Ingredients:

• Butter & oil
• Buttermilk
• Pink gel food coloring
• Cake flour
• Egg whites
• Cream cheese
• Red gel food coloring
• Vanilla extract
• Powdered sugar
• Vinegar
• Baking soda
• Sugar

Steps:

• Prep: Preheat oven to 355°F (180°C). Grease three 8” round baking pans with a bit of cold butter and line the bottoms with rounds of parchment paper.
• In a large bowl or stand mixer, combine softened butter, oil, sugar, and salt. Beat with an electric mixer until lightened in color and increased in volume. Scrape down the bowl.
• Add half of the egg whites, blend, then the rest of the egg whites and blend. Beat until increased in volume and thick. Add vanilla extract and vinegar, blend.
• Add pink food coloring, one pea sized amount at a time until you get a pink color. It will lighten a bit after adding the flour so make it slightly darker than you’d like.
• Sift half of the cake flour, all of the baking powder, and all of the baking soda into the bowl with the batter. Add the buttermilk and fold with a whisk to incorporate. Sift the rest of the flour in and fold well with a whisk to break up most of the lumps to make a mostly smooth batter. Don’t overmix.
• Evenly divide the batter between the greased and lined baking pans. Smooth the batter tops and gently tap them on a counter to release any large air pockets. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean with a few crumbs attached.
• Remove from the oven and let the layers cool for 8 minutes inside the pans. Loosen the edges with a spatula and turn them out onto cooling racks to cool completely. When cooled, use a serrated knife and a sawing motion to gently trim the edges, top, and bottom of the layers. Only trim the golden brown bits to give you clean, pink layers.
• In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat the butter with a paddle attachment until creamy and lightened in color.
• Add the salt and powdered sugar, one cup at a time. Beat well in between each addition and scrape down the sides of the bowl frequently. Whip until very creamy and light. The longer you whip, the creamier the frosting will be. Add pieces of cream cheese, blending well before adding the next. The frosting will become very light and fluffy. Add vanilla and beat again
• Smear a small dollop of frosting onto a serving plate or cake stand. Place the first layer of cake down. Spread about ⅓ cup of frosting in an even layer on top. Continue until the last layer.
• Cover the stacked cake with a very thin layer of frosting all over the top and sides. Use a long metal spatula or cake scraper to help spread. Pop it in the freezer for 10 minutes to set and lock in the crumbs.
• While the crumb coat chills, work on dividing and coloring the remaining frosting. Transfer about 1 cup of frosting into a medium bowl (this is for the white piping) and color the remaining frosting a pale pink color.
• Cover the cake with the pale pink colored frosting and smooth the sides and top. Set aside a third of the remaining frosting and add more red and pink food coloring into the rest of the frosting. This will be the darker pink piping color.
• Transfer the white, pink, and darker pink frosting colors into three different piping bags. Use a large open star piping tip for the dark pink color. I used a Wilton 1M for the bottom border and embellishments, and a large drop flower tip for the top border.
• Use a small open star piping tip for the pale pink color. For the white beaded frosting, I just cut the end off the piping bag to make a round tip. Pipe borders and swoops all along the edges and sides of the cake.

Recipe courtesy of: https://flouringkitchen.com/pink-velvet-cake/#%f0%9f%93%9d-key-ingredients