What Does A Real Red Velvet Cake Recipe Taste Like
A real red velvet cake recipe is made with buttermilk, vinegar and a tiny bit of cocoa powder. These ingredients result in a very tangy cake with a hint of chocolate. This is a pretty unique flavor combination but when you add in some cream cheese frosting or ermine frosting , then it adds even more tangy flavor. That tangy flavor is the sign of a true red velvet cake recipe.
This Best Red Velvet Cake Recipe You Will Ever Try
My mom would always make this velvet red cake cake from scratch on Christmas when I was growing up. I never really thought too much about it, except that it was a special occasion cake. She would go to the trouble of making the cake, cooking the frosting, and carefully frosting it. It was a rustic beauty.
Red Velvet Cake Recipe
This is my go-to cake when I want an indulgent treat that turns any meal into a festive celebration. In fact, I bake myself this cake each year on my birthday , and the vibrant red-and-white dessert also makes a regular appearance on our Christmas buffet. It’s timeless, old-fashioned, and always well-received. Best of all, the homemade red velvet cake is actually really simple to prepare!
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How To Make Buttermilk
For this DIY buttermilk recipe, youll need some milk and an acid. You can use any kind of milk, I typically use whole milk because its what I usually have on hand. For the acid, I usually use fresh lemon juice, but you can also use distilled white vinegar.
Youll start by adding 1 tablespoon of either fresh lemon juice or distilled white vinegar into a measuring cup.
Once youve added the acid, pour in 1 scant cup of milk. In other words, youll pour the milk into the measuring cup until it reaches the 1 cup line. Then, stir the mixture together well and set it aside for about 5 to 10 minutes before using it in your recipe. The mixture should look a little curdled, thats when you know its ready.
Side note: I use these OXO angled measuring cups and love them! You dont have to worry about getting to eye level with the measuring cup to make sure you have the right amount.
How To Make The Best Red Velvet Cake Recipe
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What Is The Difference Between Chocolate Cake And Red Velvet Cake
Aside from having much less chocolate taste, a red velvet cake will also have vinegar and buttermilk in the batter, which reacts with the leavening agents to give you a fluffier cake. Originally the cakes had a dusty maroon hue from the acid reacting with cocoa powder but as time went on that became a bright red color with the addition of red dye to the batter.
The Most Incredible Red Velvet Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting Fluffy Soft Buttery And Moist With The Most Perfect Velvet Texture
Super easy to make Red Velvet Cake is similar to the original recipe that started it all! Made entirely from scratch with a few tips and tricks, this is one cake that takes centre stage! Softer than most cakes with a mouth-watering velvet-like texture in each bite.
Any cake that layered and slathered with a cream cheese frosting can sit by me with a huge spoon. Out of all cakes on this blog, this one is my favourite.
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Tips For The Best Red Velvet Cake Recipe
- Make sure that all of your ingredients are at room temperature. This helps them blend together more easily and smoothly.
- Use thick, whole, real buttermilk if possible. This is the liquid that runs off a batch of fresh butter, not to be confused with the cultured milk that’s often labeled as buttermilk in grocery stores.
- Refrigerate the cake for at least 1 hour before slicing and serving. The cream cheese frosting will be quite soft when first spread, so you’ll have a cleaner cut if you give the cake time to firm up.
- For a three-layer cake, divide the batter between three 9-inch round cake pans instead of two. Bake the thinner cake layers for about 22-25 minutes. You should have enough frosting for that extra layer, too.
- Sift the confectioners’ sugar to avoid any lumps in your frosting.
- Use full-fat block-style cream cheese for the frosting. The cream cheese frosting will be thin and runny if you substitute with low fat cream cheese or cream cheese spread from a tub.
Why Is Red Velvet Cake Red
The tale of how this uniquely American dessert got its striking hue requires a bit of a history lesson.
You may have heard it said that red velvet cake is just chocolate cake with the addition of red food coloring, but that is actually not the case. The cake’s classic red hue actually came as a by-product of the combination of ingredients used to create its signature “velvety” texture. Let’s look at the layered history of this iconic cake.
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Perfect Red Velvet Cake
My mom and I have been using the same Red Velvet Cake recipe for as long as I can remember. Its the one she used when I was a kid and the one Ive always made. And while its delicious, I knew it could be better. And since it was a recipe that was given to her, I can say that. I wouldnt be bad talking my own mamas recipe, folks. I know better than that. But since it isnt hers I can say I knew it could be better.
So over the course of the last few years, Ive tweaked and changed, swapped and substituted, and come up with something that I think is dang near perfection. Its light and tender, super moist, crazy flavorful with a bold red color, and its covered in a decadent cream cheese frosting thats studded with toasted pecans. Do I have your attention?
Admittedly, Im not a huge fan of the fuss of layer cakes give me a sheet cake any day! but every now and then a special occasion warrants a special cake. And this is the one.
So lets talk about what makes this cake so special
We start with cake flour. I know, its not necessarily something that you have in the pantry, but its important. Cake flour is a very fine, low protein flour. It makes cakes super tender because the lack of protein helps prevent gluten formation which makes baked goods chewy. Gluten is a great thing in pizza crust, but not in cake. Se we use a low protein flour to keep it from developing. Its pretty easy to get your hands on.
Tips From The Betty Crocker Kitchens
- tip 1 If youre a cake or cookie decorator, rummage through your collection of paste or gel colors. Replace the liquid food color with just a small amount of paste or gel colors to tint the batter these food colors are more concentrated and intense, so you dont need as much to achieve the deep red chocolate look that defines Red Velvet Cake.
- tip 2 The acidity of buttermilk here isnt needed to just help activate the leavening like it does in other baked goods. But its part of infusing a subtle tang and tenderness to the crumb of the cake, whose flavor is more a cross between a mild chocolate and vanilla base.
- tip 3 Be sure to measure ingredients accurately in this Classic Red Velvet Cake recipe. Using the right measuring equipment for the ingredient being measured can make a difference in how a recipe turns out.
- tip 4 Bake up a batch of Red Velvet Cupcakes instead of a whole cake. Here’s how: Place a paper baking cup in each of 24 regular-size muffin cups. Heat oven and make cake batter as directed in recipe. Spoon batter evenly into muffin cups, filling each about 2/3 full. Bake 20 to 22 minutes or until the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove cupcakes from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes. Frost.
- tip 5 When making Red Velvet Cake from scratch, some bakers make a rich cream cheese frosting instead of red velvet cake frosting to fill and frost their cake.
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Products I Use To Make This Cake
9-inch cake pans these high quality cake pans help my layer cakes bake beautifully. Some of you asked me on Instagram how come my cakes are so flat. There are a few tricks for it, and you can read about it in this helpful guide, but Ill be honest that I dont bother with this. I get good results with these cake pans, and if the cakes have a dome, I slice it off with a sharp knife. Its less trouble, and no one would notice.
Red food coloring I always prefer using gel than liquid. Ive tried many and this one has the best vibrant red color.
How To Make Cake Flour
To start, youll measure out one cup of all-purpose flour. One important thing to remember for this step is that you need to spoon your all-purpose flour into the measuring cup then level it off with the back of a knife.
If you scoop your flour from the container, it can become packed inside the cup and you can end up with WAY too much flour.
Then, remove two tablespoons of the flour and add it back to your flour bag or container. Next, replace the two tablespoons of flour with two tablespoons of cornstarch .
Why cornstarch? The cornstarch inhibits some of the gluten formation, which results in a softer baked good.
Once youve added the cornstarch, whisk it into the flour until well combined and sift the mixture 4-5 times. This will help aerate the flour and incorporate the two together really well.
Then, measure out the amount of cake flour needed in your recipe by spooning the sifted flour into your measuring cup and leveling it off with the back of a knife.
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More Delectable Cake Recipes
Everyone loves a good cake recipe and I have some of the best around! My Orange Vanilla Bundt Cake is another super moist dessert and is infused with orange zest! It’s topped with an easy vanilla frosting and mini chocolate chips! And this Apple Cinnamon Cake With Butter Rum is seasonal, mixed with ground cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg topped with a creamy butter and spiced rum glaze. It’s moist and flavorful!
I hope you love this recipe as much as I do. Make sure you leave me a comment and star rating below. I love hearing from you! And make sure you so you never miss a recipe from me!
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Ingredients For Homemade Red Velvet Cake
- Butter: gives the red velvet cake its classic buttery flavor
- Sugar: sweetness
- Oil: for moisture. The butter gives you the flavor, but the oil helps to prevent a dry cake.
- Eggs: structure
- Red food coloring: two 1-ounce bottles of liquid food coloring give this cake a beautiful, vibrant red color.
- Vinegar: a traditional ingredient in this cake, the vinegar helps brighten the red hue and tenderizes the crumb. You can’t actually taste the vinegar itself.
- Vanilla extract: for flavor
- Cake flour: While you can sub with all-purpose flour in a pinch, the cake flour has a lighter texture, which creates a softer, lighter cake with that hallmark “velvet” consistency.
- Unsweetened cocoa powder: contributes to the red color and adds a very subtle hint of chocolate in the background. If you prefer a slightly more prominent chocolate flavor, increase the cocoa powder to 2 tablespoons.
- Salt: for flavor
- Baking soda: leavening that helps the cake rise
- Buttermilk: use thick, whole buttermilk if possible. It’s creamy, tangy, and adds moisture to the cake. The buttermilk also reacts with the baking soda to help the cake rise.
- Cream cheese: for a rich, creamy frosting. Use blocks of cream cheese .
- Confectioners’ sugar: to sweeten the frosting
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What Is Red Velvet Cake
Red Velvet Cake is not just a chocolate cake that’s tinted with red food coloring. Instead, this traditional Southern dessert has a very unique taste that’s hard to pinpoint or describe. The layer cake is flavored with a small amount of cocoa, but don’t expect a chocolate cake. The combination of buttermilk, butter, oil, cocoa, vinegar, and flour yields a moist, tender cake with a velvet-like texture. The complex flavor is a perfect combination of buttery vanilla cake with a hint of cocoa and tang. It’s typically finished with a thick layer of cream cheese frosting, but some recipes use a buttercream frosting instead.
How To Make A Red Velvet Layer Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting
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