Place of origin | United States |
---|---|
Main ingredients | Baking powder, butter, buttermilk, cocoa powder, eggs, flour, salt, vanilla extract, vinegar, and/or cream cheese or ermine icing |
Red velvet cake is a red-hued chocolate layer cake with cream cheese or ermine icing. The origin of the cake is unknown, although it is popular in the Southern United States and has been served as a dessert at New York City's Waldorf-Astoria hotel since the 1920s. Both the hotel and Eaton's in Canada claim to have developed the recipe.
The cake became popular from the 1990s through the 2010s in the United States to the point that other food products were being made to mimic the flavor and other consumer products were being made to mimic the scent.
The main ingredients of the cake are baking powder, butter, buttermilk or vinegar, cocoa powder, eggs, flour, salt, vanilla extract, and in most modern recipes, red food coloring.
Recipes for "velvet cakes", designated so because of the fineness of their crumb texture, date to the 1800s but include a variety of types of cake, including pancakes, whose recipes called for ingredients like almond flour, cocoa or cornstarch to soften the wheat flour proteins and make finer-textured cakes. [1] [2] At the time, brown sugar, which was also called red sugar, was more readily and cheaply available than refined white sugar, and may have turned the cakes "vaguely reddish", according to Stella Parks. [2]
The first recipes for chocolates cakes also appeared in the late 1800s, and some recipes called for buttermilk or another acidic ingredient, which when combined with the raw cocoa powder commonly available at the time turned the batter and resulting cake a naturally-occurring burgundy color. Cakes from this type of recipe include red devil cake, mahogany cake, and oxblood cake. [1] [2] According to Parks, the concept of a velvet cocoa powder cake originated in the early 20th century when the recipes for mahogany cake and devil's food cake were merged. [3]
Later, during rationing periods around World War I and the Great Depression, recipes were developed using vegetables, fruits and their juices to partially replace the moisture from dairy and eggs; cakes made with beets were red, and chocolate cakes made with beets were burgundy. [2]
When artificial food colorings were developed in the 1930s, manufacturers marketed them by developing recipes in which they were called for, including to enhance naturally-occurring colors from the other ingredients. [2] One such recipe was created by the Adams Extract Company after owners John and Betty Adams ate the cake at the Waldorf-Astoria; the company's recipe was based on mahogany cake and called for red food coloring and ermine icing. [1]
Although the dish is popularly associated with the cuisine of the Southern US, it is unknown where the red velvet cake originated. [4] [5] [6]
Red velvet cake became a famous dessert at New York City's Waldorf-Astoria hotel in the 1920s. According to John Harrisson and John Doherty, the authors of the Waldorf-Astoria Cookbook, the red velvet layer cake is considered a Southern recipe. [5] During World War II, the Adams Extract company used red food dye to produce a recipe similar to Waldorf-Astoria. [7] Their recipe thereafter became renowned throughout the country. [2] In the late 20th century, the cake regained popularity as a result of the 1989 film Steel Magnolias and the Magnolia Bakery, which opened in New York City in 1996. [8]
In Canada, the cake was popular in the 1940s and 1950s. [9] It was featured at restaurants inside Eaton's department store in Toronto and was widely attributed as a favorite of Flora Eaton. [1] The Lunch with Lady Eaton cookbook refers to it as a "exclusive sweet recipe of Eaton's". [6] Both the Waldorf-Astoria and Eaton's claim to have created the red velvet cake. [2]
The primary ingredients of red velvet cake are baking powder, butter, buttermilk, cocoa powder, eggs, flour, salt, vanilla extract, vinegar, and generally red food coloring. [4] [5] [10] Typically the batter is made using the creaming method. [10]
Most modern recipes call for a cream cheese frosting, but some recipes call for ermine icing. [4] [5] [10]
Red velvet cheesecake s, cookies, brownies, cinnamon rolls, lattes, teas, waffles, Pop-Tarts, and sundaes exist. [1] [11] The flavor has also been used in protein powders and vodka and the scent in candles and air fresheners. [1]
The cake was not particularly popular until it was featured in the 1989 Steel Magnolias , which resulted in an immediate increase in interest in it. [1] [5] [9] . In 2002 Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey used it as their wedding cake. [5] Eventually it became trendy in upscale bakeries. [1] [5] [9] By 2009 it was part of 1.5% of all US menu items and by 2013, 4.1%. By 2014 it had become "a national commercial obsession" according to Kim Severson of The New York Times , who described it as the cake having "got its sleeve caught in the American food merchandising machine". [1]
According to Nicole A. Taylor, red velvet cake, like other red foods, is commonly served for Juneteenth celebrations. [2] However, it is not a dish that is otherwise closely associated with African-American culture. [1]
Although the cake is often considered a southern cake, Virginia Willis described categorizing the cake as part of southern cuisine as "insulting on some level culturally". [1]
James Beard considered it bland and uninteresting. [1] Angie Mosier of the Southern Foodways Alliance said, "It’s the Dolly Parton of cakes: a little bit tacky, but you love her". [5] The owner of a bakery that makes red velvet cakes and cupcakes told the New York Times, "People love it, and I don’t understand why." [5]
Dessert is a course that concludes a meal. The course consists of sweet foods, such as cake, biscuit, ice cream and possibly a beverage such as dessert wine and liqueur. Some cultures sweeten foods that are more commonly savory to create desserts. In some parts of the world, there is no tradition of a dessert course to conclude a meal.
Cake is a flour confection usually made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elaborate and which share features with desserts such as pastries, meringues, custards, and pies.
Pound cake is a type of cake traditionally made with a pound of each of four ingredients: flour, butter, eggs, and sugar. Pound cakes are generally baked in either a loaf pan or a Bundt mold. They are sometimes served either dusted with powdered sugar, lightly glazed, or with a coat of icing.
Soda bread is a variety of quick bread made in many cuisines in which sodium bicarbonate is used as a leavening agent instead of yeast. The basic ingredients of soda bread are flour, baking soda, salt, and buttermilk. The buttermilk contains lactic acid, which reacts with the baking soda to form bubbles of carbon dioxide. Other ingredients can be added, such as butter, egg, raisins, or nuts. Quick breads can be prepared quickly and reliably, without requiring the time and labor needed for kneaded yeast breads.
Devil's food cake is a moist, rich chocolate layer cake.
Icing, or frosting, is a sweet, often creamy glaze made of sugar with a liquid, such as water or milk, that is often enriched with ingredients like butter, egg whites, cream cheese, or flavorings. It is used to coat or decorate baked goods, such as cakes. When it is used between layers of cake it is known as a filling.
Shortcake generally refers to a dessert with a crumbly scone-like texture. There are multiple variations of shortcake, most of which are served with fruit and cream. One of the most popular is strawberry shortcake, which is typically served with whipped cream. Other variations common in the UK are blackberry and clotted cream shortcake and lemon berry shortcake, which is served with lemon curd in place of cream.
Chocolate sauce, sometimes called chocolate syrup, is a sweet, chocolate-flavored condiment. It is often used as a topping or dessert sauce for various desserts, such as ice cream, or mixed with milk to make chocolate milk or blended with milk and ice cream to make a chocolate milkshake. Chocolate sauce is sold in a variety of consistencies, ranging from a thin liquid that can be drizzled from a bottle to a thick sauce that needs to be spooned onto the dessert item.
Cookie dough is an uncooked blend of cookie ingredients. While cookie dough is normally intended to be baked into individual cookies before eating, edible cookie dough is made to be eaten as is, and usually is made without eggs to make it safer for human consumption.
Chocolate cake or chocolate gâteau is a cake flavored with melted chocolate, cocoa powder, or both. It can also have other ingredients such as fudge, vanilla creme, and other sweeteners.
Buttercream, also referred to as butter icing or butter frosting, is used for either filling, coating or decorating cakes. The main ingredients are butter and some type of sugar.
Wacky cake, also called crazy cake, lazy cake, Joe cake, wowie cake, and WW II cake, is a spongy, cocoa-based cake. It is unique in that unlike many pastries and desserts, no eggs, butter or milk are used to make the cake batter.
Flourless chocolate cake is a dense cake made from an aerated chocolate custard. The first documented form of the cake was seen in Ferrara, Italy, though some forms of the cake have myths surrounding their origins. The dessert contains no gluten, which makes it acceptable for those with celiac disease, gluten-free diets, and during religious holidays in which gluten and grains are not permitted.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to chocolate:
Sponge cake is a light cake made with eggs, flour and sugar, sometimes leavened with baking powder. Some sponge cakes do not contain egg yolks, like angel food cake, but most do. Sponge cakes, leavened with beaten eggs, originated during the Renaissance, possibly in Spain.
Applesauce cake is a dessert cake prepared using apple sauce, flour and sugar as primary ingredients. Various spices are typically used, and it tends to be a moist cake. Several additional ingredients may also be used in its preparation, and it is sometimes prepared and served as a coffee cake. The cake dates back to early colonial times in the United States. National Applesauce Cake Day occurs annually on June 6 in the U.S.
The old-fashioned doughnut is a term used for a variety of cake doughnut prepared in the shape of a ring with a cracked surface and tapered edges. While many early cookbooks included recipes for "old-fashioned donuts" that were made with yeast, the distinctive cake doughnuts sold in doughnut shops are made with chemical leavener and may have crisper texture compared to other styles of cake doughnuts. The cracked surface is usually glazed or coated with sugar.
White cake is a type of cake that is made without egg yolks. White cakes were also once known as silver cakes.
Pie in American cuisine evolved over centuries from savory game pies. When sugar became more widely available women began making simple sweet fillings with a handful of basic ingredients. By the 1920s and 1930s there was growing consensus that cookbooks needed to be updated for the modern electric kitchen. New appliances, recipes and convenience food ingredients changed the way Americans made iconic dessert pies like key lime pie, coconut cream pie and banana cream pie.