Red (wine) velvet cake

What if I told you there exists a velvet cake where the red comes not from food coloring but from the passionate, 350 degree chemistry between cocoa and red wine?

Could there be anything more romantic?  Could there be anything more perfect for your valentine (especially if your valentine is you)?

Read on, and I will show you the way.

The red (wine) velvet cake is Stella Parks’ (of Bravetart) take on taking on the ridiculous amount of red dye that’s in contemporary red velvet cake.   According to Ms. Parks, food science is the key here.  Raw cocoa powder comes together with red wine in an explosion of anthocyanins creating the the red in red velvet a little more naturally.  And really, can you think of a situation where 3 ounces of food coloring is a better idea than 12 ounces of a dry red wine and half a cup of cocoa powder?  I know you can’t because it doesn’t exist.

Truth time.  I didn’t use raw cocoa.  I used normal, old valhrona.  Did it make my cake less red?  Probably.

But, it wasn’t supposed to be the bright red of what we think of as red velvet in today’s terms.  Even with roasted cocoa, the red wine gave this rich chocolatey cake very pretty hennaed highlights.

Now we all know caked decorating isn’t really my jam, but I couldn’t resist dressing her up a little for Valentines Day, what with the chemical reactions and the chocolate and the wine.

I used my favorite cream cheese frosting recipe (listed below), and, unable to resist the food coloring siren completely, had a little fun with pink.

From a flavor perspective, this cake doesn’t taste like what we’ve come to know as red velvet.  When you compare ingredient lists, it shouldn’t.  Starting with the red wine and much more cocoa than my red velvet cake recipe, this red velvet also has just a hint of cinnamon. It is rich, decadent and special.

And before you ask, it doesn’t taste like win.  That’s what the other 13 ounces left in your bottle of wine are for.

Happy Valentine’s Day friends.

A note here on the recipe versus the pictures.  This recipe makes A LOT of cake.  As written, it makes 3, nine inch layers at about two and a half inches high.  For the pictures, I made two very thick six inch cakes (which I split to make four layers) and one normal nine inch layer.  That nine-inch layer is going to guest star with some ice cream and a little chemistry of it’s own in a couple of posts.  But, my point is that I think you could half the recipe and get a very respectable double layer eight or nine inch cake.

Red (Wine) Velvet Cake

Stella Parks, in Bravetart, Conic American Desserts

Makes 3X8″ cakes

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 C (12 ounces) all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 C (2 1/4 ounces) raw cocoa powder (I didn’t have raw, it was fine)
  • 3 1/2 sticks (14 ounces) unsalted butter, soft but cool
  • 2 C gently packed (16 ounces), light/golden brown sugar
  • 2 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 2 TBS (1 ounce) vanilla
  • 6 large eggs at room temp
  • 1 1/2 C (12 ounces) dry red wine
  • Batch of cream cheese frosting

Directions

  1. Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line three 8″ round baking pans and grease with pan spray or butter and flour.
  2. Sift together flour and cocoa, Set aside.
  3. In the bowl of a standing mixer (or hand mixer), combine butter, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and vanilla.  Mix on low speed to moisten and then increase to medium and cream until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes (pause to scrape down bowl along the way).
  4. With he mixer running, add the eggs one at a time, incorporating each egg before adding the next.
  5. Reduce speed to low and sprinkle in one-third of the flour-cocoa mixture, incorporate and follow with one-third of the wine.  Repeat, allowing each addition to be just barely incorporated before adding the next.  After last addition, remove bowl from stand and fold batter using spatula to make sure batter is evenly mixed.  Divide evenly among the cake pans (about 22 ounces each).
  6. Bake until the cakes are domed and firm when gently pressed and an inserted toothpick comes out with a few crumbs still attached.  Cool completely.
  7. Remove from pans.  Level and frost as desired.

 

Red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, the nectar of a sound relationship

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I was a bad food blogger and did not take process pictures of the red velvet cupcakes featured in the previous post. Bad, bad blogger.

My husband is from the midwest. I’m from Southern California. What this means is that while our native tongues may be the same, our cultural icons aren’t always. In our relationship, nowhere is this more present than at the dinner table. When we first started dating, he’d never had a churro and I’d never even heard of a strange concoction he called red velvet cake.

Back at the start of the century, when our courting commenced, red velvet cake hadn’t yet burst onto the trendy LA baking scene. In fact, I doubted its very existence. For months we had to take a stroll down the baking aisle of every grocery store we visited looking for evidence of this mysterious cake variety. Not once did we find any. So set was my husband on proving himself right however that around the holidays he had his dad send a box from Tennessee.

So, it did exist!

Well, one box of red velvet cake is all fine and good until it is gone. So, I womaned up and found a few recipes for red velvet cake. After much experimentation and too much money spent on Schilling red food coloring, I found a winner. Of course, this was just about the time that red velvet cake became the next big thing in Los Angeles. While our local grocery stores now carry the boxed stuff, and every bakery seems to offer it in cake and cupcake form, this recipe is pretty darn easy to make and much better if you ask me.

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes 2 round cakes or about 16 regular size cupcakes.

For cake

2.5 C all purpose flour

1.5 C sugar

1 t. baking soda

1 t. salt

1 t. cocoa powder

1.5 C vegetable oil

1 C buttermilk at room temp.

2 large eggs at room temp.

1 ounce red food coloring (see note)

1 t. white vinegar

For frosting

1 lb light cream cheese, softened (full fat works well too through I like the lightness of the reduced fat)

4 C sifted powdered sugar

1 C unsalted butter, softened

1 t. vanilla extract

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Lightly oil and flour 2 round cake pans (8” or 9”)

Sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder.

In a standing mixer fitted with a paddle (or large bowl) mix together buttermilk, eggs, oil, food coloring, vinegar and vanilla.

With the setting on low, slowly add in dry ingredients until just combined. Batter will be very wet and oily looking.

Divide cake evenly in prepared pans. Bake for about 30 minutes rotating halfway through until the cake pulls away from the side of the pan and a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Removed cakes from oven, let sit for 5 minutes. Run the edge of a butter knife around the rim of the cakes, loosening them. Invert pans on to cooling racks, let cakes cool completely.

Frosting

In standing mixer fitted with a paddle or a large bowl with a hand mixer, combine all ingredients on low. Once combined, increase speed to high and whip mixture until light and fluffy. Use immediately.

Notes:

Red food coloring: an ounce is a small bottle of the stuff. In our neighborhood, this runs around $4. However, gel food colors such as the ones made by Ateco are less expensive and will get you more bang for the buck. You can find them in restaurant supply stores, suburban cooking shops like Sur La Table or can order them all over the place online (just enter in “Ateco food gel” as the search term).

The cakes don’t rise a whole lot. When I’m making a layer cake, I usually bake two batches and use three of the layers (you can freeze the fourth for later assuming it doesn’t get eaten on the spot like it seems to in our household).

For cupcakes, fill to a generous ¾.