Lemon Curd

When I had some egg yolks left with me after using the egg whites for the meringue based recipes viz., swiss meringue buttercream, italian meringue buttercream, meringue kisses and the like, it just struck to do the easy and simple yet delicious lemon curd.

Lemon curd is a thick, smooth, velvety, silky, sweet n citrusy cream that is commonly used as fillings in tarts, chocolates, pies, cakes and also mousse or cheesecakes (if thinking out of the box, so many other desserts too).

Ingredients:

Egg Yolks - 4
Sugar - 120 gm
Butter - 60 gm
Lemon Zest - 1 tsp
Lemon Juice of 1 lemon


Method:

Add the yolks in a heavy bottomed sauce pan and add the sugar and whisk continuously until it has thickened.

Add the butter and heat on low flame until it melts well.

Add the lemon zest and lemon juice and keep whisking until it thickens.  This may take around 8 to 10 minutes.

Remove from fire.  If desired to get a very smooth, velvety texture, immediately pour through a fine strainer to avoid lumps.  It becomes thicker as it cools down.

Transfer to a sterilized jar and cover immediately so as to avoid forming of skin on top.

Keep refrigerated.  It stays good for up to a week.

Use the lemon curd as a spread on sandwiches, infused with buttercream or whipping cream as fillings in cakes or can be used as such too for filling in cakes, make mousse layers, use in creamcheese cakes, pie or tart fillings and so on...your ideas are endless to use this creamy lemon curd.

I used this lemon curd as a filling along with non-dairy vanilla whipped cream in a 6-inch tall chocolate sponge drip fresh cream pastry cake and the taste was really very amazing.  Do give a try.



Notes:

You can make it lighter by adding around half a cup of heavy cream and whipping it up.

Lemon juice and lemon zest can be replaced with orange juice and zest to get orange curd.


Recipe credits: Fondbites 

Eggless Christmas Fruit Cake/Plum Cake with Wheat Flour

My ever favorite plum cake is now a bit healthier with the substitution of maida with wheat flour in part, though you can give a full substitution.  I tried this recipe with both full and part substitutions and they are the best in any form.

Also, this cake is egg free too.  If by any reason, you would like to avoid eggs, be it social reasons, allergic to eggs, personal preferences, and more, this recipe comes handy and very easy peasy too with all ingredients on hand.

And one more thing making it really easy is we don't need the caramel syrup done.  I don't know about you all, but I am a bit stressed out preparing the caramel syrup in its right color and consistency.  Now, that step is also not there, so really a hassle-free recipe.

Here goes the recipe for this "no egg, no caramel syrup and no or less maida" plum cake.


Ingredients:

Wheat Flour - 3/4 cup
Maida - 1/2 cup
Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp
Baking Soda - 1/4 tsp
Salt - 1 pinch
Brown Sugar - 1 cup
Butter - 85 gm
Curd/Yoghurt - 1/2 cup
Hot Milk - 1/4 cup
Vanilla Essence - 1/2 tsp
Soaked Dry Fruits - 1 cup
Spice Powder - 2 tsp

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees for 10 minutes.

Line the base and sides of an 8-inch baking pan with greaseproof (butter/parchment) paper.

Sift the wheat flour, maida, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together.

In a bowl, combine softened butter and brown sugar using a hand whisk until light and fluffy.  Add the vanilla essence, whisked curd/yoghurt, and the hot milk and mix.  At this stage, the batter will look curdled and that's the right way, do not panic.

Mix together the sifted flour, spice powder, and the soaked and drained dry fruits.  Add this to the whisked batter and combine with a spatula until well incorporated.

Pour the batter in the prepared baking tin and bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes at 170 degrees C. 

Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool on a wire rack.  When warm, pour about a tablespoon of homemade wine or white rum all over the cake and allow to cool.  Wrap the cake with a cling film and store in an airtight container.

If desired, drizzle daily or on alternative days with about a tablespoon of wine or alcohol until use to make it a boozy, rich plum cake.

Homemade Tutti Fruiti - Candied Papaya

Tutti Fruiti are colorful and cute little jewels that adorn your dessert, be it cakes, cookies, breads or buns.  When I got hold of 2 raw papayas from my mom's place, I just couldn't think of making anything else other than these as I had exhausted making all other recipes using them viz., raw papaya dosa, raw papaya muffins, stuffed chappathis with raw papaya filling, kootu, etc.  With the holiday season around, I felt this was the best time to make these beauties using the raw papaya though ideally the tutti fruiti is made of different candied fruits.  Here, I have made tutti fruiti with raw papaya.  You can also name it aptly as candied papaya.

I have stored them safe to be used in my Christmas fruit cakes for this season which I am a die-hard fan of.

Raw papaya is good for health in that it has a lot of nutrients and minerals though the color and sugar content may to a certain extent not support the health factor.  Yet, the basic goodness of the raw green papaya remains.  Even I was skeptical about it earlier, but then when I had my hands on making them, was more than satisfied that health bhi and attractive bhi...

Let's try our hands on this recipe now.

Ingredients:

Raw Papaya - 2 (medium sized)

Sugar - 3 cups

Vanilla Essence - 1/2 tsp

Edible Gel/Liquid Colors - Few drops

Water - 5 cups


Method:

Wash and peel skin of the raw papaya.  Chop and remove seeds and the center white part of the papaya.  Finely chop the cleaned papaya into small cubes.  This gave 4 cups of chopped raw papaya.

In a heavy bottomed vessel, heat 3 cups of water.  Once it starts boiling, add the chopped raw papaya and allow to cook for 3 minutes exactly on the clock on low-medium flame.  Switch off the stove and remove the pan from the heat.  Let the papaya remain in the same hot water for 5 minutes more.  Strain the blanched papaya pieces and keep aside.  This would measure about 3 cups.

In another pan, heat 2 to 2-1/2 cups of water and add 3 cups of sugar to it.  Once the sugar melts completely, add the blanched and strained papaya cubes to the sugar syrup.  Cook on low-medium flame for about 15-20 minutes until the sugar syrup becomes sticky and is of a thin one-string consistency.  Switch off the stove and remove the pan.

Add vanilla essence to the contents of the pan and stir.

Divide the contents into separate bowls according to the number of colors needed for the tutti fruiti.  I made 5 colored tutti frutti - yellow, orange, red, pink, and green; so I divided into 5 bowls.  You can divide into 3 or more as desired.

Add a drop of the edible gel color in each bowl and mix well.  Keep aside for 12-15 hours or at least overnight.

After 12-15 hours, take out the papaya pieces from the colored sugar syrup and strain completely.  I then transferred to a bowl with a small plate placed half way through so that the excess syrup would drain out and collect at the bottom,  repeating the same for all other colored batches.  Keep aside for about an hour.

Spread those strained papaya cubes on a wire net placed on top of a plate and allow to dry until the stickiness is totally absorbed.  At this stage, you can leave it at room temperature or under a fan to dry completely for about 2 to 3 hours.

Store each colored tutti fruiti in separate airtight containers.  Alternatively, you can mix all the colored tutti fruiti and store in an airtight container until use.

These colorful tutti fruiti pieces can be used in cakes, cookies, dilkush (coconut bun), christmas fruit cake etc.

For a longer shelf life, store the container in fridge.



Notes:

I used Americolor gel colors to color the tutti fruiti.  Liquid or powder colors can also be added.

It is optional to colored the candied papaya cubes but coloring them is an attraction.

Do not overcook the papaya cubes in the sugar syrup, else they turn very soft and do not retain the slight crunchiness that normally has to be.

Adjust sugar up to 1/2 cup less or more according to the sweetness you desire.

Caramel Popcorn (Baked)

My love for popcorns is too big that I grab a packet of it wherever I go and my mouth keeps busy munching on them.  If not available anywhere around, I just pop them up at home whenever I just get the thought of it.  And I, in general, am a sweet-toothed person and love to munch on something crisp too.  Caramel popcorns just popped up in my mind.  I have not had a chance to taste them all these days (as not very commonly available at my place) though have heard many a times of them.  Just in the right moment, this recipe came to my eye and I just immediately worked on it.  Success at the first trial as it is an easy, peasy and fail proof recipe.  With a large bowl of it in your hands, anyone just can't resist munching on them these little caramelly delicacies.  Crunchy munchy go....

Here goes the recipe of making these little golden munchies...


Ingredients:

Popcorn Seeds (kernels) - 1/2 cup

Coconut Oil - 1 tbsp

Butter - 1/4 cup

Brown Sugar - 1/2 cup

Corn Syrup - 3 tbsp (or half of an 1/3 cup)

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Vanilla Extract - 1/2 tsp

Baking Soda - 1/8 tsp (a big pinch)


Procedure:

In a pressure pan, heat coconut oil and add the popcorn seeds.  Close with the lid (without vent on).  Keep the stove on medium flame.  Shake the pan once in between to help uniform popping up of the seeds and there are not much seeds left out without popping.  Once no more popping up sound is heard, switch off the flame immediately.  Open the lid and transfer the popcorn to a large bowl.  This would be equal to about 6 cups of popped up corn.

Preheat the oven at 150 degrees for 10 minutes.

Line a baking tray with butter paper or silicon mat and grease with butter generously.

In a saucepan, add butter, brown sugar, salt, and corn syrup.  Heat on a high flame and stir until the butter melts and everything comes together.

Reduce the flame to low and let it be undisturbed (do not stir) for 5 minutes exactly.

Switch off the flame and add baking soda.  It will bubble up, so carefully stir with an wooden spatula.

Now, pour this caramel syrup all over the popcorn making sure each popcorn is coated with the syrup.  Use a wooden spatula to stir up uniformly.

Spread the caramel coated popcorn on the prepared baking tray evenly.  Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes at 150 degrees.  After every 5 minutes, remove the tray from the oven and toss the popcorn with a wooden spatula.  Continue to bake till the set time of 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow the tray to cool completely on a wire rack.  Break the baked caramel popcorn with your hands and store in an airtight container.  This stays good for about a week at room temperature.

Crunchy, caramelly baked popcorn is a sure treat to munch on.

I packed them in small containers for a bake sale here and it was a sure hit around.


Notes:

I used coconut oil to pop out the popcorn seeds.  You can use any vegetable oil or butter alternatively.

If brown sugar is not at an easy reach, you can very well substitute it with the regular white sugar.


For want of time for the bake sale, I requested the local popcorn maker (a friend of mine) to supply me with plain popcorns and I worked on the caramelizing and baking portions.  You can try both ways as you feel convenient. 

Festive Floral Cookies

Recently, I had baked a Captain America Shield Theme fresh cream pastry cake.  In a spree to get the right colors of the whipped cream to be used for decorating the cake, I ended up with loads of bright red colored and blue colored whipped cream left over after decorating the cake.  Normally, whipped cream is used to make mousse, cream cheese cakes, dessert jars etc. apart from cake decorating.  I wanted to do something else other than these with the leftover whipped cream and found this recipe of whipped cream cookies on the internet shared by Mrs. Rajeswari Ganesh.  Also, at the same time, a contest had been announced for the festive season in one of the home bakers groups on Facebook in which I participated.   I chose do a simple rangoli style arrangement of floral theme with these cookies and was pretty happy with the outcome.

Here goes the recipe of the Whipped Cream Cookies.


Ingredients:

Whipped Cream - 120 gm

Icing Sugar - 1/2 cup

Almond Essence - 1/4 tsp

Unsalted Butter - 40 gm

Coarsely Powdered Nuts (Cashew, Almonds, Pistachios) - 1/4 cup

All Purpose Flour - 1½ cups

Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt - 1 pinch

Chopped Nuts and Saffron Strands - To decorate

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 160 degrees for 10 minutes.

Sieve together well all-purpose flour and baking powder.  Keep aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat whipped cream and icing sugar until well combined.

Add the essence and the coarsely powdered nuts to this and mix well with a spatula.

Add the butter and beat at medium speed.

Finally, add the sifted flour and mix to form a cookie dough.  Add butter if necessary to get the right consistency of the dough.  Do not use milk or water.  Only butter is to be used to get the dough consistency to be of mashed potatoes.

Smear ghee or butter in your hands and roll small balls of the dough to form a flower shape.  Decorate with chopped nuts and saffron if desired.

Bake in a preheated oven at 160 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until the sides turn light brown.

Remove from oven and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.  It will be soft when hot and perfect when cooled.

Store in an airtight container until use.

I had used the colored whipped cream for this recipe and hence got bright red and blue colored cookies in floral shapes.  To color the whipped cream, I have used Americolor Red gel color and blue gel color.  These cookies can be done without the color effect and will appear light colored when white whipped cream is used.

To make fresh whipped cream, scoop out 1 cup of frozen non-diary whipping cream stored in the freezer and place in a bowl in the fridge for about 1 to 2 hours.  When it turns to a thick liquid consistency (some frozen chunks can also be there), transfer to a mixing bowl.  Whisk with an electric beater at medium speed for a minute and then increase to high speed and beat until soft peaks.  This may take around 5 minutes or more.   Transfer the whipped cream to an airtight container and store in fridge until use.  The mixing bowl and the beaters/whisk should be chilled prior to whipping up the cream.  An ice bath can also be used by keeping a big bowl of ice cubes underneath the mixing bowl while whipping up the cream.



This is the cake I had done on the Captain America Shield Theme.

Watch out for more of my works on my Facebook page Kriyaetions.

Paalada Payasam Cupcakes (Eggless)

Paalada Payasam, also fondly called as ada pradhaman, is an all-time favorite for Keralites all over the world.  It is a rich dessert made with either homemade or readily available rice ada (flakes), milk, and sugar.  This pradhaman adorns the sadhya (a special meal) in weddings, parties, or festive occasions of Onam, Vishu, etc.  The process of making it is simple though takes around 1 to 2 hours to get a thick creamy payasam/pradhaman.  Nowadays, these payasams are readily available at stores or can be made to order through caterers too.

My family has a great craze for this ada pradhaman and we grab every chance of relishing this dessert whenever available - at weddings or parties we attend, at exhibitions, etc.   The "Top in Town" palada payasam is very famous in my place and is really very tasty; just forget the calories it holds.

Though we are die-hard fans of the palaada payasam, when it is in excess and cannot be had any more, I had to think of other ways to use it up.  What struck my mind was why not try incorporating them in cupcakes and it was a success at the first attempt itself.  Here, I have used the Indian traditional flavors of cardamom and nutmeg in the cupcake batter as well as the buttercream to give it a traditional festive touch.  It is an egg free recipe too just in case you would want to avoid eggs for any reason, be it festive time, personal preferences, allergy issues, religious reasons, etc.  

This paalada payasam cupcake is very moist and soft with small specks of freshly ground cardamom and nutmeg glowing here and there.  Vanilla extract can also be added to enhance the flavor of the cupcake.  I tried using both and they were good to taste equally.  Also, you can serve this cupcake as such or frosted with buttercream or any frosting of your choice like white chocolate ganache or whipped cream or cardamom infused mousse.  Scooping out a tiny portion in the top center of the cupcake and filling it with paalada payasam and then frosting over gives a really special taste to the entire dessert.  Give it a try the way you wish to.  Of course, you all would have your own special ideas too.

The payasam or pradhaman to be used in this recipe should be a really thick and creamy one.  Either homemade or store bought payasam can be used to make these cupcakes.

Here goes the easy peasy recipe of making these cute little Paalada Payasam Cupcakes.

Ingredients:

Unsalted Butter - 2 tbsp
Powdered Sugar - 2 tbsp
Paalada Payasam - 200 gm
Cardamom (Elaichi) Powder - 1/2 tsp
Nutmeg Powder - 1 pinch 
All Purpose Flour - 100 gm
Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp
Baking Soda - 1/4 tsp
Salt - A pinch
Aerated Water/Drinking Soda - 100 mL (1/2 cup)


Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C for 10 minutes.

Line the cupcake moulds with paper liners.

Sieve together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Keep aside.

In a bowl, whip butter for a minute until soft.  Add sugar and whip again for a minute until creamy.

Now, add the thick paalada payasam and whisk for about a minute or so until incorporated well.  Add the cardamom and nutmeg powders and whisk gently.

Then, add one-third of the sifted flour and whisk gently.  Now, add the half of the drinking soda and mix.  Add the flour and soda alternately until they are fully used up.  Whisk the batter gently until all the ingredients are incorporated well together.  Do not over mix.

Fill this batter in the cupcake molds until two-thirds level giving enough space for the cupcake to rise while baking.

Bake them at 180 degrees C in a preheated oven for 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cupcake comes out clean.  Do not over bake, else the cupcake will sink in the center.

Remove the cupcakes from the oven and allow them to cool on a wire rack.  Store in an airtight container once cool or just grab one and test the taste.

I decorated these cupcakes with cardamom flavored buttercream frosting.



For Buttercream Frosting:

Unsalted Butter - 80 gm
Table Butter (Salted) - 20 gm
Icing Sugar - 200 gm
Cardamom Powder - 1/2 tsp
Milk - 1 to 2 tbsp

Soak cardamom powder in warm milk for 10 minutes and allow to infuse the flavor in the milk.  After 10 minutes, strain the soaked milk and allow to cool.  Keep aside.

In a bowl, add both the butters and beat for 2 to 3 minutes on high speed of an electric beater until soft.

Add icing sugar 4 tbsp at a time and beat on high speed for 2 minutes on each addition until all the icing sugar is used up.  Again, beat for 5 minutes until semi-stiff peaks are achieved.  Add more icing sugar if needed to get peaks.

Now, add the cardamom infused milk to the buttercream and whip well to get peaks again.

Chill the buttercream until use.


To Assemble:

Scoop out a tiny portion of the cupcake in the top center of the cupcake.

Fill the cavity with a teaspoon or more of the Paalada Payasam and close the cavity with the scooped cake bit.

In a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle, fill the prepared buttercream and pipe a rosette over the filled cupcake.

Decorate with sprinkles of your choice or drizzle with payasam over it.

Delicious Paalada Payasam Cupcakes will lure you to grab one and relish, and you cannot stop with one, I bet.

They stay good for 2-3 days if stored in fridge.  Remember to keep them out of the fridge at least half an hour before serving them.

Notes:

Use thick and creamy Paalada Payasam/Pradhaman for this recipe.  Freshly made or left over payasam can be used.

Vanilla extract or any other flavor of your choice can be added.

Any other creamy and thick payasam can be used viz., semiya payasam, phirni, basundhi, etc. can be replaced for the Paalada Payasam to make these little treats.  Jaggery based or coconut milk based payasams can also be used but the most important point to be noted is they are to be thick in consistency like condensed milk.

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Red velvet cakes are always a rage irrespective of age.  And especially in Kerala, it is raining red velvets in form of pastries, cupcakes, dessert jars, cakes, cookies, and even icecreams after the craze of the Premam movie.  I would call it the #Premam effect with so many people craving for the red velvets nowadays here.

The red velvet as its name says is velvety in texture and has a balance of vanilla flavor and the chocolatiness I would say.  They are the best when made with the right texture, good cocoa powder, and proper vanilla flavoring.  With the combination of a tinge of cocoa, buttermilk, and vinegar and the mild soury-sweety cream cheese frosting, it is heavenly to relish it.

This recipe is adapted from Joy of Baking and Fondbites.

Ingredients:

Unsalted Butter - 70 gm

Powdered Sugar or Icing Sugar - 3/4 cup

Egg - 1

Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp

Fresh Thick Curds - 1/2 cup (to make buttermilk)

Liquid Red Food Color - 1 tsp

Red Color Gel - 1 tsp

All-Purpose Flour - 1 cup

Corn Flour - 1/4 cup

Cocoa Powder - 1 tbsp

Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt - A pinch

Vinegar - 1/2 tsp

Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp


Method:

1.  Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

2.  Grease a 6 inch round cake pan with butter or oil and line the bottom with parchment paper.  

3.  Sift together all-purpose flour, corn flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.

4.  Add butter in bowl and and beat with a hand mixer for about 1 to 2 minutes until soft, pale, and fluffy.

5.  Add the sugar to the butter and beat for 4 to 5 minutes until creamy and fluffy.  If you use icing sugar, the sweetness of the cake is milder.  If you want your cake to be sweeter, use powdered sugar at this stage.  However, you can use half icing sugar and half powdered sugar to have a balance of sweetness - not too sweet or not too mild in sweetness.

6.  Break egg and pour contents in a cup and mix the yolk and white together with a spoon and then add this to the butter-sugar mixture and beat for 1 minutes on medium speed until the mixture becomes soft and creamy.  A general rule is to beat the batter on medium or low speed only, after the egg is added to the mixture.

7.  Add the vanilla extract and beat just until well combined.

8.   To make buttermilk, process the thick curds in the small jar of the mixer/blender on low speed for about 10 seconds.  It will be a thick but liquid form of buttermilk which works best in baking.  To this buttermilk, add the liquid and gel red food colors and mix well.  Keep aside.  

9.  With the mixer on low speed, add half of the sifted flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat just until incorporated.  Then, add the buttermilk mixture and beat until well combined.  Now, add the remaining half of the flour mixture and beat at low speed until just incorporated.  Do not over beat at any step.

10.  And now comes the most important part of the procedure to make the cake velvety.  Keep your cake pan ready and also check if the oven is almost preheated.  When all set, add the baking soda in a bowl and pour the vinegar and stir immediately as it fizzes up.  Quickly fold the vinegar mixture in the batter and combine everything together with your spatula.

11. Pour the batter into the greased baking pan immediately and bake in the preheated oven for approximately 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

12.  Once the cake is baked, take it out of the oven and allow it to cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 10 minutes.  Place a wire rack on top of the cake pan and invert to remove the cake from the pan.  Allow to cool the cake (on the wire rack) completely.  Once done, cover the cake with a plastic cling wrap and then aluminium foil and freeze for at least an hour or overnight.  You can keep in the refrigerator also.  This makes layering, filling, and frosting the cake easier.


Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

Homemade Cream Cheese - 100 gm

Icing Sugar - 1/2 cup

Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp

Heavy Whipping Cream - 1 cup

Method:

1.  Add cream cheese, icing sugar, and vanilla extract in a bowl and beat with a hand mixer or an electric mixer for about 2 minutes on medium speed.

2.  Add heavy whipping cream and beat rigorously on high speed for 3 to 5 minutes until stiff peaks are formed.

3.  Chill this frosting for about 1 hour in the refrigerator and then use for filling and frosting the cake.

Cream cheese frosting is ready to be spread on the cake.


Assembling the Cake:

Remove the cake from the freezer or refrigerator and let it come to room temperature.  With a long serrated knife, slice the cake horizontally into 3 layers.  Keep each layer aside separately.  On a cake board, apply about a teaspoon of cream cheese frosting or softened butter in the center and spread a little so that the cake does not move away from the board.  Place the topmost layer of the cake first on the board.  Brush off the cake crumbs and have a clean cake layer.  Sprinkle sugar syrup all over this cake layer and spread around 1 to 2 tbsp of cream cheese frosting over it evenly until a thick layer is formed.  Place the mid layer of the cake over this and repeat the process of sugar syrup and cream cheese frosting layer.  Finally, place the bottom most layer of the cake with the bottom side facing up so that a smooth and leveled top is achieved.  Apply sugar syrup and then a thin layer of the cream cheese frosting on top and then on the sides evenly to form a crumb coat.  Chill in refrigerator for about half an hour.  Then, decorate the cake as per your choice and serve chilled.  I used a star nozzle to pipe mini  rosettes as a border and sugar sprinkles and the cake crumbs in the center.

This cake stays good at room temperature for a day.  Store in refrigerator for a longer shelf life.

Look at the perfect layers.  Yumm..yumm..

Notes:

I made cream cheese at home and used for the frosting.  You can choose to use the store bought ones.

The cream cheese frosting is per my taste.  You can add or reduce the cheese cream and heavy whipping cream according to the sourness or the sweetness you like.

Use heavy whipping cream that whips easily to stiff peaks.  I used non-dairy whipping cream (Tropolite).  Dairy whipping cream with more than 30% fat content can be used for the extra creaminess.  If heavy whipping cream that easily forms stiff peaks are not available, then whip the cream separately to peaks and then add to the cream cheese mixture and whip together.

Vinegar and cocoa react together to give a rust color to the cake.  If you do not use red food color also, you will still get a reddish tinge to your cake.  They will still taste good and velvety.  The amount of color you add depends on how deep color or shade of red you would want.

Tomato red, x-mas red, raspberry red, red red, super red or any other red food color can be used to suit the shade of red you need.

If you choose to avoid artificial colors (as I personally prefer), use natural food colors viz., extract of cooked beetroot for the pinkish red color of the cake.

You can replace butter of the cake ingredients with oil either in full or half and half (half of butter and half of oil).  I have tried both ways and they are pretty good either ways.

Cream cheese frosting can be made with butter, icing sugar, and cream cheese as cream cheese butter frosting too.  For this, beat 100 gm butter to light and creamy, add vanilla extract and cream cheese 50 gm and beat again lightly, then add icing sugar approximately 200 gm and beat until creamy and stiff peaks form.