Gluten-Free Red Velvet Cake

I have been trying various recipes for home-made gluten-free cakes and this is my latest experiment. It was extremely tasty, although I had a few pieces break off during assembly. If I perfect it, I will update the entry. Here I made it without the pecans (it was a little messy after all the little hands got a piece of it!)

Cake
1 1/2 cups gluten-free flour of choice (see recommended combinations in my post "gluten-free flours")
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup butter, softened
3 cups sugar
4 eggs
6 Tbsp. cocoa powder
1 (1 oz.) bottle Wilton red-food coloring paste
1 Tbsp. distilled white vinegar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups buttermilk

Icing
1 lbs. cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups pecans, chopped

Sift together dry ingredients and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar in bowl until smooth. Add eggs and beat again until smooth. Add cocoa powder, red food coloring, vinegar and vanilla to mixture and blend well. Add dry ingredients and buttermilk, alternating slowly and beat on slow until all are blended well. Pour batter equally into 3 8 or 9-inch round greased and floured (with gluten-free flour, of course!) baking pans. Bake at 350° F for about 30 minutes or until done. Cool.

For frosting, cream together cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla. Add milk to desired consistency. Spread frosting between each layer and stack the three layers of cake, then ice the outside. Press chopped pecans onto side of cake and sprinkle on top. Enjoy!