Red Velvet Cake Trivia | 25 facts about the sweet snack

Red velvet cake is traditionally a red, red-brown, crimson, or scarlet-colored chocolate layer cake, layered with ermine icing.

Let’s find out more about it!

1. Red velvet cake is traditionally a red, red-brown, crimson, or scarlet-colored chocolate layer cake, layered with ermine icing.
2. Traditional recipes do not use food coloring, with the red color due to non-Dutched, anthocyanin-rich cocoa.
3. Common ingredients include buttermilk, butter, cocoa, vinegar, and flour.
4. Beetroot or red food coloring may be used for the color.
5. Velvet cake is thought to have originated in Maryland in the early 20th century.
6. In the 19th century, “velvet” cake, a soft and velvety crumb cake, came to be served as a fancy dessert, in contrast to what had been the more common, coarser-crumbed cake.
7. Around the turn of the 20th century, devil’s food cake was introduced, which is how some believe that red velvet cake came about.
8. The key difference between the two cakes is that devil’s food cake uses chocolate and red velvet cake uses cocoa.
9. When foods were rationed in the US during World War II, bakers used boiled beetroot juices to enhance the color of their cakes.
10. Beetroot was and is used in some recipes as a filler or to retain moisture.
11. Adams Extract is credited with bringing the red velvet cake to kitchens across America during the Great Depression era, by being one of the first to sell red food coloring and other flavor extracts with the use of point-of-sale posters and tear-off recipe cards.
12. The cake and its original recipe are well known in the United States from New York City’s famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, which has been dubbed the confection Waldorf-Astoria cake.
13. However, it is widely considered a Southern recipe.
14. Traditionally, red velvet cake is iced with a French-style butter ermine icing (also called roux icing though, while containing butter and flour, it is not made from a roux), which is very light and fluffy, but time-consuming to prepare.
15. Cream cheese frosting and buttercream frosting are variations that have increased in popularity.
16. In Canada, the cake was a well-known dessert in the restaurants and bakeries of the Eaton’s department store chain in the 1940s and 1950s.
17. Promoted as an exclusive Eaton’s recipe, with employees who knew the recipe sworn to silence, many mistakenly believed the cake was the invention of the department store matriarch, Lady Eaton.
18. In recent years, red velvet cake and red velvet cupcakes have become increasingly popular in the US and many European countries, especially around Christmas and more recently Valentine’s Day.
19. A resurgence in the popularity of this cake is attributed by some to the 1989 film Steel Magnolias, which included a red velvet groom’s cake made in the shape of an armadillo.
20. Magnolia Bakery in Manhattan has served it since its opening in 1996, as did restaurants known for their Southern cooking like Amy Ruth’s in Harlem, which opened in 1998.
21. In 2000, Cake Man Raven opened one of the first bakeries devoted to the cake in Brooklyn.
22. Did you know that you have to be careful how you bake your red velvet cake? Harsh baking can have an impact on how intense the colour of the cake is and also the texture.
23. In addition to the many variations of red velvet cake, there are various red velvet-flavored products, including protein powder, tea, lattes, Pop-Tarts, waffles, and alcoholic beverages.
24. The scent is used for candles and air fresheners as well.
25. For dietary restrictions, such as those due to allergies and ingredient sensitivity, vegan, gluten-free, and dairy-free variations are available