Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

My sister in law loves Red Velvet cake and so for her birthday I thought I would attempt to make one. I looked all over for a good recipe, but so many of them called for a LOT of oil, so I of course just ended up using the one from Mel's Kitchen Cafe, where I get most of my recipes for yummy desserts. I did make some slight changes after reading several reviews on different websites. I am just going to put my changes on here, but the link above should take you to the original. This cake was so yummy, I will definately make this again! Don't mind the not so great phone pics.

Ingredients:
Cake:
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 (1-oz.) bottle red food coloring
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup lowfat sour cream
1/4 cup canola oil
4 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons white vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Frosting:
4 ounces lowfat (neufchatel) cream cheese
1/4 cup lowfat Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar (or until desired stiffness)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly coat 2 round 9 inch cake pans (or a 9X13-inch pan) with cooking spray. Set aside.

In a liquid measuring cup, whisk buttermilk and vanilla together. In a small bowl, mix together cocoa, food coloring, and a little bit of the buttermilk mixture (about 1-3 Tablespoons) to form a paste.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat sour cream, oil, butter and sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time, scraping down sides of bowl. Add the cocoa mixture and mix well. Mix in 2 1/2 cups flour, baking powder and salt until just combined. Add the buttermilk mixture and mix again, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Mix in the remaining flour until just combined.

In a small bowl, mix vinegar and baking soda until mixture fizzes then quickly fold into batter. Scrape the batter into the prepared pans and tap on the countertop to burst any air bubbles. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 25 to 35 minutes. Don’t overbake or the cake will be dry. Set on a wire rack to cool completely.

For the frosting, using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat together cream cheese, yogurt, butter and vanilla until well combined and smooth. Slowly mix in powdered sugar. When the cake is completely cooled, spread the frosting over the cake, cut into pieces and serve. If not serving right away, store the cake in the refrigerator until ready to eat.

Helpful Hints:
I used about 5 - 6 cups of powdered sugar in my frosting. I made a layered cake instead of a sheet cake so I needed the frosting a little more stiff to be able to hold the cake together. Since I was adding so much sugar, I also added a pinch of salt.

When I was reading reviews of the different recipes I was considering making, many people said when they didn't make the paste with the cocoa they had chocolate swirls in their cake, which is why I chose to do it that way. I had no chocolate swirls, so it was a success!