Red Velvet Cake for my Daughter's 21st and Grand Daughter's 5th Birthday

Clarified Butter

Unsalted butter, cut into cubes

1. Heat the unsalted butter in a heavy-duty saucepan over very low heat, until it’s melted. Let simmer gently until the foam rises to the top of the melted butter. The butter may splatter a bit, so be careful.

2. Once the butter stops spluttering, and no more foam seems to be rising to the surface, remove from heat and skim off the foam with a spoon. (It can be saved and added to soups, bread doughs, polenta, pilaf, or a bowl of warm oatmeal.)

Don’t worry about getting every last bit; you can remove the rest when straining it.

3. Line a mesh strainer with a few layers of cheesecloth or gauze (in France, I use étamine, which is cotton muslin) and set the strainer over a heatproof container.

4. Carefully pour the warm butter through the cheesecloth-lined strainer into the container, leaving behind any solids from the bottom of the pan.

Storage: Clarified butter will keep for 3 to 6 months in the refrigerator. Some say you can leave it at room temperature if the conditions are optimal, but I keep mine under refrigeration. It can also be frozen for a similar length of time.

Note: If you continue to cook the butter in step #2, it’ll turn a nutty-brown color and take on a pleasant aroma, which the French call beurre noisette, because of the nut-like smell and taste. You can use it right away as is, with or without the foam, and it’s wonderful drizzled over steamed vegetables.

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• Excellent Butter Flavor
• Fluid and Pourable at Room Temperature
• Replacement for Butter or Margarine
• No Refrigeration Required
• Save up to 50% using Whirl vs. butter

Chef JimmyJ said:

Kat the cake looks great. Red Velvet is my fav as well. As for Butter Flavored Oil...Whirl is not bad but it is a Restaurant Only item. As far as I know there is nothing on store shelves made by this company. You can check Restaurant Distributors that are open to the public...JJ

Jarjar, I am surprised you didn't come up with this...

http://www.todayswhirl.com/WhirlOriginal.aspx?#

Original 

Whirl cooking oil performs exceptionally well in high heat conditions like grilling and sautéing. It can also be used as a base fat in soups, sauces and gravies, and is excellent as a basting sauce for pizzas and breads. Our flavored oils offer industry leading quality cost and performance.

• Excellent Butter Flavor
• Fluid and Pourable at Room Temperature
• Replacement for Butter or Margarine
• No Refrigeration Required
• Save up to 50% using Whirl vs. butter

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jarjarchef said:

Because we stopped using it in the early 90's.............. Clarified butter is better......

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candycoated said:

I was holding my tongue, but I gotta say it...
When I make cakes I use real butter, cream it with the sugar first, then add eggs, then all the rest of the ingredients in the order they should be added. The texture and flavor is always fine. Is it really necessary to do all the fancy stuff to the butter? Even with cake mixes I sub real butter to doctor it up, just let it get room temp and whip it, sub milk for water,add the eggs, then the box mix. Works fine, and people think I made it from scratch!

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