Seeing red....velvet

I've mentioned before that I'm not a fan of red velvet cakes/cupcakes. They've always been a mystery to me. Whats with the buttermilk and vinegar? Does cocoa powder really do anything for it? And of course, why red?! Perhaps it really is, or at least used to be, because of the chemical reaction between the cocoa and vinegar? Who knows... better yet, who cares? Red velvet seems like a cake that has multiple personality disorder if you ask me.

I can admit when I'm wrong and even more so, I can admit when a recipe goes horribly wrong. Maybe I just can't wrap my head around red velvet, and thus haven't been able to successfully make it. The color of my cakes is never quite a deep enough red either. Maybe pink or dusty rose velvet?



Tonight I tested out another red velvet cake recipe. Perhaps the trouble started when I decided to make two dozen cupcakes, instead of the three layer cake that the recipe was for. The cakes rose high in the oven (as did my hopes), but then quickly deflated along with any possibility of having a decent looking cupcake. They collapsed and stuck to the pan.

In attempt to cover my my short comings, I frosted them with cream cheese frosting and patriotically added sprinkles. Oddly enough, the cupcakes turned out super moist and very fluffy, to the extent that they couldn't even support themselves. Perhaps it would have turned out better if baked in a cake pan. I'll have to keep on trying until I get this one right, but in the meantime here's a picture of a few that I didn't think would break the camera lens.