Red velvet cake is a southern staple that's been iterated into cupcakes, cheesecakes, doughnuts and other confections galore. But what exactly is red velvet cake?

We rewind history and discus how the ruby red cake with stark white icing was invented and popularized. We'll get into what it tastes like, what makes it red and how to achieve that vibrant color naturally.

Many people wonder, is red velvet cake really just a chocolate cake? While it certainly has a chocolate flavor and cocoa powder as a main ingredient, a red velvet cake is not a chocolate cake. It has far less cocoa powder in it than a traditional chocolate cake recipe.

The red velvet cake is based off of the recipe for The Most Amazing Chocolate Cake so there are some similarities, but there are also several key differences that gives Red Velvet Cake its unique flavor and texture. Red velvet cake has less cocoa powder added to it so the chocolate flavor is much more mild. Both our chocolate cake and red velvet cake use buttermilk, but buttermilk is a required ingredient for red velvet cake. It also has vinegar and red food coloring added to it to add acidity and the classic red coloring.

Popular in the southern U.S., red velvet cake is a vanilla cake with a few tablespoons of cocoa powder and red food coloring mixed in. Vinegar and buttermilk bring some acid to the batter, adding a bit of tanginess that balances out the sweet cream cheese-butter frosting that is standard. The crumb of the cake is very fine, soft and smooth.

Red velvet cake tastes like very mild cocoa with a slightly tart edge. The cream cheese frosting is the most forward flavor. Perhaps even more important than the taste is the texture: smooth, soft, tender and light with creamy icing.

Historians believe that red velvet cake originated during the Victorian era. Cake flour wasn't around yet, so vinegar was used to tenderize cakes. When vinegar was combined with non-Dutch processed cocoa powder, the cake turned a reddish-brown hue.

The first recipes labeled as red velvet cake were published in the early 20th century, and as the cake spread through the U.S., southerners started adding another acid to the cake: buttermilk.

In early 18th century, the process for producing cocoa powder changed, and it no longer turned red when combined with the acids. People still wanted that red cake, so reduced beet juice was added. A southern dye company called Adams Extract ended up popularizing red velvet cake by publishing a recipe that called for his red food dye.

Cream cheese frosting is a much later innovation: the original frosting was a French roux-style buttercream, sometimes called gravy frosting because it starts out with the same type of roux used to make gravy. With the butter beaten in at the end, it is spectacularly light and fluffy, but incredibly time consuming to make. And that’s why cream cheese frosting became the norm.

What Fruit Goes Well With Red Velvet Cake? – Food & Drink

The use of strawberries in a red velvet cake For this strawberry cake, the ingredients are strawberries. Pairing raspberryberries with seltzer water is a delicious combination. The blueberries are wonderful. This fruit has a distinct blackberry taste to it.