One of the great mysteries of baking is the time that it takes. Cooking, I can taste as I go along, but with baking, there is a special magic that happens from the time that everything is mixed, to the time that it is baked.
I attempted to make red velvet cake. The batter tasted good. I used this recipe from Pinch My Salt (but it was very similar to most other recipes that I read.)
The cakes came out an interesting mottled color:
6 inch Red Velvet Cake
. A few sites suggested cooking cakes in a 3 inch pan, as to not have to make two layers. This is important when my oven will not hold two 8 or 9 inch cake pans.)
I frosted the cake with cream cheese frosting. The frosting climbed my beaters, which was weird and I am not sure why or how that happened. It also seemed that the frosting could have used more powdered sugar to make a thicker consistency, but I ran out of sugar (and forgot about the box in the pantry.) I should have done a crumb coat, but I was impatient to actually try the cake. So, not the best icing job in the world :)
And, I didnt like it. The cake was not as rich or moist as I would have liked. It also did not have a deep enough chocolate flavor. Sad. I think when I go back home for winter break I will steal my grandmothers recipe and try it again.
Ai said
My lover attempted to make red velvet cake *twice*. Both times, it came out as a disaster. We came to the conclusion that bakers who make absolutely delicious red velvet cake hide the true nature of their recipes. Hee hee!
Sarah said
Hey, I followed you here from trashy_eats. Helloooo!
What is it with American’s an red velvet cake? No one in Australia makes it. And why not green velvet or blue velvet….or brown? Then you could just stick to chocolate! Explain this phenomenon to me, I want to LEARN!
Also, our blogs have similar themes. You should have a look at mine: http://thecondemnedateaheartydinner.blogspot.com
Sqweak said
Red velvet is one of my favorite type of cake to make. I don’t often bake but when I can it’s normally cake. The color is very good and red velvet is one of hardest things I’ve ever tried and it never comes out the way I want it to. Did you know there are two did types of red velvet? I saw on the food channel that apparently a southern red velvet consist of less chocolate then a northern red velvet, is that true? Either way it looks delicious!
empiricalbaker said
A “True” red velvet cake has both buttermilk and chocolate in it. One of the original recipes was from the Waldorf Astoria, which is very similar to my grandmother’s recipe. I have not heard the north vs south chocolate debate, I shall have to look into it!