Technology and....cake

July 29, 2005

What exactly does technology have to do with cake? I realize you must be wondering...

Really, nothing. But I thought I'd write a bit about my search for a red velvet cake recipe and of course, my first engine of choice was Google.

My fiance and I are thinking of having a red velvet cake for our wedding since the colors are red and white. To have a red cake would be, well, perfect. But I have to be honest -- I've never had red velvet cake. Ever. So earlier this week I hopped on my iMac and searched hi and low for a decent recipe for red velvet cake.

I noticed that most of the red velvet cake recipes call for either 1 or 2 tablespoons of cocoa, and to get the red effect, you add 2 full ounces of red food coloring to the cocoa which you then add to the flour mixture.

After staining most of my counter top, my bowls, spoons and such, I finished what I presumed to be red velvet cake -- and it was basically a red chocolate cake.

We ate the cake and I was mildly satisfied. Afterall, who doesn't like chocolate cake?

So last night, I attended Westchester Magazine's 'The Best of Westchester", an annual gathering of local businesses, restaurants and bakeries for the public to visit and to my surprise, a vendor had red velvet cake for sampling. "Lucky me!", I thought, and ran to the table and grabbed myself a plate.

After the first bite, I learned that red velvet cake is not, in fact, chocolatey. It was buttery. It was velvety. It was delicious and my cake had nothing on the red delicacy that I picked at. Nothing. So I took a picture with my camera phone (because it was so pretty) and I thought about finding the perfect recipe for the remainder of the evening.

Back to Google: I searched yet again for "real red velvet cake" and turned up with almost exactly the same recipes I had been gathering. So I e-mailed a friend who happened to know someone who was a cookbook editor, who I then e-mailed, who then e-mailed me with two recipes that had......cocoa. (Except one has a coconut frosting on it...I think I have to try this!)

I should have asked the baker last night - exactly how does one make red velvet cake so velvety and not so chocolatey?

My quest continues. Then again, I could just wait until I get married and let the baker worry about it. But I'm on a mission for the perfect red velvet cake. And I won't stop until I've accomplished said mission.

Perhaps I should take some search tips from Tom Keating....

Related Tags: velvet, recipe, thought, recipes, cocoa, nothing