The origins of red velvet cake are shrouded in misinformation and rumor. The most popular, though unsubstantiated, urban legend places red velvet cake among the ranks of the Neiman Marcus cookie, as yet another restaurant recipe sold to a unsuspecting customer for upwards of $100 and then distributed freely in retaliation. While the Waldorf Astoria now serves a version of red velvet cake, and a recipe is included in the Waldorf Astoria Cookbook, the myth continues to be denied.
Historic Cookbook Recipes for Velvet Cake and Devil's Food Cake
Recipes for velvet cake appear in numerous 19th century cookbooks, including the 1896 publication The Boston Cooking-School Cookbook and the 1885 book Good Things to Eat, and given the similarity of the names it is probable that these cakes were the predecessors of red velvet.
However velvet cake recipes provide instructions on how to make a butter based cake, blended together with whipped egg whites and ground almonds for texture, a far cry from the ruby-red cake recognized by contemporary bakers.
Several years later, at the turn of the 20th century, Devil's Food cake began appearing in print. In what appears to be a chocolate version of a velvet cake, a 1902 recipe for Devil's Food cake, from Mrs. Rorer's New Cook Book of 1902, calls for cooking milk and cocoa together with baking powder, before folding a butter batter into whipped egg whites. A later recipe, submitted to the Good Housekeeping Woman's Home Cook Book in 1909 omits the whipped egg whites, and resembles modern recipes for Devil's Food chocolate cake.
Early Evidence of Colored and Dyed Red Cakes
One of the earlier verifiable mentions of a red-colored cake comes from The Perry Home Cook Book, published by the ladies of Perry, Kansas in 1920. A recipe for Philadelphia Red Cake calls for squares of chocolate to be dissolved in boiling water and soda, now known as baking soda, before being added to a batter that contained sour milk and egg whites. The difference between this recipe and those for Devil's Food cake are negligible, and is identical to recipes for Red Devil's Food cake.
Although no food coloring was added in this red cake, a recipe for pink and white layer cake found within the same book calls for a teaspoon of pink food coloring to be added to a standard white cake batter, supporting the notion that colored cakes were created purely for their novel appearance.
Some have hypothesized that red colored cakes gained popularity during WWII, when homemakers may have substituted beets to replace white sugar, which was being rationed. However sugar beets are white, not heavily pigmented like red beets, and wartime recipes for beet-cake are not nearly as prominent as one would expect if this were the case.
Role of Cocoa Powder and Buttermilk in Early Red Colored Cakes
Prominent food writers, including James Beard and Harold McGee, have described how early cakes incorporating cocoa powder and buttermilk may have had a reddish hue due to the reaction of the cocoa pigments with the acid present in soured milk. Unprocessed cocoa contains anthocyanin, a food pigment like that found in red cabbage, which reacts with acidic and alkaline ingredients. In the presence of acid, anthocyanin reddens, theoretically giving the baked product a pinkish hue.
But as home bakers who have attempted to recreate these naturally dyed red velvet cakes will attest, this is more science theory than kitchen fact. Shanini & Naczk, in their text Phenolics in Food and Nutraceuticals, describe how during the fermentation and dying of cacao beans anthocyanins disappear and the formerly purplish red hue of the cocoa turns a decidedly brown color. Dutch-processed cocoa, a readily available alkalized cocoa powder, has basic properties which interfere with the anthocyanin-acid reaction.
Popularity and Prominence of Red Velvet Cakes
By the 1960's, recipes for red velvet cake were appearing across the nation in newspapers such as The Washington Post and Spokesman-Review with names such as "Red Carpet Cake." Red food coloring now featured as a prominent, and essential, ingredient along such other basics as buttermilk, cocoa powder and vinegar.
While red velvet cake has always been popular throughout the southern United States, it enjoyed renewed popularity across the nation in 1989, following an appearance in the popular movie Steel Magnolia's where it was shaped like an armadillo groom's cake. More recently, in 2002, it was selected by singer Jessica Simpson to serve as the flavor of her five-tiered cake served at her wedding to Nick Lachey. Since then it has been featured in cupcake form topped with mountainous dollops of cream-cheese frosting at bakeries nationwide.
Stephanie Jolly - Stephanie is an active food scholar, nutrition professional and former culinary tour guide. Though Stephanie enjoys food on nearly every ...
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