Notes

Red Velvet Cake:
1 cup shortening
1 ¾ cup sugar
2 ½ cups cake flour
1 ¼ teas. salt
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 teas. vanilla
1 teas. baking soda
1 ½ teas. vinegar
1 ½ ounce fluid red food coloring
1 ½ teas. cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly spray 2 8 inch square pans with nonstick cooking spray.
Start by sifting together the cake flour and salt.
In a separate bowl, stir together the buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, and baking soda. Add vinegar and stir.
In (yet another) small bowl, mix together cocoa and red food coloring.
Now you will need to cream together shortening and sugar until fluffy. Alternate adding the flour mixture and the buttermilk/egg mixture until all combined. Pour the red mixture in and beat until combined.
Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake for about 40 minutes, until they are set.

This is the frosting I used, feel free to use any recipe you would like.
Frosting:
5 table. flour
1 cup milk
1 teas. vanilla
1 cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar

Place a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk the flour into the milk and stir constantly until it gets nice and thick. Take it off the heat and allow it to cool before moving on to the next step. Once it cools, add in the vanilla. In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until it is nice and fluffy. Then add the cooled flour mixture. Beat it until you cannot beat anymore!

Now, for the decorations.
Roll out some red fondant (at least 12 inches long) and cut with a rolling fondant tool or pinking shears. If you don't have either one of these, that's fine. All this does is create a nice border for your ribbons. You will need 2-12 inch ribbons and 4-8 inch ribbons.
To create the bows, take your 8 inch ribbons and fold them over a small bottle. Seal the edges with a little bit of water and put aside to harden.
Roll out some red and green fondant and cut small circles to surround the cake. You will also need 1 larger circle for the center of the bow.

Once the cakes are completely cool, frost them and place on the 2 12 inch ribbons sections. This is meant to mimic ribbon on a present. You can place them however you would like. Now place your bow sections on top, and the larger circle in the middle of the bow. To finish, put your red and green fondant circles around the cake.