Red Velvet could quite possibly be the most popular cake flavor ever. I seriously don’t know anyone who doesn’t like it. If you do, I recommend you cut that person out of your life. You don’t need that negativity. These days we have red velvet everything thing- cheesecake, pancakes, muffins, cookies, etc… Here’s me hoping on the bandwagon, even though my Mother can confirm it’s always been my fav. There is a lot of controversy over the real red velvet and why it’s red. So before we get to the recipe, here’s a little red velvet history.
Here’s an excerpt from the New York Times: In cakes, an acid like buttermilk or vinegar may be used to activate baking soda, a common leavening. The reddish tint produced by the acid and the cocoa might explain why some chocolate cakes are called devil’s food, a theory that was held by James Beard. Home bakers in the South may have decided to exaggerate cocoa’s natural hue with food coloring and — Eureka! — they had red velvet.
Another theory is that home cooks started adding red food coloring after Dutch process cocoa became widely used. (The Dutch process makes cocoa easier to dissolve by adding an alkalizing agent like potassium carbonate, decreasing the acidity in the batter and muting the redness.)
2 1/4 cups flour
3 Tbsp unsweetned cocoa powder
2 tsp cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon juice or vinegar
Red food coloring or red velvet coloring
In a mixing bowl whisk together the dry ingredients- flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking powder and salt until well blended, set aside. In the bowl of your mixer whip butter, shortening and sugar until pale and fluffy. Mix in egg, then egg white, vanilla, lemon juice and food coloring. With mixer set on low speed, slowly add in dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill 2 hours. Preheat oven to 375 degrees during last 10 minutes of chilling.
Shape dough into about 3 Tbsp balls and transfer to prepared baking sheets. Flatten balls with greased hands to about 1/2-inch. Bake in preheated oven 9 – 11 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool. These would be great with cream cheese frosting (see banana cake post for recipe) and holiday sprinkles.
Eat.Well. 