A Red velvet cake is a type of rich and sweet cake, with a distinctive dark red to bright red or red-brown color. Cake is a form of Food that is usually sweet and often baked. Common ingredients include buttermilk, butter, flour, cocoa powder, and often either beets, or red food coloring. Buttermilk is a Fermented dairy product produced from Cow's milk with a characteristically sour taste Butter is a Dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented Cream or Milk. Flour is a powder made of Cereal grains It is the key ingredient of Bread, which is a staple food in many countries and therefore the availability Cocoa is the dried and fully fermented fatty seed of the cacao tree from which Chocolate is made The beet or beetroot is a Flowering plant species ( Beta vulgaris) in the family Chenopodiaceae. A food coloring is any substance that is added to Food or Drink to change its Color. It is most popular in the Southern United States, though known in other regions. The Southern United States &mdashcommonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South &mdashconstitutes a large distinctive The most typical frosting for a red velvet cake is a butter roux icing also known as a cooked flour frosting. Icing, also called frosting, is a Sweet glaze made of Sugar that often also contains Butter, Water, Egg whites Roux (ˈruː (pronounced somewhat like the English word "rue" is a mixture of wheat Flour and Fat, traditionally butter Icing, also called frosting, is a Sweet glaze made of Sugar that often also contains Butter, Water, Egg whites Cream cheese buttercream frostings are also popular.

Traditionalists believe that red velvet cakes must contain cocoa,^[1] although recipes are available that do not contain any chocolate flavoring. Chocolate ( pronounced or /-ˈələt/ comprises a number of raw and processed foods that are produced from the seed of the tropical Cacao tree ^[2][3]

Contents 1 History 1.1 Dye And Other Color Sources 2 Secret Recipes 2.1 Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York 2.2 Eaton's of Canada 3 References 4 External links

History

James Beard's 1972 reference American Cookery^[4] describes three kinds of red velvet cake varying in the amounts of shortening and butter used. James Andrew Beard ( May 5, 1903 – January 21, 1985) was an American Chef and Food Shortening is a semisolid Fat used in food preparation especially baked goods and is so called because it promotes a "short" or crumbly texture (as in Shortbread Butter is a Dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented Cream or Milk. All of them use red food coloring for the color, but it is mentioned that the reaction of acidic vinegar and buttermilk tends to turn the cocoa a reddish brown color. A food coloring is any substance that is added to Food or Drink to change its Color. Vinegar is an acidic liquid processed from the Fermentation of Ethanol in a process that yields its key ingredient Acetic acid (also called ethanoic acid Buttermilk is a Fermented dairy product produced from Cow's milk with a characteristically sour taste Cocoa is the dried and fully fermented fatty seed of the cacao tree from which Chocolate is made Furthermore, before more alkaline "Dutch Processed" cocoa was widely available, the red color would have been more pronounced. This natural tinting may have been the source for the name "Red Velvet" as well as "Devil's Food" and a long list of similar names for chocolate cakes. ^[5]

A resurgence in the popularity of this cake is partly attributed to the 1989 film Steel Magnolias in which the groom's cake (another southern tradition) is a red velvet cake made in the shape of an armadillo. Year 1989 ( MCMLXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar) Steel Magnolias, by Robert Harling, is a 1987 off-Broadway play, made into a movie in 1989 A groom's cake is a Wedding tradition typically associated with the American South. Armadillos are small Placental Mammals known for having a leathery armor shell

Dye And Other Color Sources

The use of red dye to make "Red Velvet" cake was probably started after the introduction of the darker cocoa in order to reproduce the earlier color. It is also notable that while foods were rationed during World War II, some bakers used boiled beets to enhance the color of their cakes. Rationing is the controlled distribution of resources and scarce goods or services World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including This article refers to the cooking profession For other uses see Baker (disambiguation A baker is someone who primarily Bakes Boiled grated beets or beet baby food are still found in some red velvet cake recipes. Baby food is any Food, other than breastmilk or infant formula that is given specifically to Infants roughly between the ages of four months Red velvet cakes seemed to find a home in the U. S. South and reached peak popularity in the 1950s – just before a controversy arose about health effects of common food colorings. The 1950s Decade refers to the years of 1950 to 1959 inclusive

Secret Recipes

Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York

The story of red velvet cake is, probably mistakenly, attached to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel is a famously luxurious hotel in New York The City of New York An early version of the infamous Neiman-Marcus cookie legend^[6] has it that a woman asked for the recipe for the delicious red velvet cake she was served at the hotel restaurant, only to find that she had been billed $100 (or $250) for the recipe. Neiman Marcus is an upscale specialty retail Department store, operated by the Neiman Marcus Group in the United States. Indignant, she spread it to all her friends as a chain letter. A typical chain letter consists of a Message that attempts to induce the recipient to make a number of copies of the letter and then pass them on to as many recipients This genre of legend dates to at least the 1940s as a $25 fudge cake recipe given to a railroad passenger during the days of elegant rail travel. The 1940s decade ran from 1940 to 1949 Events and trends The 1940s was a period between the radical 1930s and the conservative 1950s which also leads the period to be

Eaton's of Canada

In Canada, red velvet cake was a well-known signature dessert in the restaurants and bakeries of the Eaton's department store chain in the 1940s and 1950s. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page Eaton's was once Canada 's largest Department store Retailer. ^[7] Promoted as an "exclusive" Eaton's recipe, with employees who knew the recipe sworn to silence, many Eaton's patrons mistakenly believed the cake to be the invention of the department store matriarch, Lady Flora McCrea Eaton. Flora McCrea Eaton Lady Eaton was the wife of Toronto department store president and heir Sir John Craig Eaton. Unbeknownst to Canadian shoppers, most of whom would have been unfamiliar with the cuisine of the American south, the recipe likely originated in the United States rather than in the Eaton's kitchens.

References

External links

• Allrecipes Red Velvet Cake Recipe with Buttercream Frosting
• Red Velvet Cake Recipes from southernfood.about.com
• So Naughty, So Nice -- Popularity, legends, and history of Red Velvet Cake, New York Times, 14 Feb 2007

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