The Judge On Cupcake Wars Really Needs To Fact Check...
Lounge By baking_fool Updated 15 Mar 2011 , 7:11pm by mim1106
I am watching Cupcake wars and the same judge that said that isomalt was inedible now said that red velvet cake should be a CHOCOLATE cake with some red in it!!!!!
Now I am not red velvet expert but I am pretty sure this is not true.
lol well then that explains it, I was under the impression that red velvet cake was a buttermilk cake, with only a tablespoon or so of coca to enhance the red color. 
Originally I don't even think they used red food color, it was a chemical reaction.
Yeap, it was but a lot of people added beets to their cakes as well. It was to add moisture & some sweetness (I think), something to do with the war & food rationing.
lol well then that explains it, I was under the impression that red velvet cake was a buttermilk cake, with only a tablespoon or so of coca to enhance the red color.
Hey, we are all learning here. That is why we are here, right? 
It is a buttermilk cake with very little cocoa - or was 
I am no expert - just did a little reading a while back but would like to know more! And I was REALLY surprised that all of them used cream cheese icing and Florian (sp?) didn't say anything! A cooked flour icing is the actual "traditional" icing, though many many people have gone to and prefer cream cheese with it now. I am by no means a "red velvet snob" or anything, just learned some of this from reading.
Red Velvet was originated during WW2 when cocoa was rationed. Bakeries could no longer produce their normal chocolate cake recipes and came up with a mock-chocolate cake, using beets to up the color quotient from the reduced amount of cocoa being used. After the war ended, almost all bakers (excepting the stubborn southern ones 
) quickly dropped red velvet in favor of chocolate cake and it hasen't been until the last few decades that it's made a comeback. I've never made RV using beets but I read on here once that when using grated or pureed beets in the recipe that the cake smells horrible while baking but that the odor is not left in the finished product. I have to say, personally, I'm not a huge fan of RV-just like I'm not a big fan of marble cake either- the taste is neither here nor there.....but wouldn't you know it, I had to bake marble cake and RV cake today What the customer wants, the costumer gets 
lol well then that explains it, I was under the impression that red velvet cake was a buttermilk cake, with only a tablespoon or so of coca to enhance the red color.
You are not wrong! True red velvets call for a very small amount of cocoa...the small amount takes a bit of the 'twang' out of the buttermilk...it doesn't really add to the color. I use a recipe that only uses a tablespoon of cocoa and it tastes delicious. To me a red velvet cake is red...not brownish-red. The poster here who goes went into the history of red velvet and beets and such is most likely correct about it's history.
Red velvet is not a chocolate cake...it's a cake that has a touch of cocoa in it! (And I am a true southerner. My family is from North Carolina!)
That judge needs to be called on the carpet because if he's basing decisions on incorrect information then he needs to go. 
OK, I am watching this episode now and I am crazy irritated too - a red velvet cake is NOT a chocolate cake. If you can taste chocolate your cake is FAIL. Chocolate adds color but also helps with the levening.
As for origin, it pre-dates food rationing of WWII, the Waldoef Astoria has been serving red velvet since the 20's.
I want to get on this show, but so help me ,if that was me and Flourian said he wanted a red chocolate cake and not a red cake with chocolate I would have argued with him and probably been super mad.
And what's with the crumbles on top? I've been seeing this a lot lately - who wants stale cake crumbles on their cupcake???
Typically here in the south it is a chocolate cake. Made with a fair amount of cocoa & buttermilk. But hey, I have seen people tweak recipes in every way possible! LOL!
AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!! I am so over this discussion (wink)
Red Velvet is a chocolate cake for people who DON"T like chocolate - like me!
NO - it does NOT have a fair amount of chocolate (cocoa) in it. (check out really old recipes from the time of inception - hardly any cocoa at all)
And yes, I'm from Kannapolis, NC - about hillbilly country as you can get!
I started watching that same episode tonight and turned it off as soon as those chicks poured all that melted chocolate in it. Now it became a chocolate cake with red food coloring added for no apparent reason.
And I knew the judges would be completely clueless. I would not go to France and tell them how to properly make a crepe - and I would appreciate if people would stop telling Southerners what makes a proper Red Velvet.
And for the record - Red Velvet was created in NYC (I believe it was the mid 30s, I may be off a few years)- Southerners just took it over and it exploded in the south. Which is OK - pasta was created in China - even though we all call it Italian. And zucchini originated in Mexico - same deal. So, while it's not from the South, we hillbillies just loved it enough to make it our own.
Isomalt can cause stomach problems, which is why they tell you not to eat too many sugar free candies at one time, because they are often made with isomalt. While it isn't inedible, it could give some people some icky issues to deal with.
And what's with the crumbles on top? I've been seeing this a lot lately - who wants stale cake crumbles on their cupcake???
People have been putting cake crumbs around the red velvet cakes for years. They don't taste stale, I guess from being pressed into the icing?
And what's with the crumbles on top? I've been seeing this a lot lately - who wants stale cake crumbles on their cupcake???
This isn't a new concept. It's not much different than using sprinkles or sanding sugar, if the crumbs are very fine (similar to this):
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/perfect-endings-heart-shaped-red-velvet-cake/
Typically here in the south it is a chocolate cake. Made with a fair amount of cocoa & buttermilk. But hey, I have seen people tweak recipes in every way possible! LOL!
Red Velvet is a chocolate cake for people who DON"T like chocolate - like me!
NO - it does NOT have a fair amount of chocolate (cocoa) in it. (check out really old recipes from the time of inception - hardly any cocoa at all)
And yes, I'm from Kannapolis, NC - about hillbilly country as you can get!
I started watching that same episode tonight and turned it off as soon as those chicks poured all that melted chocolate in it. Now it became a chocolate cake with red food coloring added for no apparent reason.
And I knew the judges would be completely clueless. I would not go to France and tell them how to properly make a crepe - and I would appreciate if people would stop telling Southerners what makes a proper Red Velvet.
That is why I said typically. My recipe for Red Velvet was past down through generations of my family. It only calls for 2Tsp of cocoa but a lot of others I have seen here locally call for more.
I would put it under chocolate cake because it has cocoa in it. I had a friend wanting a wedding cake & her sister was allergic to chocolate, so she wanted red velvet instead. 
Needless to say she didn't get the red velvet...
And as far as being southern, I live in Florida. Any further south & your gonna have to swim!
I have to agree with carmijok, because this cake is so controversial in what is should taste like and how much coca it should contain I don't think he should base his critique on his personal interpretation of the cake.
And as far as being southern, I live in Florida. Any further south & your gonna have to swim!
It's so weird, and I can't explain why, so don't ask... and I agree it's fickle....
We never consider Florida "Southern". Yes, geographically it is. In attitude, no. I even have a lot of family in Ohio and NYC that don't consider Florida a Southern State. It's just happens to be down in the southern region of the United States. When I have visited Florida, the strangers I've met don't "act" Southern or sound southern. Don't even ask me to explain that one!
I think it's because Florida is known as a state (as a whole, not in part) for a lot of transplants, between the Military, retirees from up North and the Cuban/Latin communities, it's just not considered a Southern State.
Yeah, I know - raise your eyebrows at me...
And as far as being southern, I live in Florida. Any further south & your gonna have to swim!
It's so weird, and I can't explain why, so don't ask... and I agree it's fickle....
We never consider Florida "Southern". Yes, geographically it is. In attitude, no. I even have a lot of family in Ohio and NYC that don't consider Florida a Southern State. It's just happens to be down in the southern region of the United States. When I have visited Florida, the strangers I've met don't "act" Southern or sound southern. Don't even ask me to explain that one!
I think it's because Florida is known as a state (as a whole, not in part) for a lot of transplants, between the Military, retirees from up North and the Cuban/Latin communities, it's just not considered a Southern State.
Yeah, I know - raise your eyebrows at me...
LOL! I know! I am fourth generation native Floridian & have waited tables most of my life. When people from Alabama come in & ask if we have sweet tea or grits, I couldn't help but laugh. And, yes we are being out numbered by the transplants & that probably explains most of the people you met. But true Florida natives are as southern as the south can get. We say yes ma'am & no sir, it's still momma & daddy, even after us kids are grown. Our tea is sweet and accents are sweeter; summer starts in April; front porches are wide and words are long; macaroni & cheese is a vegetable; pecan pie is a staple; Yall is the only proper pronoun; chicken is fried, biscuits come w/ gravy; everything is darling and someone is always getting their heart blessed.
We say yes ma'am & no sir, it's still momma & daddy, even after us kids are grown. Our tea is sweet and accents are sweeter; summer starts in April; front porches are wide and words are long; macaroni & cheese is a vegetable; pecan pie is a staple; Yall is the only proper pronoun; chicken is fried, biscuits come w/ gravy; everything is darling and someone is always getting their heart blessed. [/quote]
sounds southern to me 
and for my two cents... there is cocoa in red velvet but the primary flavor comes from the buttermilk, so i personally consider it a buttermilk cake. If you give me a slice of slightly redish chocolate cake i'm going to say you served me chocolate cake, not red velvet.
Well I got thru the rest of that episode and it was a train wreck from beginning to end. Some of the worst baking, worst decorations, worst displays I've ever seen.
All the more reason to start working on my audition tape early
sounds southern to me
and for my two cents... there is cocoa in red velvet but the primary flavor comes from the buttermilk, so i personally consider it a buttermilk cake.
Yeah, your right. Most of the flavor does come from the buttermilk. I guess I always group it with the chocolate cakes for allergic reaction? Oh well, like everything, it's all a matter of opinion.
OK - I'll give ya that the Florida natives are the same as me.....
American by birth, Southern by the Grace of God
(to be read with a very hard twang)
How's that for a Southern Expression? 
And yes, back on topic... .I agree that red velvet should be classified as a buttermilk cake.
If a red velvet cake tastes like chocolate, you did it wrong.
At the risk of creating a riot...don't like it and never have...so you can classify it however you want to as long as I don't have to eat it. That being said, I do however love...pecan pie, fried chicken, grits, biscuits and gravy, a hi ya'll, big porches and a blessed heart. Stay southern ya'll. We love you just the way you are...from the northerner.
I saw this episode too. I threw a small rant. And then I did an eyeroll. Obviously RV cake has now evolved into a chocolate tasting thing.
That is not how I make mine and everybody loves it. But I do know in my area there are quite a few cake places that their RV is just chocolate cake with red food coloring added.
You can tell how much chocolate is in the cake by how deep the red is. Not how bright, but how deep. The deeper the red, the more chocolate in a "RV" cake.
But I will continue to make my RV the way I do. If people don't like there are plenty of places in town they can get a chocolate one.
But I do put cream cheese frosting on top. It is definitely a northern thing. I plan on trying the flour based frosting recipe soon though.
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