I had never heard of red velvet cake, I dont think its one we have in Scotland so I was keen to try it. I mixed it all up used the dr otakrs (sp?) red colour too I baked them and was really excited to taste them.........

Took them out of oven and they were a light brown colour!!!! what did I do wrong?? only thing I missed out what the white vinegar so you think thats the problem??

How much red color did your recipe call for? How much cocoa?

The cake should be a deep red color.

one table spoonful of cocoa poweder and 2 tablespoonfuls of red colour

Red velvet is just yellow cake with cocoa and lots and lots of red coloring. If your cake looks dark, then that means that you did not put enough red color, which, by the way, makes it a bit bitter. Because red is so bitter, I try orange and then red. How much did you put? Because one or two ounces of liquid red is not unheard of if you have to counter the chocolate color of the cocoa.

I made a red velvet this week. I used a whole container of Wilton No-Taste red (1 oz) and about 5-6 teaspoons of cocoa powder. It came out a nice rich and dark red. I used Cakeman Raven's recipe and tweaked it. Also used less oil (1 and 1/4 cup).

did your recipe have vinegar in it??

Pinkjacs, you NEED, absolutely NEED the vinegar.

The vinegar reacts with the baking soda to bring out the color in your batter and make it a bright red. Also helps with the texture, light and fluffy.

If your recipe calls for vinegar, you have to usse it. It's an integral part of the recipe. It creates a specific chemical reaction that makes the cake bake as intended.

That is, if you bother to try it again. I don't think red velvet cake tastes like much of anything. It doesn't have enough cocoa in it to make it a chocolate cake.

By the way, you might want to try the original recipe which was invented in the 1920s at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City. It uses red beets, which makes it moist and adds some of the red color.

http://cakecentral.com/recipes/15519/1920s-waldorf-astoria-red-velvet-cake

thanks I was wondering if the vinegar did that! I only had malt which was brown and had the rest of the batter mixed I will try it again thanks

Hi,

The first time i made them i used the Dr.O colour but round here they only seem to sell the natural colouring bottles now which made mine a redy brown colour and i did use vinegar.

I was going to add colour paste to make them more red but I made some on friday but this time used Silver Spoon red colouring and they came out a gorgeous deep red colour!!

They stock the silver spoon in Sainsburys so i'd try that if i was you.

Hi funny you should say that.. it was the natural colour that I used there was a ed there

I've had the cake without the color too, and it's just delicious. A little hint of cocoa. A lot of times I just omit the color. They have started making them in other colors too. I've seen pink velvet and blue velvet. All it matters is that it's velvet (bur for that texture, you do need the vinegar, still).

I use vinegar and buttermilk in the recipe I use. It turns out yummy!

yeah I used butter milk will buy white vinegar tomorrow and try again thanks

ooh like the sound of other colours!

Might try the electric pink I've just bought and fancy some blue ones too

Yes, Pink Cake Box has the pink (and it looks like the electric pink) as one of the flavors.

I've never done it, but there's a picture of her mixer here with that cake being made.

http://blog.pinkcakebox.com/category/qa