BEST Southern Red Velvet Cake Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What makes red velvet cake taste so good? ›

It contains cocoa but not the same quantity as traditional chocolate cake, resulting in a more subtle cocoa flavor and tanginess due to the buttermilk and vinegar. Its uniqueness is a harmonious blend that sets it apart from other cakes.

When bakers added vinegar, baking soda, or buttermilk to their recipes to tenderize the cakes, the acid in those ingredients reacted with the cocoa, which was not Dutch-processed, to give the cakes a red tint. That color became a signature of velvet cakes.

The Best Cocoa for Red Velvet Cake Is Natural Cocoa

The results are an almost melt-in-your-mouth tender cake. Natural cocoa is also lighter in color, making the red velvet cake more vibrant. Natural cocoa also has the most chocolate flavor a cocoa powder can have because it is less processed.

Incorporate extra eggs or a dollop of mayonnaise for a moist and fluffy texture. Add vanilla extract and instant pudding mix to boost moisture and enrich the flavor. Using the red velvet cake mix, add 4 eggs, 1 cup milk, 1/2 cup oil and a packet of instant chocolate pudding.

Some ways to do this is by substituting baking powder in place of baking soda, using a natural non-alkalized cocoa powder, adding more white vinegar or buttermilk to your red velvet recipe, to achieve a bright red color.

Red velvet cake may also have roots in black foodways and is sometimes considered to be soul food in the South. The color red is often used in Juneteenth celebrations to symbolize bloodshed in the fight against slavery.

Key Components. Bicarbonate of soda works by reacting to acid in the recipe – the rising comes from the mix of bicarbonate, buttermilk and vinegar. I always use a white vinegar for my red velvet cupcakes, but others can work such as apple cider vinegar.

If you don't want to use vinegar, you can substitute an equal amount of lemon juice. If you want to skip the acidic liquid altogether, you can substitute a tablespoon of baking powder for each teaspoon of baking soda. Then add water equal to the amount of vinegar you omitted.

Apple cider vinegar and white vinegar make good substitutes for one another in most cooking applications, but the former is significantly more tart. In many cases, you can also use these vinegars as substitutes for other types of vinegar.

We recommend gel food colouring, such as Sugarflair and Wilton, having tested both of these brands out in our kitchens with great results.

What chocolate is used for red velvet cake? ›

While red velvet cake is technically a cocoa cake, there is a key difference between standard chocolate cake and red velvet cake. Chocolate cake recipes traditionally use Dutch-processed cocoa, while red velvet cake uses unprocessed cocoa, a more acidic ingredient that produces a deeper, more intense chocolate flavor.

Oil: As mentioned earlier, the use of vegetable oil in red velvet cake recipes helps to keep the cake moist. Unlike butter, which can solidify at normal room temperature, oil remains in liquid form, ensuring that the cake stays tender and moist even after baking.

Your cake is too dense A cake that is overly dense typically has too much liquid, too much sugar or too little leavening (not excess flour, as is commonly thought).

Red velvet's distinctive flavor is not merely a trick of the senses that comes from dying chocolate red. No, in fact, red velvet batter contains a mixture of vanilla and a dash of cocoa, plus more vinegary tartness than you might find in a typical cake.

Red Velvet Cake is flavored with non-Dutch processed cocoa, buttermilk, and vinegar. What makes this unique is that its red color is the result of a natural chemical reaction. The buttermilk and vinegar cause a reaction that brings out cocoa's anthocyanin. Anthocyanin ia a pigment found in cocoa beans and other plants.

Cocoa powder contains an antioxidant called anthocyanin, which is pH-sensitive, meaning it reacts to acids and bases. When raw cocoa powder reacts with acidic ingredients such as buttermilk and vinegar, it turns dark red.

Unhealthiest: Carrot Cake

Carrot cake does contain healthy ingredients, such as carrots and nuts, but it is also loaded with fat and sugar. Depending on the size of the cake, your piece could be anywhere between 300-600 calories.