Velvet Rouge

It's just ALL OVER the place lately... cupcakes, cakes, cheesecakes, cookies all flavored with this very old fashioned, yet apparently making a comeback flavor. Red Velvet. It sounds so decadent. It looks so fancy. But fundamentally it's just a regular yellow buttermilk cake with red coloring. Yes, that's right I said YELLOW cake. It's not meant to taste like chocolate even though there is cocoa in there. But with 2 tablespoons of cocoa per a cake that serves 12 or more, that's not much cocoa. But let's back up. What is red velvet cake and where did it come from? Most people think of it as a Southern cake and most people think it should be frosted with a heavy cream cheese frosting.

Um, not so much...

Not that I have traveled the country far and wide to research this, but all I've read seems to support the red velvet cake originating in the north. Sometime in the early 1900's and somewhere around New York City; perhaps even the Waldof-Astoria Hotel. That is the particular recipe you see photographed here. This is my family's recipe which is quite old and almost identical to this one. It's touted as the Waldorf's recipe and is a recipe I see all over the web with only slight variations.
Many people also think a red velvet cake is to be topped with cream cheese frosting resembling that on carrot cakes. But that it also not correct. At least not traditionally. That traditional frosting is a butter roux frosting; also known as cooked flour frosting. There's no cream cheese present, but there is flour and milk (and butter, and sugar and vanilla). The frosting only has 1 cup of sugar which keeps it light and not too sweet and frankly, is what I think got me such rave reviews!


There are a lot of theories on why the red velvet cake is, well, red. Some talk of how cocoa of "yesteryear" (lower levels of alkaline) reacted with the sour milk (buttermilk) and created a reddish hue. Others talk about WWII housewives using beets to sweeten their cakes due to sugar rationing (tho sugar beets are white...) Hrmm. Whatever the case may be - today's red velvet cake is red due mostly in part to: Red Food Coloring. And we [literally] eat it up for it's beauty and fancifulness!

This recipe asks you to make a paste with the cocoa and food coloring

This isn't the first red velvet recipe I tried - it's the second. I first did Saveur's after reading about it on this red velvet cake comparison (I notice the "Waldorf" recipe wasn't reviewed, perhaps it really would have come out on top!) And I didn't like it; nor did my tester, Connie. I can't even explain why. The frosting was too heavy and sweet and the cake wasn't as flavorful or light. In fact, I threw a couple cupcakes away!!

Now that is some RED batter

But this recipe, the Waldorf one... FANTASTIC. I've made it a few times now, all for good sized groups (a friend's dinner party and cupcakes for a bake sale at work) and have heard great reviews. Worth noting: my "pack" tends to be primarily Asian and we Asians don't enjoy overly heavy, sweet desserts (um, except for THIS Asian - tho I'm only half so that must be why). I had a coworker tell me my red velvet cupcakes were better than Spinkles' (!!!!!!!!) but she too, is Asian.

Even though it's totally artificial - it's just so flippin' beautiful!

If it counts - I also heard some non-Asian coworkers talking in the hallways: "did you try those red velvet cupcakes? They were incredible!!" That really fluffed my feathers! So I'm gonna check this off as a success. Whether I'm baking in Hong Kong or San Francisco or New York.

Only did 2 layers; 4 would have been fun --- The finished crumb coat, ready to frost

After a bit more thought I realized this cake would work just great as a Green Velvet Cake (St. Patrick's Day?) or Purple Velvet Cake (Mardis Gras?) or even Blue Velvet Cake (Kid's Birthday?) I'd probably leave the cocoa out of most of those however...

I sprinkled on toasted pecans and some little white
sprinkles, LOVED the crunch of both on top!

Look at that crumb!

Like I mentioned earlier, my family's recipe here called for a butter roux frosting which asks you to cook flour and milk together until it is a VERY thick roux, then whip it with butter, sugar and vanilla until it resembles whipped cream. The frosting is light and slightly sweet and doesn't weigh the cake down at all. This was a first for me and while I enjoyed it - I do still LOVE me some cream cheese frosting. In the future, I might try replacing the roux with some cream cheese and keep everything else the same. In theory it sounds great - that same tangy cream cheese flavor without being too heavy or sweet.

You wanted to see the cupcakes too, right? :P