30 Decadent Red Velvet Recipes (2024)

FAQs

Is red 40 in red velvet cake? ›

Many years ago, the red color came from the presence of vinegar and buttermilk reacting with the anthocyanins in traditional cocoa powder. But for most of the last few decades, the red color has been supplied by Red #40 dye, in part because cocoa powder used now is alkalized to neutralize its acidity.

You also can't have red velvet cake without vinegar. The vinegar reacts with the baking soda which gives your cake an extra lift as it bakes, giving you a much fluffier cake. I use white wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar works great too.

The trick to using our Red Velvet Color when baking cakes and cupcakes is to lower the pH. 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.

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.

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.

It can be labeled as carmine or cochineal extract, dependent on the type. Carmine and cochineal extract are excellent alternatives for developers seeking to replace FD&C Red 3 and FD&C Red 40 in many food and beverage applications.

The purpose of the vinegar is two fold. First, it interacts with the baking soda to leaven the cake. Without it, the cake will be dense, flat, heavy, and the flavor will be flatter as well.

You can substitute white wine vinegar for white (sometimes called distilled) vinegar in the red velvet cake recipe. It is used in such small quantities that the subtle difference in flavor will not be noticed. In fact, any unseasoned vinegar should work.

A true red velvet cake gets its color from a chemical interaction between the cocoa, the baking powder, and the buttermilk. If your ingredients aren't fresh offer the acid balance is off, or you're using Dutch processed cocoa, it won't work properly.

There's a big chance your butter and sugar will over-cream, meaning the butter will trap more air than it should. As the batter bakes, that extra air will deflate and leave you with an overly dense cake. It's all science! For best results, cream butter and sugar together for about 1-2 minutes.

What filling goes well with red velvet cake? ›

Due to the fact that it uses cocoa powder rather than chocolate, red velvet cake is more subtle in chocolate flavor than a chocolate cake. In terms of the cocoa flavor concentration, we like to think of red velvet cake as somewhere between a vanilla/white cake and a chocolate cake.

Chocolate cake is flavored with cocoa powder, chocolate chips, or melted chocolate. On the other hand, though red velvet cake has cocoa powder that gives it a slightly chocolatey flavor, the buttermilk and vinegar add a tart edge making it different between the two.

Around the turn of the 20th century, devil's food cake was introduced, which is how some believe that red velvet cake came about. The key difference between the two cakes is that devil's food cake uses chocolate and red velvet cake uses cocoa.

What Makes Red Velvet Cake Red? In today's day and age, the red hue in red velvet cake is typically from red food dye. However, as we discussed above, the color initially occurred when the acidic ingredients in the cake reacted with non-Dutch cocoa powder.

Today, red velvet cake is made by combining cocoa powder, butter, sugar, eggs, and flour as well as buttermilk, vinegar, and red food coloring that gives the cake its iconic red tint.

Although traditional recipes vary from modern ones, it's now typically made with a small amount of cocoa powder, buttermilk, vinegar, and red food coloring as staple ingredients. Its name references both its color as well as its soft, velvety smooth texture.

Ingredients. Ingredients vary based on the era and area of the world. James Beard's reference, American Cookery (1972), describes three red velvet cakes varying in the amounts of shortening, butter, and vegetable oil. All used red food coloring.