Festive food & drink, Festive gifts and Festive moods settle in at this time of year, and in that spirit of Christmas, we at Home Coffee Solutions and Sugar City Cupcakes give you a delicious London Dog with the decadent Red Velvet Cupcake. Many people ask “What is Red Velvet cake”, so we compiled some essentials for authentic Red Velvet to make the magic happen.
Although red velvet cake has a mild chocolate flavor, it is not, by definition, a chocolate cake. Rather, it's a devil's food cake that's made with cocoa, white vinegar, baking soda, and buttermilk. The deep red color comes from red food dye, and the cake is traditionally iced in rich cream cheese frosting. Legend has it that the cake was actually born at New York City's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
- The cake must have some cocoa, but not too much because it is not a chocolate cake.
- The cake must have red food coloring; beet juice does not add the right kind of red.
- The cake must have cream cheese frosting.
- There should be pecans. (This was news to me.)
- You must use high-quality ingredients, including good white flour.
- You must use a hand-held electric mixer, not a stand mixer: Larger machines can over-mix the batter, which sometimes prevents the cake from rising properly.
- Red velvet cake batter needs vegetable oil, not butter or shortening. Oil yields a very moist cake.
Enjoy this decadent delight with the London Fog. All you have to do to make a delicious London Fog is brew the Bigelow Earl Grey tea, add 2 pumps of vanilla syrup, milk (to taste), stir well and top it with whipped cream and Christmas themed sprinkles to match the red velvet colors.