Pound Cake Challenge: Red Velvet Peppermint Pound Cake

Ingredients for Cake:
· 3 cups all-purpose flour
· ½ teaspoon baking powder
· ½ cup all-vegetable shortening
· 2 sticks butter, softened
· 3 cups sugar
· 5 medium eggs
· ¼ cup cocoa powder
· 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
· ½ teaspoon peppermint extract
· ¼ teaspoon salt
· 1 bottle red food coloring
· 1 cup buttermilk

Ingredients for Icing:
· 12 soft peppermints
· 1 stick butter, softened
· 1 (8-ounce) cream cheese
· 1 box powdered sugar
· 1 teaspoon vanilla
· Hard peppermint candies, for garnish

Directions for Cake:
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Grease a 10-inch tube pan with butter and dust with flour or sugar to coat.
2. Sift flour and baking powder together and set aside.
3. Cream shortening, butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add cocoa, vanilla, peppermint extract, salt and food coloring. Mix well.
4. Add alternately the flour mixture and the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Combine well.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes or until pick comes out clean.
6. Cool cake in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes. Remove cake from pan and cool completely on wire rack before icing.

Directions for Icing:
1. Put soft peppermint candies in a resealable bag and crush. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and cream cheese. Gradually add powdered sugar and then the vanilla. Cream until smooth.
3. Divide the icing in half. Add crushed soft peppermint candies to half and spread on top of cake. Spread the other half on the side of the cake.
4. Place hard peppermint candies around base of cake for garnish.