Red Velvet Cake – Where Does It Come From?
A New York Times article on a dessert called red velvet cake left me curious. On one hand, I’ve got an interest in desserts at the moment for a project. On the other, it’s described as a Southern cake, and I don’t remember hearing about it while growing up in that part of the country. Then again, I don’t remember chess cake, so wonder how mnay of these recipes were highly regional. I did some poking around on the Net (and will check my own reference books). Apparently some think that it’s the same think as devil’s food, which is odd because it’s supposed to be dyed red. Maybe someone was thinking about the reddish color you can get with dutched cocoa, though this site suggests that it was a reaction of cocoa with acid (buttermilk and/or vinegar) that caused the color. Eventually people switched to food coloring.
