Grooms Cakes And Other Questions
Decorating By galaglow Updated 16 Apr 2005 , 3:20am by tcturtleshell
The earlier post by elin got me wondering. I hadn't heard of a grooms cake either, is this an American tradition? I live in Alberta, Canada and have never heard of anyone having a grooms cake. Is it served at the same time as the main wedding cake?
Also I have heard others mention Red Velvet Cake - I have never heard of, seen or tasted one. What are they like? Are they only for special occasions, or are they common like a yellow or white cake?
Thanks! 
I assume it's an American tradition, all my life I have heard of them. The brides's cake is traditionally cut first, the bride and groom feed a piece to each other and then the rest of the cakes gets cut for the other guests and the grooms cake would be cut at that time as well. Most Grooms cakes are chocolate, my thought is, because most wedding cakes are white cake, so that there is another flavor of cake, but I don't really know why there is a Groom's cake, there just always is. I make Red Velvet cakes for my customers all the time.....you add red food coloring and a little cocoa and so it sort of tastes like a chocolate cake. It's my husband's favorite kind of cake and I make a cream chesse icing for it. It's not my favorite but I don't hate it either....if you PM me I could send you the recipe if you want to give it a try.
The grooms cake is a very old tradition that has been made popular again! It is basically made so the guests have an alternate choice/flavor of cake, since the brides cake was usually white!
Red Velvet cake is pretty common here in the US. It's pretty much a chocolate cake with red food coloring added. I've never eaten it because I don't like chocolate cake but some people just love it! It is typically iced in a white icing!
Red velvet is my absolute favorite cake! I use the Duncan Hines Red Velvet and use the Cake Mix Doctor's recipe w/ the sour cream and the cream cheese icing - it is too die for! You must try it!
Ok, time for some history.
The grooms cake goes back to the late seventeenth century. As the weddign cake would still be used for crowning the bride (an even older tradition that goes back to the roman times).
In England the bride's family began to prepare two cakes for the wedding.
One for the crowning and one for the guests to be eaten.
These cakes bacame known as the brides and the grooms cakes.
I supose this tradition came along with the europeans a cross the sea. As it is commern in Great Brithan and every country that they have been in tuch with.
But it is not usuall here in Norway. Or maybe I could call all the extra cakes groom cakes .
We did as taste test of the duncan hines and a scratch red velvet with the neighbors The taste was idientical but the texture differed
Those who had it for the first time preferred the mix lighter texture Those whose moms made red velvet cake liked the scratch with the denser texture.
Red Velvet cake is pretty common here in the US. It's pretty much a chocolate cake with red food coloring added. I've never eaten it because I don't like chocolate cake but some people just love it! It is typically iced in a white icing!
Try it. No one hates chocolate cake more than I do... if I were starving for 7 days I would not eat chocolate cake... I would not could not with a mouse I would not could not in a house...
Red Velvet is my absolute favorite!!!! When made correctly, it is not just a chocolate cake with red food coloring added... it has just a hint of chocolate added... for coloring and a twist of flavor. You will not taste the chocolate at all.
It started in NYC at a famouis hotel/restaurant around the 1930's. At that time it was iced with buttercream. However, it has slowly been taken over by the southeast and is now traditionally iced in creamcheese icing. So even though it has it's roots in NYC, it is now known as a southern treat.
Here is a great doctored version. I sell a lot of these:
1 (18.25 oz) box yellow cake mix
5 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup low-fat or regular buttermilk
2 tablespoons cocoa powder (I actually use Nestles Chocolate drink mix)
1 ounce red food coloring
In a large bowl, combine the dry cake mix and only the ingredients listed above. Follow box directions to mix and bake.
I already gave the history of the groom's cake in the other thread. I won't bore you by repeating it.
I have an old, old recipe for red velvet cake that a neighbor gave me (she said it was a family treasure and made me swear not to give it to anyone else, she has been gone many years now.) I never had the time or desire to bake a cake from scratch, especially then when I had small children, but for some reason I never thought of it as chocolate. It only has 3 tblsps of "Hershey Instant Cocoa Mix", and calls for buttermilk and some vinegar, it always sounded like a strange combination to me. She used an bc icing that had flour in it, and usually added coconut to hers. I find the mix version totally tasty! Janice
I am located in Southern Indiana and I get requests for a lot of groom's cakes....typically, the bride wants to "surprise" the groom with a cake that expresses something about what he likes, or hobbies he is into. For example: for a golfer...a golf bag cake, for a guy in a band....a guitar or whatever instrument he plays, for a man that loves 'Star Wars" movies and collectibles....a character from the movie, etc. Most often, the wedding cakes I make are in different flavors, so the bride will usually pick the grooms favorite flavor for his cake. It is most often placed on it's own small table near the wedding cake. These cakes are talked about a lot at the reception because they are so different from a wedding cake...a lot of fun to make!
Red Velvet cake is pretty common here in the US. It's pretty much a chocolate cake with red food coloring added. I've never eaten it because I don't like chocolate cake but some people just love it! It is typically iced in a white icing!
Try it. No one hates chocolate cake more than I do... if I were starving for 7 days I would not eat chocolate cake... I would not could not with a mouse I would not could not in a house...
.
...nope, not gonna try it...besides, it's almost bikini season, so I'm not tying anything!
My scratch recipe calls for 1/2 c. of Cocoa..so to me..that is basically a chocolate cake! It also includes buttermilk and vinegar..but it's still a chocolate cake, in my opinion!
My scratch recipe calls for 1/2 c. of Cocoa..so to me..that is basically a chocolate cake! It also includes buttermilk and vinegar..but it's still a chocolate cake, in my opinion!
That is way too much cocoa even for a scratch recipe. In fact, my great aunt made the best red Velvet from scratch (I wish I could)... even it has only 2 Tablespoons in it.
I agree with you.. I would also consider that particular recipe a chocolate cake... I would not call it a red velvet at all.
I'm not saying it's not a good recipe, just not a red velvet cake recipe. It's probably very good... as a chocolate cake. (Which you could never prove by me)... (wink) - nope not gonna eat it.... I wish everyone would order chocolate cake from me.... then I'd never taste test! ROFLMAO!!!!
Apparently you are wanting argue with me. OK- so be it. Red Velvet cakes (as people besides me have even mentioned here) do not have more than 2-3 tablespoons cocoa in them... fact... end of story. I do not know why you are being so defensive over a recipe you didn't even invent. I'm not attacking your character, you, your family friends or even your dog... heck, I'm not even attacking your cake. So please settle down. But I'm not going to put egg yolks in my white cake mix and still call it a white cake... it's now a yellow cake. Get it? It's still a cake... but it's no longer white. Your cake is not a red velvet cake. It's a mildly chocolate cake.
For the record... My recipe originally used 2 ounces of red coloring. I cut it back to 1 because I didn't see enough difference to matter and justify the additional cost. Actually most recipes call for a full two ounces (or more) of red coloring.
Ok you two...here's some stuff that I found...
If you're searching for red velvet cake recipes, then you are already familiar with these spectacular dessert cakes. Red velvet cakes are delicious, rich-tasting layer cakes that feature a delicate chocolate flavor and thick, white-as-snow icing. What really sets them apart, however, is their eye-catching appearance when cut. Their interiors are an unexpected, blood-red color! These cakes are most popular for serving on special occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries. Indeed, these cakes make the occasion!
You will want to try a red velvet cake recipe and see for yourself.
The origin or history of red velvet cake recipes remains unknown. However, this unusual cake has long been a favorite in the American South. Some food historians think it might have originated as a devil's food cake. Chocolate devil's food cakes became very popular in the early 1900s, and it's said that a chemical reaction between the old-style baking sodas and processed coca powders sometimes gave the cake batter a distinctively reddish tinge. It's believed that some cooks enhanced and encouraged this phenomenon by adding red coloring.
A popular urban legend links the red velvet cake's origin to New York's famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, but it cannot be substantiated, and the hotel persistently denies the alleged connection.
Strangely, I could not find red velvet cake recipes in any of Grandma's old recipe books. They were simply nonexistent. However, I did find an old recipe for Philadelphia red cake which bears a striking similarity to red velvet cake. I also found some old-fashioned devil's food cake recipes. Who knows, these vintage cakes may be the forerunners of today's red velvet cakes. You will enjoy trying these classic cakes for yourself. They are delicious!
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Philadelphia Red Cake
This old-fashioned Philadelphia red cake recipe is taken from "The Perry Home Cook Book" compiled by the Ladies of Perry, Kansas, and vicinity, published by The Independent Publishing Company, Oskaloosa, Kansas, in 1920.
Cream 1-1/2 cups sugar and 1/2 cup butter; add-beaten yolks of 3 eggs, 1/2 cup sour milk, 1-1/2 cups flour. Dissolve 2 squares of chocolate in 1-1/2 cups boiling water; add 1 teaspoon soda to chocolate. Let cool; add to cake batter; lastly, fold in well-beaten whites of 3 eggs. Add to it red coloring. Flavor with vanilla. --Ida Repstine
Here's How I Adapted The Recipe To Make A Red Velvet Cake
The Philadelphia red cake recipe as given above makes a delicious cake, but if you want to adapt it to closely resemble a "red velvet cake recipe," simply reduce the amount of water called for to 1/2 cup and increase the amount of sour milk or buttermilk to 1 cup, to make a richer batter, and add 1 tsp white vinegar and 1 tsp salt to the list of ingredients.
Note: The recipe calls for sour milk. To make milk sour, simply stir in about 1 tsp of white vinegar to the milk. However, I substituted buttermilk in the recipe and the cake turned out delicious!
Cream the 1-1/2 cups sugar and 1/2 cup butter. Make sure they are well creamed till the mixture is almost doughy in texture. Don't skimp on the beating as it helps to make a smoother, richer batter. It also helps if the butter is quite soft when you begin. You can substitute shortening in place of butter or use as I did, a mixture of 1/2 butter and 1/2 shortening.
To the creamed sugar and butter, add the 3 beaten egg yolks, 1 cup buttermilk, then the 1-1/2 cups flour and 1 tsp salt. Blend well.
Note: For a richer, denser cake, use only 1/2 cup boiling water instead of the 1-1/2 cups the old recipe calls for.
After you melt the 2 squares (2 oz) of chocolate in 1/2 cup boiling water, add 2 oz red food coloring and stir until the mixture is smooth and uniform in color. The original recipe doesn't give a quantity for the red coloring, but 2 oz is what most red velvet cake recipes call for. It seems like a lot, but a lesser amount of coloring simply won't make the batter red enough to be distinctive.
Add 1 tsp of white vinegar and 1 tsp baking soda to the melted chocolate and stir until it's well mixed. It is normal for the soda to foam. When cool, add to the cake batter.
Lastly, add 1 tsp vanilla and fold the 3 beaten egg whites into the batter. The batter fills two round, 8-inch cake pans.
You may split the 2 cakes to make 4 layers by using a clever method Grandma often used: place a thread (or dental floss) around the circumference of the cake and while holding the ends of the thread tightly, one in each hand, gently but firmly pull them apart thereby separating the cake evenly into 2 layers. To make 3 layers, you can simply pour the batter equally into three 8-inch cake pans and bake.
Bake in greased cake pans at 350ºF for about 20 to 30 minutes or until done.
Ice the cake with a thick layer of your favorite white icing and generously spread the same icing between each cake layer. White icing is traditional with red velvet cake recipes as white provides an eye-catching contrast to the deep-red cake.
this if from the following site...http://www.homemade-dessert-recipes.com/red-velvet-cake-recipes.html
I have a feeling red velvet cake is a recipe that is one of those things that the history is hard to trace.
I have read that link myself. I've also read many others. My great aunt's recipe dated back to the late 40's (or earlier- it may have been early 40's- I remember a 194?- hehehe) You can find many different so-called truths on many other traditions. Who in the heck knows which are true? I just know that the red velvets have little chocolate in them compared to an outright chocolate cake.
I've always thought the link back to Devil's food was interesting. I'm also wondering when Devil's Food switched to a wholly chocolate cake. To me, the "red velvet" makes more sense being called "Devil's Food"- but I don't name 'em....
2 squares of chocolate.... I never use chocolate squares... how many ounces/cups is that?
I love red velvet cake too...I dont think it tastes like a choc cake though it does have alittle in there. I put a recipe on here that my mom made for me every year that I asked for it....I've even had a few people want the frosting on a regular cake... but it is good....
the purpose of dyeing a cake is to add more color to the inside of the cake... red velvet is a very very pretty color....I have seen it alot at weddings..heck even the movie Steel Magnolias had a red velvet cake as a grooms cake...of course it was shaped like an armadillo but it was still red and I suppose very delicious
and by the way, my recipe (families) has only 1 tsp of cocoa, maybe thats why it doesnt taste like choc.
Thanks all for the info! I've saved all the recipes and I'll test them out...can't wait to try them (even though it is almost bikini season and I'm off to see Mickey with my daughter at the end of the month). I do recall now the Steel Magnolia quote about the Armadillo cake, Shirley McLaine said, "Looks like an autopsy.." Well, I'm still going to try it! LOL! Thanks everyone!
thats the one galaglow!!!! I have the movie love it!
My dream in life is to make that cake!! hehehe
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