Today I made both CakeMan Raven's and Paula Deen's Red Velvet recipes, and I am unhappy with both of them. I made both recipes exactly as written, and both cakes turned out so fragile and delicate. Does anyone have a Red Velvet recipe that makes a sturdier cake?
Thanks.

By the way, today I discovered that buttermilk is just awful to drink!

I love the recipe on www.pinkcakebox.com. It is on her blog section, about halfway down the righthand side. It isn't super sturdy like a box cake or anything, but it is the sturdiest RV cake that I have tried that still tastes awesome.

Cakeman and Bobby Flay had a throwdown and Bobby won. I liked his cake but not his icing.

KrissieCakes, I see the red velvet cupcakes. Am I missing it?

Nope! I use the cupcake recipe for cakes all the time and they turn out fabulous! It doesn't turn out a very tall cake, like most Rv recipes. It makes a great 8 inch cake, but anything bigger I would double it. This is my most requested cake!

Thanks for your responses. My CakeMan Raven RV is as flat as a pancake. It looks like something Fred Mertz made.
The Paula Deen RV cupcakes are pathetic looking, too. Good thing it's for family.
Red Velvet is relatively new to me, so any advice you guys can give would be appreciated.
Thanks.

I saw a video of Cakeman making his red velvet cake and he kept saying how it is an oil based cake. After it was baked he pressed his finger to the cake and showed how the oil was coming off the cake. And the cakes he baked were very flat. That made me realize that I don't want that kind of red velvet cake.

I have tried Bobby Flay's for cupcakes and I like that one better also. I don't know about a carving cake because I haven't tried it as a cake yet.

Personally I don't like RV with oil. I don't know why it is there, but Bobby's with oil and butter is a nice compromise IMO.

I use Bobby Flay's, I just use much more red food coloring (about double) than it calls for, otherwise it turns out more salmon colored than red. I've used it for cupcakes, as well as layered cakes up to 16", and has always held up quite well! It bakes pretty flat also, not too much leveling to do.

I'm glad this question came up. I had someone ask me about a red velvet wedding cake, this morning. Hmmm... I'm wondering about the stacking factor....

I add a little more baking soda and vinegar and it makes it fluffier. Also, I have learned that your ingredients need to be closer to room temperature. HTH

O!! add REAL vanilla extract too!

Taste-wise, I have had great success with the Cake Mix Doctor's "best red velvet cake". It's still a very moist cake, not very good for carving. I tried making cupcakes with it yesterday and they all came out of the oven with sunken centers. Still tasted awesome, though!

I found this on a search
http://southernfood.about.com/od/yellowandwhitecakes/r/blbb610.htm
It looked interesting.

Most of the recipes I found used shortening instead of oil.
Frankly, I've tasted red velvet cake and I can't understand the attraction.

Even though it was flat, my relatives loved the Cake Man Raven Red Velvet cake. I think cream cheese frosting is the thing people like most about red velvet cake.
I'll try Bobby Flay's recipe before I give up on RV.