Red Velvet Cake Q & A

Q: Do you really need that much Red 40?

A: No.

A typical red velvet cake will contain between 1-2 oz of red food coloring. This equals to 2-4 tablespoons of food coloring in two layers of cake. I don't know about you, but that seems rather excessive to me. Especially since I've made red velvet cake twice now with just 1 tablespoon, and it's plenty deep red for me.

But maybe that's because I love deep shades of red like maroon and Falu red, and the relative small amount of food coloring I add, in combination to the boost of deep brown cocoa that is in the cake, gives me the rich maroon that I would more appropriately associate with such a sensuous cloth as velvet.

Who wants velvet in tomato-red anyways? Not me.

So here is the cake color as I make it:

Figure 1. Cake of a lovely deep maroon hue. My kind of red.

I was asked today about what kind of cake "Red Velvet Cake" really is. It has a few tablespoons of cocoa, but not enough for any chocoholic to legitimize it as a chocolate cake of any sorts. Sans cocoa and food coloring, it doesn't have enough eggs to be a yellow cake, as far as I understand. In the end, it's a buttermilk batter cake, and it's darn tasty.

And don't forget the darn tasty frosting, which you last saw on the Ninja Turtle cake as "Creamy Vanilla Frosting." It is hands-down my go-to frosting, and it is so addictively delicious.

Figure 2. A mountain of ivory frosting.

Red Velvet Cake (adapted from Allrecipes.com, "Red Velvet Cake I," following advice of reviewers)

Ingredients:

3-4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon red food coloring
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup vegetable oil
1 & 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon white vinegar

1 cup milk
3-5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

Grease 2 9-inch round cake pans and line with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Sift together flour and cocoa. Use a spatula to fold the mixture gently until totally combined and no pockets of white flour can be seen. (NOTE: The original recipe says to make a paste of the cocoa and food coloring so that you don't get streaking of either in the finished product, but since I changed the ratio, I found it easier to separate them and stir well on each side. No streaking for me.)

Combine buttermilk, food coloring, salt, and vanilla. Stir until you don't see any streaks in the red color of the liquid. Set aside.

Cream together the oil and sugar for a couple of minutes (the original recipe was with shortening, so it would become fluffy, but that is not easily achievable with oil, so don't worry about it). Beat in one egg at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Beat in the buttermilk mixture alternatively with the flour/cocoa mixture, starting and ending with flour and mixing until just incorporated. In a cup (such as the one that held the buttermilk mixture), combine the baking soda and vinegar and stir. Pour into cake batter and gently fold in using a spatula.

Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake for 30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting, and remember to remove parchment paper from bottom.

Frosting: In a saucepan, begin heating up the milk. Add the flour and whisk to combine. Cook over low to medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. Set aside to cool completely. In a mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, then stir in cooled milk/flour mixture. Beat several minutes until the icing is fluffy and stiff, and until you cannot feel any granulated sugar in the frosting anymore.

Figure 3. A happily situated cake.

Figure 4. The remnant of a quickly-devoured cake from today's birthday celebration in lab.

Figure 5. My first red velvet cake, back in April--North Korean Rocket Launching Tribute (aka Sam's B-day)