RED VELVET CAKE, Red Velvet Cake Recipe

James Beard's 1972 (Ref: American Cookery) describes three red velvet cakes varying in the amounts of shortening and butter, also vegetable oil. All used red food coloring, but the reaction of acidic vinegar and buttermilk tends to better reveal the red anthocyanin in cocoa and keeps the cake moist, light and fluffy. This natural tinting may have been the source for the name "Red Velvet" as well as "Devil's food" and similar names for chocolate cakes.

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