A Red velvet cake is a type of rich and sweet cake, with a distinctive dark red to bright red or red-brown color. Common ingredients include buttermilk, butter, flour, cocoa powder, and often either beets, or red food coloring. It is most popular in the Southern United States, though known in other regions. The most typical frosting for a red velvet cake is a butter roux icing also known as a cooked flour frosting. Cream cheese buttercream frostings are also popular.
Traditionalists believe that red velvet cakes must contain cocoa,[1] although recipes are available that do not contain any chocolate flavoring.[2][3]
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History
James Beard's 1972 reference American Cookery[4] describes three kinds of red velvet cake varying in the amounts of shortening and butter used. All of them use red food coloring for the color, but it is mentioned that the reaction of acidic vinegar and buttermilk tends to turn the cocoa a reddish brown color. Furthermore, before more alkaline "Dutch Processed" cocoa was widely available, the red color would have been more pronounced. This natural tinting may have been the source for the name "Red Velvet" as well as "Devil's Food" and a long list of similar names for chocolate cakes.[5]
A resurgence in the popularity of this cake is partly attributed to the 1989 film Steel Magnolias in which the groom's cake (another southern tradition) is a red velvet cake made in the shape of an armadillo.
Dye and other color sources
The use of red dye to make "Red Velvet" cake was probably started after the introduction of the darker cocoa in order to reproduce the earlier color. While foods were rationed during World War II, some bakers used boiled beets to enhance the color of their cakes. Boiled grated beets or beet baby food are still found in some red velvet cake recipes.
Secret recipes
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York
There is a story attached to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City that has been turned into an urban legend. As in the Neiman-Marcus cookie legend,[6] a woman is reported to have asked for the recipe for the delicious red velvet cake she was served at the hotel restaurant, only to find that she had been billed $100 (or $250) for the recipe. Indignant, she spread it to all her friends as a chain letter.
Eaton's of Canada
In Canada, red velvet cake was a well-known signature dessert in the restaurants and bakeries of the Eaton's department store chain in the 1940s and 1950s.[7] Promoted as an "exclusive" Eaton's recipe, with employees who knew the recipe sworn to silence, many Eaton's patrons mistakenly believed the cake to be the invention of the department store matriarch, Lady Flora McCrea Eaton. Unbeknownst to Canadian shoppers, most of whom would have been unfamiliar with the cuisine of the American south, the recipe likely originated in the United States rather than in the Eaton's kitchens.
Celebrity
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is a documented fan of this southern classic, having featured it on her television program, and in her O magazine. In February 2007, she selected Carousel Cakes Red Velvet Cake for her O list, of her personal favorites.[8] This attention brought a wave of celebrity fascination with the cake, with dozens of celebrity Red Velvet wedding cakes popping up.
References
- ^ "So Naughty, So Nice, New York Times, February 14, 2007. Retrieved 2008-03-25". http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/14/dining/14velv.html?ex=1329109200&en=30b25927180258c1&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss.
- ^ "Rachel's Red Velvet Cake (Martha Stewart Online)". http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/rachels-red-velvet-cake?autonomy_kw=red%20velvet%20cake&rsc=header_2.
- ^ "Montclair Martha's Red Velvet Cake (Martha Stewart Online)". http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/montclair-marthas-red-velvet-cake?autonomy_kw=red%20velvet%20cake&rsc=header_1.
- ^ Beard, James (1972). James Beard's American Cookery. Boston: Little, Brown.
- ^ Scott, Suzanne (June 7, 2003). "It's All Mixed Up! The History and True Facts About Baking Devil's Food Cake". New Jersey Baker's Board of Trade. Archived from the original on 2004-08-05. http://web.archive.org/web/20040805042002/http://www.njbbt.org/ripoff1161.htm. Retrieved on 2004-10-10.
- ^ Mikkelson, Barbara (1999). "(Costs a) Fortune Cookie". snopes.com. http://www.snopes.com/business/consumer/cookie.asp. Retrieved on 2004-10-10.
- ^ Anderson, Carol; Katharine Mallinson (2004). Lunch with Lady Eaton: Inside the Dining Rooms of a Nation. Toronto: ECW Press. ISBN 1-55022-650-9.
- ^ "Oprah's Red Velvet Cake (She Knows Online)". http://www.sheknows.com/articles/802119.htm.
External links
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