For my friend Elyse's birthday, I baked a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. I followed smitten kitchen's recipe but used "only" two ounces (two bottles) of red food coloring, after realizing just how much three ounces is; because of the reduction in food coloring, I also reduced the cocoa powder by about 1/4 cup. Also, when making the frosting, I used 2.5 cups of sugar instead of 3.
The baking and icing went relatively smoothly, though the inscription of melted chocolate required a few corrections. I've learned that a parchment paper cone is far superior to a ziploc bag, and that letting the melted chocolate cool down also makes it more manageable. (I probably should have looked this up beforehand instead of learning the hard way.) Fortunately, the end result looked all right and tasted good, so all is well.
