Waldorf-Astoria Red Velvet Cake Recipe | CDKitchen.com (2024)

FAQs

What makes red velvet cake taste so good? ›

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 vinegar

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.

Red velvet cake is traditionally a red, crimson, or scarlet-colored layer cake, layered with ermine icing. Traditional recipes do not use food coloring, with the red color possibly due to non-Dutched, anthocyanin-rich cocoa, and possibly due to the usage of brown sugar, formerly called red sugar.

The cocoa powder is used in less quantity and the taste develops by the mixing of vinegar and buttermilk with the cocoa powder. The recipe involves many ingredients in small quantity. The frosting- if used cream cheese is an expensive element in itself. It tastes wow if made at home without using any premix.

Red Velvet cake originates from the United States and is a red vanilla sponge made with buttermilk and cocoa to give its unique flavour and a light taste of chocolate.

The difference between Red Velvet Cake and other cakes are its ingredients and colors. No other layer cake uses buttermilk and vinegar in the recipe. When mixed with cocoa powder, the buttermilk and vinegar cause the chemical reaction that turns the cake red. The vinegar also helps preserve the cake's iconic color.

The “velvet” in red velvet cake refers to the style of cake and its small, tight-crumbed texture, compliments of the vinegar and baking soda in this recipe. I have baked red velvet cake without this addition of baking soda and vinegar and found the result is a sturdier cake (not-so-velvety) with less flavor.

Can you use apple cider vinegar instead of white vinegar in a red velvet cake? Yes, you can use any of them. You could also use some lemon juice, which I have used in the past. You essentially need an acid to react with the cocoa powder present in the red velvet batter to give it some leavening and rise.

The red food colouring makes the cake batter prone to splitting, and turns everything it touches red; a couple of grams over on the cocoa powder and the cake goes brown instead of a rich red; the cream cheese frosting has a tendency to turn to gloop at the very last minute for no apparent reason; and the list goes on.

In 1940, Texas-based food coloring and extract salesman John A. Adams and his wife, Betty, spent a weekend at the Waldorf, during which they sampled the hotel's trademark red velvet. That experience inspired the couple to develop their own red velvet cake as a marketing tactic for the Adams Extract brand.

Which country invented red velvet cake? ›

Around the same time, red velvet appeared on the menu at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City and at Eaton's Department Store chain in Canada — both of which claimed to have invented it. (In 1943, a recipe for red velvet with red food coloring was printed in “The Joy of Cooking.”)

If you're wondering, “what flavor is red velvet cake?” it's not just a chocolate cake batter spiked with red food coloring. 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.

White Vinegar: It sounds like a strange ingredient in a cake, but it is essential in a red velvet cake. This recipe calls for baking soda to leaven the cake (make the cake rise). The small amount of added vinegar allows the soda to do its best work.

Supposedly, Red #40 is edible and safe, but research has shown that it does increase hyperactivity in some children, and at concentrations as high as those found in Red Velvet cake, I would question how safe it really is. My recommendation would be to opt for chocolate or vanilla flavors when you need a cake fix.

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.

People prefer red velvet cake over any other cake because it is made of Mild chocolate. A study showed that when the cocoa powder and buttermilk are put together, they result in the red color of this cake. For the mild chocolate flavor, you only need to add two spoons of cocoa powder.

While Chocolate Cake is made primarily with cocoa powder and sometimes melted chocolate, Red Velvet Cake is made with a small amount of cocoa powder, but is also known for its signature bright red color, which is usually achieved by adding red food coloring to the batter.

How Did Red Velvet Cake End Up Red? 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.