Help please! I know there are some scientific and experienced brains on here!
I am making a red velvet cake and it calls for 1 tsp of baking soda...not paying attention and I put a tsp of baking powder..
I know that powder is soda + crm of tartar (basically)...It's already mixed into the flour & sugar...so my question is should I just dump it and start again, or can I add the baking soda (with the powder already in there also?) and it will be ok??

TIA!!

Using Baking Powder Instead of Baking Soda
You need to use 2-3 times more baking powder than baking soda. The extra ingredients in the baking powder will have an effect on the taste of whatever you are making, but this isn't necessarily bad.

Ideally, triple the amount of baking soda to equal the amount of baking powder. So, if the recipe called for 1 tsp baking soda, you would use 3 tsp baking powder.

What I do is compromise... I use twice the amount of baking powder as baking soda (add 2 tsp of baking powder if the recipe calls for 1 tdp baking soda), plus I omit the salt (which adds flavor but also affects rising in some recipes).

http://chemistry.about.com/cs/foodchemistry/f/blbaking.htm

I would think that if you just go ahead and add the soda, the erroneus baking powder isn't going to ruin your recipe.

The baking soda is in a red velvet cake for leavening as well as to help neutralize some of the acidic ingredients in that formula (I'm assuming there's cocoa powder, maybe some vinegar and perhaps even some buttermilk). Since you've already added the 1 tsp of baking powder, I would try to save it by adding 1/2tsp of baking soda.

Baking soda is 4x stronger than baking powder. But if you add too much baking soda, you'll get a soapy taste in your end product. Too much baking powder and you'll have a bitter flavor.

The worse that can happen is that you have to start all over. But better to bake it off first and see.

Thanks, everyone! Will let you know how my mistake turns out! LOL!