, im talking danish butter, organic eggs, triple sifted flour etc

grrrrr

Sorry you are having such a hard time with RV cake. I looked up the recipe and it looks pretty basic. Could you be over-mixing or peeking into the oven too soon, did you change anything?

So Sorry for your troubles. I've tried paula's recipes as well and i love a number of them but seems to me i had similer problems with her red velvet cake as well. here's one I've had good luck with www.cakemanraven.com/recipe.htm
I've increased the 1 oz red food coloring 1 1/2 to 2 oz only because the people i was making the cake for wanted it a true red. I've made this a number of times in various pans and haven't had it fall including for wedding cake.
Did try to copy to send the whole recipe but the site would only let me print out.
Good luck

oh ya,
this frosting from our CC site is delicious. use it all the time when cream cheese is called for. thanks to our own azeboi CakeCentral.com Recipes
Cake, Cookies, Sweets & Other Dessert Recipes

http://cakecentral.com/recipes/4153/Decorators-Cream-Cheese-Frosting

http://cakecentral.com/recipes/4183/Decorator-Cream-Cheese

(mod edited to provide links.)

Thanks, I wondered where I could get CakeManRaven's recipe

Click on that link I supplied. www.cakemanraven.com/recipe.htm
To the left and below the picture it allows you to download and print the recipe.
good luck, Karen

I love her recipe (with a little tweaking); the only thing I didn't like was that no matter how much batter I put in my pans, I could not get 2" layers! I used it for a wedding cake and just wound up making 3 layers for each cake instead of torting 2 layers. I am going to look at other RV recipes to see if the leaveners are a lot less than other recipes. I didn't get any "craters"; the cakes just wouldn't rise as much as I would have liked. The bride and groom loved it; they told me they had some left and ate it every day until it was gone--I was excited as this was my first wedding cake.

I have tried the cakemans red velvet and it was good. However, I was not blown away with the taste. I have recently tried "Saras red velvet tweaked" from this site and I absolutely love the taste and texture!! Everyone that sampled the cake gave me such good reviews!! Super easy to make too

I have made ALOT of RV recipes over the last few months. My favorite is Nancie Mcdermotts from "southern cakes" it was one of the cakes I did for the "Cake Slice Bakers". If your interested in the recipe, it's in my blog. scroll to the second page.

I have made it a few times now, and have consistently had a moist, tasty cake.

I SWEAR by cakemanraven's RV cake recipe!! I found it on the food network's site.

Tried it once, and was very happy with the results! It's just as i remember a traditional southern RV cake should be, both in taste and texture. I'll never use another recipe, EVER.

Though, I will admit, RV cake is not your normal-tasting cake. It's an aquired taste for sure.

I swear by my grandma's recipe!

1c butter
1 1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1/4 c red food coloing (2 oz I think)
2 tsp cocoa
1 c buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 c flour
1 tsp vinegar
1 tsp baking soda

Preheat to 350. Grease pans. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time. Mix food coloring and cocoa. Add sugar. Add buttermilk and vanilla alternatively with flour and salt. Mix vinegar and soda, add to butter. Pour into pans. Bake 35 minutes.

Basic, unpretentious recipe...not somebody trying to make something different/special just to put their name on it - not that I don't appreciate Paula Dean on some things. But RV is a classic; I prefer to stick with the classic tried and true version. It's one of those things I just don't thikn you can improve upon.

Sarah's red velvet cake is not a true RV cake. It is basically a chocolate cake with red food coloring added to it.

I absolutely love RV cake and am always eager to try a new variation of this. Thanks for sharing everybody.

Sarah's red velvet is NOT a chocolate cake. It has very little chocolate in it. I've made it many times and everyone loves it.
http://cakecentral.com/recipes/7377/sarahs-red-velvet-cake-tweaked
Edited to add link to recipe.

I use Elissa Strauss' recipe for RV cake. Perfect every time.

Ha,ha - I clicked on this forum when I saw the title because I was curious how you were trying to make a cake that looked like a Recreational Vehicle.......sometimes the brain just isn't thinking

It's the only Sarah's Red Velvet recipe on this site