Red Velvet Cake (Bioshock Infinite Cake)

This post first appeared on my other blog in 2014, but since I no longer maintain that one, I'm reposting some of my favorites here!

Last week was a good friend’s birthday.

I thought pretty hard about how I wanted to decorate his cake.

I knew it had to be geeky.

Last year, the theme was The Dresden Files.

After a lot of hemming and hawing, I decided to make a Bioshock Infinite cake (if you’re unfamiliar, Bioshock Infinite is a video game).  I’ve never played Bioshock myself (I’m kind of a video game dunce), but I’ve watched Hubs play and heard him and Dan discuss the game…extensively!

For a cake this detailed, I again enlisted Hubs as my artist in residence.  I had him sketch the silhouettes of Booker and Elizabeth and the airship, The First Lady (I painted it in) on Marshmallow Fondant.

I was thrilled with the results!

The cake itself was a delicious red velvet cake (recipe follows) with cream cheese frosting.  It was definitely a hit!

Red Velvet Cake

1 box yellow cake

1 (3.9 oz) package vanilla instant pudding

1 cup sour cream

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted

4 eggs

½ cup water

2 ½ tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp white vinegar

Red food coloring (preferably “no taste” gel)

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 ½ (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened

¾ cup butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla

6 cups powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and spray two 8-inch round pans.

Mix all of the cake ingredients together with a stand mixer, then pour the batter evenly into the prepared pans.  Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean.

Move the cakes to wire racks and cool in the pans for 15 minutes.  Then, run a knife along the edges and invert the cakes.  Cool completely.

Once the cakes are cooled, make the frosting by beating together the cream cheese and butter until very smooth.  Mix in the vanilla and powdered sugar until smooth. And frost the cake.