Red Velvet Cake Recipe Biography
Source(google.com.pk)aking the perfect cake is both an art and a science. Red velvet is no exception. A confection that ignites the senses through striking visual appeal, a fine crumb texture and a hint of cocoa flavor, red velvet cake has captured the eyes and tastebuds of many.
There has long been a sense of mystery and controversy surrounding the origins of the deep red cake. Its popularity grew significantly after the film Steel Magnolias featured a red velvet armadillo groom’s cake in 1989. With the cupcake craze sweeping our nation, red velvet is now commonplace on menus around the country. No matter how the crimson hue is achieved, the recipes are nothing short of a good old-fashioned science experiment.
Red from anthocyanins
Largely unreplicated by today’s bakers, traditional recipes from the early 1900s were believed to produce a reddish hue through a reaction between natural cocoa powder and acidic buttermilk or vinegar. Natural cocoa powder contains anthocyanins – antioxidants that are also found in red cabbage, pomegranate and many other species. In the presence of acid, anthocyanins exude a reddish hue. They’re purple in neutral conditions and turn yellow-green in alkaline environments.
The darker Dutch process cocoa on the left won't do much to make red velvet cake red.
Today, Dutch (or alkali) processed cocoa powder is more common on grocery shelves than natural cocoa. The incorporation of Dutch processed cocoa causes a shift in the pH of the recipe and thus an undesired color change resulting in a brown cake.
While this is interesting from a chemistry standpoint, it’s highly unlikely that the quantity of cocoa powder (1/4 c. or less in most recipes) was ever enough to achieve the bright red color that we’ve come to associate with today’s popular dessert. Another theory is that the cake was never actually red at all. Most red velvet recipes call for brown sugar, historically referred to as “red” sugar, which could have been responsible for the name.
Red from betalains
Another popular option for achieving a bright red cake is through the addition of beets, which serve to add both nutrients and moisture. Unlike cocoa, beets get their red pigmentation from betalains. Anthocyanins and betalains are two of the primary red pigments found in plants. Interestingly, these two plant compounds rarely, if ever, occur together in the same species. Like anthocyanins, betalains are highly pH sensitive, with acidic conditions favoring the desired red color.
Beet red velvet recipes have also frustrated bakers as a result of the many variables that affect betalain pigmentation, some of which include water content and temperature. In my experience, incorporating lemon juice, buttermilk and/or vinegar the recipe helps maintain a red cake. (If you would like to try a beet red velvet cake, visit my blog for a recipe).
Red from azo dyes
The most reproducible method for obtaining a deep shade of crimson in today’s red velvet cake is to add food coloring – many recipes call for an entire 1 oz bottle. In these recipes, acidic ingredients are not needed, but most recipes retain buttermilk or vinegar out of tradition.
The ingredients listed on grocery store food coloring are FD&C Red # 40 and Red # 3 with a few preservatives and additives to keep everything solution. These red compounds, or azo dyes, are a specialty refined petroleum product. Red food coloring does little for the flavor, nutrition or texture of the cake, but it results in an unmistakable shade of red. Bakers and consumers have come to identify the confection by the bright pigmentation achieved with azo dyes.
No matter which approach you take to putting the red in red celvet cake, part of the fun is the science behind it. Why not try one of each and see which you prefer?
Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pans). Grease bottom and sides of 13x9-inch pan or two 9-inch round cake pans and lightly flour, or spray with baking spray with flour.
2In large bowl, beat cake ingredients with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan(s).
3Bake as directed on box. Cool rounds 10 minutes; remove from pans. Cool completely.
4In chilled large bowl, mix cream cheese and milk until smooth. Beat in whipping cream and powered sugar with electric mixer on high speed, scraping bowl occasionally, until soft peaks form. Frost top of 13x9-inch cake or fill and frost cake layers. Store loosely covered in refrigerator.
With the emergence of Big Cupcake, almost all of us have seen some red velvet cake with white cream cheese frosting. And so let us delve into a little kitchen science, which may help us realize why our great grandparents' cake is not the same as ours.
Today, red velvet cake gets its coloring from a huge amount of red food coloring dumped in mix, staining the cake a vivid red, but it wasn't always so. Original red velvet cakes got the "velvet" part of their name not because they resembled bright red velvet dresses, but because their texture was so smooth and velvety. Their texture was, in part, influenced by the special ingredients put into the cake. Cake recipes varied, but almost all contained baking soda and either vinegar or buttermilk. Both buttermilk and vinegar are acidic, and anyone who has made a volcano in elementary school knows the copious bubbles that erupt when vinegar (or any acid) is mixed with baking soda. The bubbles fluffed up the cake, making it light and smooth.
The vinegar and buttermilk didn't just react with the baking soda. They also reacted with the cake's cocoa. Cocoa powder traditionally has anthocyanins; these are compounds that are also found in foods like red cabbage (which also features in many elementary school science projects). Red cabbage leaves can be used as pH indicators, getting redder in the presence of strong acids. It's the anthocyanins that change color in the cabbage, and they do the same in the cocoa, giving it a red finish.
But not anymore. Most of the cocoa powder on the market is processed with an alkalizing agent — a base. This neutralizes its acidity. It's the reason why a lot of recipes that use cocoa powder specify what kind of cocoa powder they take. The alkalizing agent will change the way the cake responds to baking soda or baking powder, so it will either fall flat or get too fluffy. The agent also darkens the powder, and keeps it from giving off a red tint when mixed with buttermilk or vinegar. So even if you got hold of an old recipe for red velvet cake, you probably wouldn't get the same results your cake-loving ancestors did.
(Then again, they might not even have gotten those results. Old recipes used to call brown sugar "red sugar," meaning they were lenient with the colors descriptions back then. The modern red velvet cake started during the Depression, as a relatively cheap way to make a cake look special and dramatic. So at least when you grab that red bottle, you've got a little history on your side.
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Red Velvet Cake Recipe Carrot Cake Recipe From Scratch Step By Step With Pineapple Jamie Oliver Nigella Easy Moist Martha Stewart In Urdu
Red Velvet Cake Recipe Carrot Cake Recipe From Scratch Step By Step With Pineapple Jamie Oliver Nigella Easy Moist Martha Stewart In Urdu
Red Velvet Cake Recipe Carrot Cake Recipe From Scratch Step By Step With Pineapple Jamie Oliver Nigella Easy Moist Martha Stewart In Urdu
Red Velvet Cake Recipe Carrot Cake Recipe From Scratch Step By Step With Pineapple Jamie Oliver Nigella Easy Moist Martha Stewart In Urdu
Red Velvet Cake Recipe Carrot Cake Recipe From Scratch Step By Step With Pineapple Jamie Oliver Nigella Easy Moist Martha Stewart In Urdu
Red Velvet Cake Recipe Carrot Cake Recipe From Scratch Step By Step With Pineapple Jamie Oliver Nigella Easy Moist Martha Stewart In Urdu
Red Velvet Cake Recipe Carrot Cake Recipe From Scratch Step By Step With Pineapple Jamie Oliver Nigella Easy Moist Martha Stewart In Urdu
Red Velvet Cake Recipe Carrot Cake Recipe From Scratch Step By Step With Pineapple Jamie Oliver Nigella Easy Moist Martha Stewart In Urdu
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Red Velvet Cake Recipe Carrot Cake Recipe From Scratch Step By Step With Pineapple Jamie Oliver Nigella Easy Moist Martha Stewart In Urdu
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