Gosh, it's been decades since I made one! I think I still have my ex-mother in law's recipe somewhere.

I am not much of a cake lover, but I recall her RV cake was very good! Let me know if you need me to see if I can find that old recipe.

Linda

I have a bit of trouble with all that red food coloring...
I think it's a cake with not much to it....your eye is fooled into thinking it tastes like something it doesn't contain...
The recipe I have used calls for something like 1 Tablespoon of cocoa....

Not a fan of Red Velvet Cake. I mad one a few years ago at the request of a friend, I know everything was fresh in it,still, I thought that it tasted like red food coloring. Might be one of those things that you need to acquire a taste for.
Now the frosting on the other hand...I love. Most recipes for RV call for the mock whipped cream icing that you make with cooked milk and flour. My GM taught me that one 50 years ago and it is still my favorite for chocolate cake.

Nancy

I make it frequently for our school sweet days. Everyone seems to rave about it. I always make a cream cheese icing to frost it. Here's the recipe I use

Red Velvet Cake
Grease and flour 2 8" layer pans. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2 1/3 cup flour
2 tsp cocoa
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vinegar
½ Cup butter
1 ½ Cup sugar
2 eggs
2 oz. red food coloring
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
Sift together the flour, cocoa and salt. Set aside
Cream butter and sugar.
Add eggs, coloring, and vanilla.
To this add dry ingredients (flour, cocoa and salt) alternately with buttermilk.
Add baking soda and vinegar. Fold them into the mixture with a fork, gently but thoroughly.
Bake 2 8" layers for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

I've never understood why it's so popular. Visually stunning, certainly, but IMO the taste isn't anything special. I bet Linda's right, though. Probably, you could make identical cakes except one with the coloring and one without and a lot of people would say the RV was the better cake.

It's probably my imagination, but I always feel like I can taste the food coloring, too. The only time I've ever made one was at a friend's request. A four layer cake had TWO BOTTLES of food coloring. ACK! Felt like I needed to be registered with the FDA after that one.

I am really allergic to red food dyes, and will itch, or break out in a rash if it's bad. So the very thought of RV cake gives me hives! Seriously, I'd be happy with any nicely dense fudgy-type chocolate cake as long as it has the proper icing on it. I'm with BTDT, you could make identical cakes and people would prefer the red one.

FWIW, red dye sensitivity isn't that rare. Look at Benedryl OTC medication, it's pink but you can buy a dye-free version. I learned about this allergy many years ago when a daily medication for my asthma went generic to a capsule that was 1/2 purple. The dermatologist and allergist took a while to figure this out, but that was it. Now I take my Prevacid capsule broken open in apple sauce, and read labels. An indiscretion will lead to itching, but it will go away if I abstain.

Saw some cranberry juice at the store the other day, and yep, it's got red food dye. Sigh.

Well, I had to go dig out Helen's old recipe after reading these posts. Her cake wasn't called Red Velvet, it was called Red Chocolate Cake and only contains 1T food coloring. I don't recall any off taste at all.

Here is the recipe as I have it written on a recipe card from the mid 70's.

Red Chocolate Cake
Helen G.

Beat together:
1-1/2 c sugar
4T cocoa
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
1/2 c butter
1 T red food coloring

Add:
2 c flour
1 tsp soda
1 c cold water

Pour into greased 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 350F.

Frosting:

1/4 c butter
1/4 c milk
1 c sugar

Heat to boiling, add 1/2 c chocolate chips. Spread on warm cake.

Linda

Agree with LindaC. Have always been disappointed - it just doesn't taste like anything to me.

Would rather have real chocolate cake :)

Sue

I've never made one, but was talking about this cake a few months back with a co-worker who has a commercial baking background. She uses beet juice, not food colouring to make it red.

My sister just made one and it was excellent. It was dense and the icing was fantastic. I too have an issue with all that food coloring (i whole bottle) and think it would be just fine without it.

Everybody seems to go gaga when someone brings one to a function here. I'll never eat it.

Highly overrated. Never understood why this cake appears to be popular with some people.

Sue I like your idea. Skip the food colouring. LOL!!

Ann

Maybe it was more the icing people rave of. I may start with that as all the red dye doesn't sit too well with me either. Thanks for the input. BTW, I had a chance to eat it at work but it was a hedgehog shaped cake and cutting into it grossed me out so I passed.

I have no idea how these taste but they are so pretty! They are in the latest Food Network magazine. I definitely agree with those who say it's the frosting that makes red velvet cake.

Here is a link that might be useful: Red velvet whoopie pies

Pat posted a white velvet cake a while back. I wonder what makes a cake a velvet cake? RV, it's obvious, it's that startling red...but why would this be a white velvet?

WHITE VELVET CAKE

4-1/2 large egg whites
1 cup milk
2-1/4 tsp. vanilla
3 cups sifted cake flour
1-1/2 cups sugar
1 Tblsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
12 Tblsp. (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter (softened)

Grease & flour two 9-inch round cake pans.
Preheat the oven to 350° F.
In a medium bowl lightly combine the egg whites, 1/4 cup milk and vanilla.
In a large mixer bowl combine the dry ingredients and mix on low speed for 30 seconds to blend. Add the butter and remaining 3/4 cup milk. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase to medium speed (high speed if using a hand mixer) and beat for 1 1/2 minutes. Gradually add the egg mixture in 3 batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition. Pour batter into the prepared pans and smooth the surface with a spatula. The pans will be about 1/2 full. Bake 25 to 35 minutes or until a tester inserted near the center comes out clean and the cake springs back when pressed lightly in the center.
Let the cakes cool in the pans on racks for 10 minutes. Loosen the sides with a metal spatula and invert onto greased wire racks. Cool completely before frosting. Serves: 12.

Recipe by Rose Levy Berenbaum.

Here is a link that might be useful: Someone was looking for a very simple cake.

Okay, BTDT, you sold me. I will make the white velvet cake with the standard icing. I am a huge fan of Rose Levy Berenbaum - except when making a cake for a two year olds party. Did you know putting putting brandy in a cake and using a butter icing doesn't cut it with kids? I was so caught up with the picture and the decorating the ingredient list just didn't register with me. I ended up passing it around to my older neighbours (as in anyone who doesn't look at Pizza Pops like a delicacy) because it was huge and rather indulgent - probably too indulgent.

Never thought it was anything so different either but it certainly seems like an integral part of the cup cake craze.

I have a fantastic recipe, it may be the same as the one above. I know this one is very good.
I only use a 1/2 a bottle of food coloring, its very dark with that.

Southern Red Velvet Cake Recipe courtesy ~ Cakeman Raven
Vegetable oil for the pans
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon fine salt
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tablespoons red food coloring (1 ounce)
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Frosting, recipe follows
Crushed pecans, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil and flour 3 (9 by 1 1/2-inch round) cake pans.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In another large bowl, whisk together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla.

Using a standing mixer, mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined and a smooth batter is formed.

Divide the cake batter evenly among the prepared cake pans. Place the pans in the oven evenly spaced apart. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through the cooking, until the cake pulls away from the side of the pans, and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean, about 30 minutes.

Remove the cakes from the oven and run a knife around the edges to loosen them from the sides of the pans. One at a time, invert the cakes onto a plate and then re-invert them onto a cooling rack, rounded-sides up. Let cool completely.

Frost the cake. Place 1 layer, rounded-side down, in the middle of a rotating cake stand. Using a palette knife or offset spatula spread some of the cream cheese frosting over the top of the cake. (Spread enough frosting to make a 1/4 to 1/2-inch layer.) Carefully set another layer on top, rounded-side down, and repeat. Top with the remaining layer and cover the entire cake with the remaining frosting. Sprinkle the top with the pecans.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 pound cream cheese, softened
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter (1 cup), softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 - 1 cup Chopped Pecans

With a electric mixer in a large bowl, mix the cream cheese, sugar, and butter on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to high, and mix until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. (Occasionally turn the mixer off, and scrape the down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.)
Reduce the speed of the mixer to low. Add the vanilla, raise the speed to high and mix briefly until fluffy (scrape down the bowl occasionally). Add pecans, mix in. Store in the refrigerator until somewhat stiff, before using. May be stored in the refrigerator for 3 days.

Yield: enough to frost a 3 layer (9-inch) cake

I actually love red velvet cake. fond childhood memories - you know - before we thought that a whole bottle of red food coloring might not be a good thing. :-) I love the denseness of the cake but the frosting is what makes it special.

Oh, and last year, I ordered it at the Waldorf - and it is nothing like this - I got their cookbook and the Waldorf=Astoria one uses beets and 1 teaspoon of red food coloring and it also uses mascarpone cheese in the frosting. If anyone is interested, I will type it up.

Red Velvet Cake (not the one from the Waldorf)

Grease and flour 2 8" layer pans. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2 1/3 cup flour
1 tsp cocoa
1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vinegar

½ Cup butter
1 ½ Cup sugar
2 eggs
2 oz. red food coloring
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup buttermilk

Sift together the flour, cocoa and salt. Set aside

Cream butter and sugar.
Add eggs, coloring, and vanilla.
To this add dry ingredients (flour, cocoa and salt) alternately with buttermilk.

Add baking soda and vinegar. Fold them into the mixture with a fork, gently but thoroughly.

Bake 2 8" layers for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Frosting:

Cook following until thick, stirring constantly:

1 Cup milk
3 tbsp flour

Cool and set aside.

Cream together:
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter

Beat until fluffy and add 1 tsp vanilla.

Combine with the milk/flour mixture and beat 10 minutes ( it may appear to curdle).
This makes lots of frosting.

My oldest grandson is allergic to red dye in anything. He breaks out in red bumps all over his body. The more red dye he gets in his system the bigger the bumps get. I made a red velvet cake in my younger days, but will not make it anymore.

I agree with most here that the cake would be fine without the coloring. I whole bottle of red food color is kind of gross. I have made these upon request. I use the recipe from McCormick spices web site. For my birthday, the neighbor lady brought me red velvet cupcakes. They were very good, and the red was brighter than mine. I know they came from a mix. Probably Duncan Hines. I think I would consider that route in the future, and I rarely use a mix for anything.

DP

Just remember, Cookie, that I haven't made that myself. I just remembered the post.

Stacy -- marscapone icing? Oh dear lord...sigh. I need a cake like I need a hole in the head. I'm not interested in the cake, but I'd be interested in that frosting. I bet that would be amazing on a plain white cake with hazelnuts.