Adding food dye to cake

[hannah7]

when do i add the red food colouring to the vanilla cake mix, how much? and also does this actually work it wont taste bad will it?

 

[southerncook]

what are you making?

 

[kitchenelf]

SouthernCook - you have no idea WHY I spit on my monitor when I read your question - oh my - I'm still crying here - can't contain myself any longer - I gotta go "fix" my bladder!!!

 

[aruzinsky]

Re: adding food dye to cake

when do i add the red food colouring to the vanilla cake mix, how much? and also does this actually work it wont taste bad will it?

Taste the red dye. Does it have a flavor? If not, it won't taste bad.

You mix it one drop at a time to the batter until the batter is red.

 

[debthecook]

Are you making a red velvet cake? Unless you want the cake pink, you should probably put ALOT in, about 2oz, while mixing the batter. It won't have a taste. I like vinegar in my red velvet cake, Martha Stewart has a great recipe.

 

[Psiguyy]

Are you making a red velvet cake? Unless you want the cake pink, you should probably put ALOT in, about 2oz, while mixing the batter. It won't have a taste. I like vinegar in my red velvet cake, Martha Stewart has a great recipe.

You would do that if you were making a true Red Velvet Cake which is actually a chocolate cake dyed red. The OP is making a vanilla, or nearly white cake, dyed red.

I'd bet it won't take nearly as much coloring. Maybe a capful or two would be more than sufficient if using supermarket liquid coloring.

 

[Audeo]

Deja vu...............

 

[kitchenelf]

yep. ...I'm gonna get the giggles again!!!!

This question was also posted in the General forum. It was finally determined that she was making a Red Velvet cake from a cake mix. Actually there is cocoa in a red velvet cake also. Hopefully hannah's cake turned out great!! Did it hannah?????

 

[Psiguyy]

BUT this is a vanilla cake. It's not a red chocolate cake, so it's not a red velvet cake. What that makes is, I dunno. A Red Satin cake?

 

[kitchenelf]

Sometimes getting across exactly what you want isn't easy. I think she had a white cake mix (hence the "term" vanilla"). I'm sure she's already made it by now. I asked all the pertinent questions and this is as close as any of us could come to what she wanted. A Red Velvet cake is made with flour, cocoa (which makes it dark) and red food coloring. So you can actually start out with a white cake mix, or yellow cake mix, if you wanted to. We worked really hard to get any information that would be beneficial.

The key here is you can only give as much information to someone as long as they understand the questions. So, logically, she actually was making a Red Velvet Cake - I did ask but never got a difinitive answer - she just wanted to know when to ADD the red dye and how much. So all I could do is post a recipe that used a white/yellow cake mix for her to go by. I know she used the term vanilla - but that could have been a term used for the actual color - like vanilla versus chocolate. And I don't know of a vanilla cake that actually uses red food coloring - so the vanilla was just a word for the color of the mix. And if she had absolutely no recipe to go by most people, especially those that don't bake and haven't had the access to cookbooks, etc., would never know that a Red Velvet Cake gets its darkness just from cocoa - NOT a chocolate cake mix - so she didn't know to even ask about the cocoa - because common sense would tell you to add the red food coloring the same time as the cocoa. But if all she really wanted to do was just color a cake red then the directions I posted should have helped her too.

 

[aruzinsky]

I HATE it when I ask a store clerk for something and they ask, "What do you want it for?" It is hannah7's right to make whatever color cake she wants without having her privacy violated by answering needless questions. Suppose hannah7 wanted to make blue vanilla cake? What is the deal with your (plural) velvet cake fixations? And, since when is the concentration of food coloring standardized such that, without knowing the specific brand, you can tell how much to add?

 

[kitchenelf]

...the reason they ask is it helps to understand HOW to answer the question. Violating her privacy just can't be done by asking if she is making a red velvet cake. Once a person asks a question sometimes more details are needed.

Now if you ask a store clerk where the black beans are that's simple - Aisle 8 on the right. Big difference here, don't you think? And maybe if they ask you what you are using them for they ALSO like to cook and want to learn somehting from you.

And there are common/standard amounts to add to one recipe. Doesn't matter what brand - same size box, right. No fixation here - just trying to give the right answer - and I don't see anything wrong with that.

 

[aruzinsky]

...the reason they ask is it helps to understand HOW to answer the question. Violating her privacy just can't be done by asking if she is making a red velvet cake. Once a person asks a question sometimes more details are needed.

Now if you ask a store clerk where the black beans are that's simple - Aisle 8 on the right. Big difference here, don't you think? And maybe if they ask you what you are using them for they ALSO like to cook and want to learn somehting from you.

And there are common/standard amounts to add to one recipe. Doesn't matter what brand - same size box, right. No fixation here - just trying to give the right answer - and I don't see anything wrong with that.

I said "needless." I am the only one who gave hannah7 a proper and complete answer to her question without requesting additional information. After you answer the question, you can make all the smalltalk you want. FYI foodcoloring is not standardized. I have some blue food coloring, 2 oz of which, will turn an olympic size swimming pool dark blue.

 

[kitchenelf]

Point taken on the strength of food coloring - I just use the stuff in the grocery store. Yet another reason why I don't bake!!! :roll: