ISO Red Velvet Cake Recipe

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Feastingmadeeasy

Assistant Cook
Joined
Feb 2, 2007
Messages
8
Location
NY and UK
Does anyone have a good, simple Red Velvet Cake Recipe, not something just pulled from the net but something someone actually made and know that it taste good?

Thanks
 
My mother in law was making this cake for all birthdays since 1950. If you look at all of the RVC recipes, you'll notice this cake is nothing more than chocolate cake with food coloring added to make it look deep red. The food coloring doesn't affect the taste at all. You can make a great RVC by using a cake mix as long as it's chocolate. I've done it and no one was the wiser. It's just chocolate cake with a fancy look.
 
Drama Queen said:
You can make a great RVC by using a cake mix as long as it's chocolate. I've done it and no one was the wiser. It's just chocolate cake with a fancy look.

If you're going to use a cake mix instead of taking the time to bake the cake from scratch, why bother with red food coloring? Duncan Hines makes a red velvet cake mix, and they sell it at the 99¢ store, along with the cooresponding can of cream cheese frosting.
 
This was one of the first DC recipes I came across.....I still haven't made it, but I think about it sometimes and feel happy, lol.
 
Caine said:
If you're going to use a cake mix instead of taking the time to bake the cake from scratch, why bother with red food coloring? Duncan Hines makes a red velvet cake mix, and they sell it at the 99¢ store, along with the cooresponding can of cream cheese frosting.

I had no idea that D. Hines made a Red Velvet cake mix. The only reason to add the food coloring is so that you have an unusually pretty cake. As I said, it adds no flavor of it's own. If you're adding red food coloring to a home made cake, why not add the same thing to a boxed mix? BTW, be careful of buying cake mixes at a 99 cents store. I've found that they are often outdated and stale. Check the dates on any food purchased at this store. This was warning on the internet.
 
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Drama Queen said:
If you're adding red food coloring to a home made cake, why not add the same thing to a boxed mix?

Mainly, because boxed cake mixes, and the acompanying canned frosting, contain ingredients that should not be introduced into the human body, if you plan on living long enough to collect at least as much of your social security money as you paid in.
 
Hey, I'm just about at the break even point and spending it as fast as I can. LOL. I want the last check I write to bounce.
 
since I'm making this today, RVCC's, I've done a lot of Internet research on them/it. It's said that this prized lovely cake or cupcakes (<if you so choose to do as I'm choosing to do today, the cupcake version} isn't a chocolate cake. It's only got a scant amount of cocoa powder in it. < As per BF's ThrowDown show last week plus other places online.
 
Red velvet cake made with food coloring is not an original version.

If you look at the first recipe in the link provided by kadesma in post #2 above, you'll see no food coloring in the recipe, just white vinegar. That makes the cake red.
 
Um Andy? How would the vinegar make the cake red?

(Psst...I think you missed something in the link...

Red Velvet Cake IV

1 ounce red food coloring)
 
Alix said:
Um Andy? How would the vinegar make the cake red?

(Psst...I think you missed something in the link...

Red VelvetCake IV

1 ounce red food coloring)

I missed the food coloring there.

I had read that red velvet cake was originally made red by adding vinegar. The vinegar reacted chemically with other ingredient(s) in the cake to turn it red.

I can't remember where I read it so I can't defend the statement. Forget I said it.
 
Aw rats. I actually wanted to know, because I think I read the same thing somewhere. Now I'm going to have to go Ask Jeeves. I was hoping you'd have the answer handy for me.

And I hope you don't mind me poking at you a bit about the red food coloring, you know I think you're great. ;)
 
ANDY!! You were RIGHT! Here's the Wikipedia thing I just found.

James Beard's 1972 reference, American Cookery[1] describes three kinds of red velvet cake varying in the amounts of shortening and butter used. All of them use red food coloring for the color, but it is mentioned that the reaction of acidic vinegar and buttermilk tends to turn the cocoa a reddish brown color. Furthermore, before more alkaline "Dutch Processed" cocoa was widely available, the red color would have been more pronounced. This natural tinting may have been the source for the name "Red Velvet" as well as "Devil's Food" and a long list of similar names for chocolate cakes.[2]
 
Thanks for doing my homework for me, Alix. It's always fair game to call someone on a error. It's better than leaving bad information out there.

Alix, you're forgiven but don't let it happen again. Just because you're a movie star doesn't mean you have special privileges.
 

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