Chocolate Velvet Cake

Chocolate Velvet Cake 1 cup sifted all purpose flour 1 1/4 cups sifted cake flour 1/2 cup cocoa 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cups sugar 2/3 cup vegetable oil 1/3 cup vegetable shortening at room temperature 1 tsp vanilla extract 3 large eggs 1 1/2 cups buttermilk For the Simple Vanilla Frosting 4 cups icing sugar (powdered sugar) 3/4 cup butter 2 tsp vanilla extract 1-2 tbsp milk Sift together both flours, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar. Set aside. Grease and flour 2 nine inch round cake pans and line the bottom with 2 circles of parchment paper. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together the vegetable oil, shortening and vanilla. Beat well at high speed with whisk attachment until light and fluffy Beat the eggs in one at a time. Fold in the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk. I always add dry ingredients in three divisions and liquid ingredients in 2 divisions. It is very important to begin and end the additions with the dry ingredients. Do not over mix the batter. As soon as it has no lumps in the batter, pour into the two prepared 9 inch cake pans. Bake at 325 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the pans for 10 minutes before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely before frosting. To make the Simple Vanilla Frosting Mix together the icing sugar and butter until crumbly, then beat in the milk and vanilla extract until the frosting reaches a light spreadable consistency. If you want to frost the sides of the cake as well, I'd recommend increasing the frosting recipe by half or even doubling it if you want to pipe on borders or decorations for a celebration cake.