Good Cake Gone Red

It’s fluffy, it’s red, and it’s the latest craze in storefront windows up and down Broadway. No, it’s not the lovable tickle-me-Elmo doll. Here’s another clue: it’s edible. You may be wrinkling your nose, wondering what you would eat that’s red and fluffy. But Red Velvet cake has become so popular in bakeries around the city that it sells out fresh from of the oven. However, where exactly it came from and why it’s so popular remains a bit of a mystery, even to experts of the culinary world.
The general consensus is that Red Velvet cake originated in the South. This claim was substantiated when it gained notoriety in the great 80s movie, “Steel Magnolias.” It’s been available at the famous Greenwich Village bakery Magnolia since it opened ten years ago. Magnolia specializes in southern desserts, and Red Velvet has been its most popular cake since the beginning. Now, Magnolia-like bakeries can be found all over New York, and most of them carry Red Velvet cake or its little cupcake counterparts.
Red Velvet cake got another big boost when southern belle Jessica Simpson chose it for her wedding cake when she married Nick Lachey in 2002. But was it the pure aesthetic quality of a gooey red cake lined with creamy white icing that drew Simpson and others to this unparalleled cake? Or is there something more to it than our usual go-to yellow cake or the devil’s food that has enticed generations of finger-licking pleasure?
The truth is, there’s a lot of controversy over the cake, and a wide variety in the quality around the city. Some cakes are rich without being too sweet, but others taste like nothing more than a yellow cake dyed blood red.
While Red Velvet is often considered a type of chocolate cake, there is sometimes no chocolate in the ingredients. This, some bakers argue, cannot be real Red Velvet. Even if only a touch of cocoa is used, it is a necessary ingredient. However, using cocoa creates a problem: the batter is darkened by the cocoa, and therefore more difficult to turn red. Some bakeries admit to using a regular yellow cake mix and dumping red food coloring into it.
One story links the origins of Red Velvet cake to the Waldorf-Astoria. Apparently, it became a signature dish there back in the 1920s, and the hotel still gets so many requests for it that it remains on the room service menu. However, the executive chef there, John Doherty, expressed disgust at the use of food coloring, and said that they use beets to color the batter. Other bakers use cherries, but many stick to the food coloring. For example, Perfect Endings, the bakery in Napa, California that was in charge of Jessica Simpson’s wedding, had to go with the food coloring. The owner, Sam Godfrey, learned the recipe from his grandmother, an Arkansas native. “I tried cherries and beets,” he explained. “But it wasn’t right. Then I decided to honor my grandmother, so I went ahead with the food coloring.”
Many foodies turn up their noses at Red Velvet cake, but it is selling out bakeries around the city. You’ll have to sample for yourself to see which side of the fence you stand.
Ingredients:
1 cup vegetable shortening
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
2 ounces red food coloring
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vinegar
White frosting, recipe follows
White Frosting:
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In the bowl of a mixer, cream together the shortening, eggs and sugar. In a separate small bowl, mix together the cocoa and food coloring. Add the paste to the shortening mixture. Sift the flour and salt together over parchment. Add to the batter alternately with the buttermilk in 3 additions. Add the vanilla extract. Fold in the baking soda and vinegar. Pour the batter into 2 greased 9-inch cake pans. Bake for 30 minutes or until an inserted cake tester comes out clean. Let cool on a cooling rack. Invert the cakes from the pans.
Frosting: Over medium heat, cook the flour and milk until thickened. Let cool. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in the flour mixture.
Frost the top of the first layer with frosting and set the second layer on top. Frost the entire cake with remaining frosting.
-Emily J Weitz