Ok, can someone let me in on the whole red velvet cake craze? I don't understand. It seems to me like it is just a chocolate cake with a ton of red die in it. I havn't made it before, but had someone request it. It just sounds gross to me. I have an aversion to large quanities of dye for no particular reason (colored gold fish ect). If you make the cake without the dye, wouldn't it taste the same?
Can someone enlighten me?
Stephanie
A red velvet cake is just a light chocolate cake with a ton of red food coloring. It does not even taste very chocolatey to me. It does seem to have taken on a life of its own lately though. I have to do red velvet cupcakes for a bridal shower next week. Go figure! lol
It actually has very little chocolate in it (most recipes call for 1/4 cup cocoa powder, while your average chocolate cake recipe calls for 3/4 - 1 cup of cocoa powder or 8 or more ounces of melted baking chocolate). Most of the flavor comes from the buttermilk and the vinegar in it and then some of the chocolate comes through. The red dye may not have been part of the original recipe - it may have been slightly reddish due to the small amount of cocoa powder and red dye may have been added later to increase the coloration. It will taste the same without the red dye. As for a "craze" I'm not aware of that, but that could be because I've always lived in the South and it's a very common and traditional cake around here. Maybe other parts of the country are just now finding out about it?
the original red velvet cake was colored with beets, not so odd when you think of sugar beets. Red is a popular color, so its no surprise people like to cut into a cake and find a bright cheery color. Also buttermilk and vinegar react with the darker unalkalized cocoa to make a redder product. James beard said the red beets fell out of favor after the WWII rationing ended when sugar and red dye were easily accesible to the home baker.
So if I make the cake and reduce the amount of dye to maybe one bottle it would be ok?
I grew up on Michigan and have never had Red Velvet and have been especially turned off by it after reading the recipe. I guess that I should try it.
It just seems like lots of people make or request that particular cake and I worry about troubles in frosting it and bleeding through,
Stephanie
So if I make the cake and reduce the amount of dye to maybe one bottle it would be ok?
My recipe calls for 2oz of red coloring (two bottles) My grandma and I buy one bottle, add the whole thing in, then fill the bottle back up with water and dump it in. So we have a total of 1oz coloring and 1oz water.
HTH
I must agree with the Red Velvet Movement....I think it's happening in the Northern states! My family is all from the South, so I had a lot of Red Velvet cake growing up, but it had been years and I had forgotten what it was like. There are a couple of really good recipes here on CC. I've tried several and Sarah's Red Velvet cake is my favorite...very consistent results!
I just had two wedding consultations this week and both brides were set on white cake......BOTH of them are going with Red Velvet after tasting it! It really is a wonderful cake.....I think it's almost buttery, then you taste the chocolate....very faintly! It's delicious!
I must agree with the Red Velvet Movement....I think it's happening in the Northern states!
I didn't even realize until about 5 years ago that Red velvet was not a common cake. My grandma has always made it and her mom too. We have it for all the special occasions and at christmas they always did a red/green layer one. And all of my family is from the midwest.
I think it has gained in popularity b/c of the food network over the years. I noticed a lot of stuff (like cake decorating) gaines popularity when the food network has it on more and more.
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