Red Velvet Cake

Posted on 2023-05-06 14:26:39

Red velvet cake is a classic. It’s the perfect combination of moist and buttery with tangy cream cheese frosting and the rich color that makes it a showstopper. There are hundreds of recipes, but they all seem to have a few things in common: butter, sugar, red food coloring and cocoa powder. Most follow the “creaming” method, where butter is creamed with sugar until light and fluffy before eggs are whisked in and dry and wet ingredients added alternately. Then, the cakes are baked and cooled before they’re frosted.

 

The origin of this dessert is a bit of a mystery. Some claim that the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on Park Avenue credits itself with creating this cherished New York treat, but no one knows for sure. What is certain is that this rich, beautiful cake has become a symbol of elegance and class, often appearing in movie theaters and on the covers of chick flicks like Steel Magnolias. It’s no wonder that it’s also found in many home kitchens.

 

While the earliest recipes for cakes of any kind may have been a bit more rustic, the popularity of cake started to grow in the late 1800s, thanks to innovations like baking powder and ovens. But it wasn’t until the early 1920s that the red velvet cake came into being, probably thanks to a publicity stunt by the Adams Extract Company (of course) and its promotion of their red food dyes. The natural hue of a red velvet cake was more of a rust color before the advent of artificial coloring, but the dye amplified it to the scarlet we see today.

 

These days, red velvet cakes use Dutch process cocoa (a refined, less bitter version of regular natural cocoa) and food coloring to give them their signature color. Natural cocoa has a tendency to react with certain acidic ingredients, including buttermilk, and produce a reddish hue. But since most cocoa available in grocery stores is not Dutched, and rationing during World War II made beet juice unavailable, bakers resorted to using the food coloring to create the desired effect.

 

Today, the color of a red velvet cake depends on how much of each ingredient is used and whether or not the cocoa is alkalized (a process that changes the pH level). Those factors affect the color and the amount of reaction between the acids in the buttermilk and the cocoa. Those factors are also the reason why today’s recipes for red velvet cake call for more red food coloring than did earlier versions.

 

If you want your cake to turn out its brightest, it’s a good idea to use gel based food coloring rather than the liquid water based varieties. Gel based dyes tend to be more concentrated and can make the batter look more vibrant. It’s also important to bring all of your ingredients to room temperature before you start baking. This helps the wet and dry ingredients incorporate more easily, without over mixing. Be sure to grease and line your cake pans with parchment paper before you start mixing as well. This will help the cake release from the pans faster and ensure a clean removal.red velvet cake