Update on the Rose RV: I made it on a Wednesday to be served Friday. Froze the layers immediately after baking. Filled and frosted Thursday. By Friday it was still good and moist but not as moist as cakes made with 100% oil. The taste was fantastic though. And the scraps which I had kept in the fridge were still nice and moist on Sunday.

This is one cake that definitely has to be served at room temp. The frosting I use is good up to 24 hours unrefrigerated so I just keep the cake out overnight to make sure it's nice and soft upon serving.

I usually use americolor super red to color it...

I use a recipe that I tweaked from a couple, but I would be willing to try Rose's. Though I don't love her recipes on the whole. I'll be interested to hear how your test goes LaBellaFlor. =]

I had not heard of red velvet until about 8 years ago. Seven years agoI had the chance to taste one. I could taste the chocolate, but it didn't really taste like a chocolate cake. There is a hint of chocolate flavor to it.

Can someone share Cakeman's recipe?

Cakeman's Recipe

2 1/2 cups of cake flour
1 1/2 cup of sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 ounce red food coloring
1 tsp. salt
1 cup of buttermilk
2 eggs
1 tsp. distilled vinegar
1 1/2 cup of oil
1 tsp. vanilla

it's also on his site with instructions.

Thanks!!

I just made Rose's RV and thought it was great! It made a beautiful cake! I only added 1/2 ounce of red (no taste) gel, so I don't think it's a bright as the one in her book...but I'm not one for real artificial looking RV cakes. I also don't like 100% oil based cakes because they are too greasy for me. So, the half and half was wonderful. Although, I think I'd add one more ounce of oil or butter. But, it still was nice and moist...and I didn't try it with frosting!! Which always adds that extra moist factor. The crumb was tender and the taste was great. I actually added 1 tbsp of cocoa (not one tsp) because I like a subtle cocoa taste.

Here are a few pics. I cut the cake at room temp so that's why the texture. And, sorry for not editing the pics!

Does anybody have an old, original style recipe that is really good? The kind that does not use red food coloring to get the red color, but rather the chemical reaction of certain ingredients (I think the vinegar and cocoa?) to make it reddish (from what I remember hearing it will not be bright red, correct?)

I'm asking because when I made Cake Man Raven's cake, my tongue swelled up from all of the food coloring, plus I could taste an after taste for several hours.

Thanks so much!

[quote="Barbaranne"]Does anybody have an old, original style recipe that is really good? ... to make it reddish (from what I remember hearing it will not be bright red, correct?)

reply: if u go to the link posted by OP, Rose tells you about using beets

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I have never tasted red velvet cake. It isn't common around here and I hadn't even heard of it before I started visiting these cake forums. It does sound interesting though so I will have to put it on my list of recipes to try. I guess I will have to take your word for the quality of the cakes as I have no previous experience in how a red velvet cake should taste. LOL. Thanks for sharing all this info!

Been watching this topic for a while. I really want to try a RVC.
My mother used to make it alot when I was growing up and I hated it. I am not sure if it was the cake or the frosting!
I think it was because she used the traditional frosting. I had never heard of using cream cheese frosting until CC. That may be better!
Does everyone use CrCh?

Would there be any reason the Cakeman's recipe couldn't be made into cupcakes?

I was reading the various posts....Intersting comments.

We have been using a variation found in the Biltmore Estate "Our Table to Yours" cookbook. It is from the Biltmore Estate kitchens. Their recipe calls for 1/4 cup red food coloring, but we used 1/2 tablespoon of Americolor's Red Red and got a very nice deep red color without the after-taste. The recipe also uses cocoa powder. As others mentioned, it should be just a bit so that the cocoa will cut down on the taste of the colorant. The taste that others have asked about is the buttermilk.

We liked this cake so much that we have followed the same recipe for our other cakes just by substituting extra cake flour for the cocoa powder and substituting or eliminating coloring for the red food coloring.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Paul

Okay, so I've made it a few other ways since I posted those last pics. It just needed a bit more moisture, so I've added another ounce of both oil and butter and 3/4cup of buttermilk...and I think I'm super happy with it. So, there you go!

has anyone tried the recipe from the Nestle site? I'm curious. I think I'll try it this afternoon.
http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/detail.aspx?ID=143670

Wow the nestle recipe calls for a lot of chocolate! - compared to normal 1-2 tbsp of chocolate. Let us know how they taste!?

well, I tried 3 different recipes today, including the Nestles. It's okay, but it's not the one. It had a wierd texture to it.
I also tried a recipe I found on Americanprofile.com and then one I found here,
http://www.buffchickpea.com/2009/06/caits-cupcakes.html
The one on Cait's cupcakes is the best, but that simply is replacing some of the oil with melted butter.
Honestly, I think I like Martha Stewart's recipe the best.

I tried Paula Deen's "Grandmother Paula's RVC" (tweaked ever so slightly) and got rave reviews. My husband absolutely loved it; my friend who works at Cheesecake Factory (where RV cheesecake is their bestseller) loved the cake; my neighbor, etc. I think this is the one I will keep. I never made Cakeman Raven's, but I personally do not like cakes that use only oil--I find them to be greasy, IMHO.

Paula's won our cake testing...it is good! I think I need to try that to compare with this one side by side!

On another post people were talking about "Sarah's Red Velvet TWEAKED" which is a recipe on here with really high reviews! I tried it today and it was yummy! I added a little more vanilla and 2 Tbsp of Cocoa. I took it to my husbands school and put it next to Rose's and 8 out of 10 picked Sarah's! And, what's funny is that Sarah's is similar to Paula's...except for some subtle differences. So, maybe I need to try those two side by side...and not Roses??!!!

I guess one thing we can all agree on is that everyone has a different view of what Red Velvet is supposed to taste and look like!

Sarah's is my favorite.

found it.

I am a die-hard doctored cake mix baker, however, Red Velvet and Lemon cakes are the only ones I make from scratch that will come out moist and fluffy. I use this RV recipe:

http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/recipe/red-velvet-cake

So I have to say...after reading this thread, I went out and bought the new Rose Berenbaum book AND decided that I HAD to make her RV cake...

I made not one but 2 of her cakes for Christmas and I have to say....

it was AWFUL!!!!! It was so dry...so dry that I actually couldn't even swallow it... Not keeping this one in my repertoire...bummer!!!!!! Was so looking forward to loving it.

Merry Christmas!
What about the RV recipe CakesBlakes from CC uses? Has anyone tried it?

yeah, I have to agree...I'm not a Rose fan....I think alot of it, is what you perceive a good cake to be...I like moist, dense....her's are not (at least the handful I've tried).

Thanks for the recipe- I will give it a try! I had heard so much about red velvet and just had to try it. I actually made it for the first time last week and thought, "what is the big deal?!" I used one of the hightly rated ones in the recipe section. I thought I must have done something wrong. When you google, "what does red velvet taste like?", you get descriptions such as "heaven in your mouth" etc... Not so much for me, though my husband liked it. Maybe it's a preference. But I thought, 'hmm... red colored white cake with a bit of choc thrown in and that's about it'.
So, maybe this one will change my mind... I already have one in the freezer for my b-day so I'll try it with the wh choc cream cheese. Does ganache go well with it?

I made it after reading this thread yesterday and YES - it's magnificient! So much flavour yet wellbalanced. Moist and just perfect. I topped it with a whipped cream mixed with vanilla, cardamom, sour cream and grained almond paste and the people at the party I brought it to today almost licked their plates