BEST Southern Red Velvet Cake Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the best cocoa powder for red velvet cake? ›

The Best Cocoa for Red Velvet Cake Is Natural Cocoa

Natural cocoa is the best cocoa for red velvet cake for two reasons. With a higher acidity, natural cocoa works with the cake's baking soda and buttermilk to leaven the cake to a tight, tender crumb. The results are an almost melt-in-your-mouth tender cake.

While red velvet cake is technically a cocoa cake, there is a key difference between standard chocolate cake and red velvet cake. Chocolate cake recipes traditionally use Dutch-processed cocoa, while red velvet cake uses unprocessed cocoa, a more acidic ingredient that produces a deeper, more intense chocolate flavor.

When bakers added vinegar, baking soda, or buttermilk to their recipes to tenderize the cakes, the acid in those ingredients reacted with the cocoa, which was not Dutch-processed, to give the cakes a red tint. That color became a signature of velvet cakes.

Fat is essential for keeping baked goods moist and tender. If you use too little fat in your red velvet cake recipe, the cake can turn out dry. Make sure to use the amount of fat specified in your recipe, and do not substitute with lower-fat ingredients.

I use a dark, unsweetened cocoa powder for maximum chocolate richness. You can use Hershey's Unsweetened Cocoa powder if you wish. Remember: the darker the cocoa powder, the richer and darker the cake. Do not substitute the oil for melted butter.

A small amount will be fine, but if you try to add enough to make it significantly chocolate flavored, you'll throw off both the wet/dry ratio and the acid chemistry of the mix, and probably end up with an unsatisfactory cake.

Unfortunately some red food colours have a bitter taste because of the ingredients used, particularly the colourant red #3 (E127). So it may help to check the ingredients of the red food colour or use a red food colour paste that is sold as "no taste".

What flavor is red velvet? While there are cocoa undertones, red velvet is not chocolate cake because it balances both chocolate and vanilla flavors. It contains cocoa but not the same quantity as traditional chocolate cake, resulting in a more subtle cocoa flavor and tanginess due to the buttermilk and vinegar.

Red velvet cake is traditionally a red, crimson, or scarlet-colored layer cake, layered with ermine icing. Traditional recipes do not use food coloring, with the red color possibly due to non-Dutched, anthocyanin-rich cocoa, and possibly due to the usage of brown sugar, formerly called red sugar.

If you don't want to use vinegar, you can substitute an equal amount of lemon juice. If you want to skip the acidic liquid altogether, you can substitute a tablespoon of baking powder for each teaspoon of baking soda. Then add water equal to the amount of vinegar you omitted.

Which vinegar is best for cakes? ›

Red velvet cake recipes usually call for buttermilk and a little bit of white vinegar, to give the cake some tang. Since it's acidity your after, rather than a distinct flavor, when baking, plain white vinegar is most likely the ingredient you are going to use.

Some ways to do this is by substituting baking powder in place of baking soda, using a natural non-alkalized cocoa powder, adding more white vinegar or buttermilk to your red velvet recipe, to achieve a bright red color.

When to use which one. Baking soda is used in recipes that also include an acidic ingredient, such as cream of tartar, buttermilk, or citrus juice. Conversely, baking powder is typically used when the recipe doesn't feature an acidic ingredient, as the powder already includes the acid needed to produce carbon dioxide.

The spring test

The best way to check if the cake is springy is to gently press down on the cake with two fingers, it should naturally spring back. This is a good sign that the cake is properly cooked in the middle and ready to take out of the oven.

“When it comes to baking, I prefer Dutch process cocoa powder,” says former BA food editor Claire Saffitz. “The alkalizing process darkens the color and typically deepens the flavor.” Dutch process cocoa powder produces baked goods that taste more intensely chocolatey.

So what's the difference? The answer is in the heat. Cocoa powder and cacao powder are very similar, the only difference being that cocoa is processed at a much higher temperature (and often packaged cocoa contains added sugar and dairy).

Its higher acidity joins forces with the buttermilk and baking soda, resulting in that soft, almost melt-in-your-mouth texture we all love in a cake layer. Natural cocoa powder is lighter in color, which gives a more vibrant red hue to your red velvet cake.

She also recommends Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker as another solid option for natural—the 100% Unsweetened Dark Chocolate Cocoa Powder—and mentioned the King Arthur Baking Company. The latter has two Dutch-process cocoas she likes—the Bensdorp Cocoa Powder and the Burgundy Cocoa.