What is Red Velvet Cake?

Yellow or white cake with lots of red coloring. Usually frosted with cream cheese frosting. here's a link to an image:

You got the essence of it. If you manipulate the pH of the batter, you can shift the color from dark black/brown to a red/brown. Therefore, you tend to see acid ingredients like buttermilk and vinegar in the formula in addition to the food coloring. I think that red food coloring is very bitter and not worth adding to a cake simply to change the color. You can read more here and see some recipes:

p.s. some recipes call for a bit of cocoa powder, some don't.

*Never* frosted with anything but a bechamel-sauce based frosting, IMO; much lighter than a cream cheese frosting. And the cake is leavened with a combination of baking soda and vinegar. I believe that is the original recipe: "Waldorf Astoria Red Cake".

Isaac

However you make it, it sounds absolutely disgusting! Graham

My mother used to make a Devil's Food cake with buttermilk and baking soda (no red coloring) and I would not eat it for years because the batter tasted terrible. I have since discovered that it is an excellent cake.

I wouldn't go as far as saying it is "disgusting," but I do think it is meant to impress people by the color more than the flavor.

Thanks!

The recipes I saw all included chocolate, so I assumed it was a chocolate cake.

Can someone describe the taste? I know that sounds odd, but here I am about to order one with no idea what to expect. I am curious.

It has a mild chocolate flavor with bitter overtones due to the red food coloring. If you ordered it from a high production bakery like the ones in supermarkets, it will be quite undistinguished. Technically, it is a chocolate cake, but there is no legal definition of "red velvet cake." Therefore, there is some chance that you will get a yellow box cake that has had red food coloring added. You should really contact the place that is making the cake to get a definitive answer to your question. I have had "carrot" cakes from such places that couldn't have possibly had more than a carrot waved over the pan as it was put in the oven - simply a yellow cake mix with some spices and coloring added and possibly the scrapings of the carrots that were used on the salad bar. I am confident that very few carrots were harmed in the making of the cake.

snipped-for-privacy@snet.net (Ryan) wrote in news:189b1c22.0408191349.524f6b32 @posting.google.com:

Years ago a neighbor brought my mother a Red Velvet Cake. It was intensely red, so I assume her recipe contained little, if any, cocoa or chocolate. It was kinda pretty, but it was very bland.

I baked one several years after that from what was supposed to be an "authentic" recipe. It contained cocoa, but not a lot. I think I was still expecting it to be quite red. It was not, and that was disappointing. Even the flavor of that cake was not impressive.

I would respectfully guess that you've never actually *had* any?

Isaac

This has been a favorite family birthday cake for many years. This recipe is probably from the fifties; I don't know the source.

Waldorf Astoria Red Cake

2 C flour (half cake, half all-purpose works well) 1 tbsp cocoa 1 C vegetable shortening (Crisco) 2 eggs 1 C buttermilk 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp vinegar 1 1/2 C sugar 1 tsp butter flavoring 1 tsp vanilla 1 oz red food coloring (one ounce)

Mix cocoa, flour, and salt. Sift three times. Add coloring, vanilla, and butter flavoring. Add eggs one at a time, mixing. Beat well. Add milk with flour mixture alternately. Fold in vinegar and soda.

Pour into three, 8 inch layer pans, well greased and floured. Bake at

350 F for about 30 minutes, until done.

Frosting

3 tbsp flour 1 C milk 1 C butter 1 C granulated sugar 1 tsp vanilla

Cook flour and milk until very thick, stirring constantly. Cool to room temperature.

Cream sugar, butter, and vanilla until very fluffy (about 15 minutes). Add the cooled mixture and blend well with aspoon until the consistency of whipped cream.

Frost layers, add a few crumbs of cake for decoration if desired.

Personally, I wouldn't waste my time with Red Velvet cake....there are too many others to choose from and a cup of red food coloring never impressed me. I know.... (cup) was an exageration...so don't send me your recipe telling me you use 1 teaspoon.

You would be wrong in your guess.

...and wouldn't want to try it with ONE OUNCE of food coloring! Bleughhh! Graham

Well, that's two tablespoons--not all that much when divided into three

8" layer pans. And the recipe doesn't mention what SORT of food coloring--many of the water-based ones don't color very well.

If you Google the recipe name, you'll find alternate versions that call for *two* ounces of food coloring.

You have to assume that the recipe calls for liquid food coloring that is commonly available at supermarkets. Home bakers don't generally measure ingredients by weight, and since none of the recipes I saw specified any of the other ingredients by weight, the ounces have to be liquid ounces. Red food coloring is bitter. I see noting that it adds to the cake except color. Therefore, you are adding two tablespoons or more of a bitter substance so when you cut the cake someone remarks "Look Virginia, that cake is really red!" The term "red velvet" seems to be appealing to people. I will concede that the cake is red, but the "velvet" part is pure marketing - sort of like referring to cigarette smoke as "smooth." If you like the flavor of the cake with the food coloring, I would recommend that you just substitute two tablespoons of water or milk. I has to be an improvment.

"Vox Humana" wrote in news:aFKVc.204871$ snipped-for-privacy@fe2.columbus.rr.com:

What about using 2 tablespoons of cherry juice? It certainly can stain, and it might impart some color.

Sure. Why not.