i love love LOVE red velvet! i'm making these red velvet whoopie pies to send out to my loves :)

http://www.foodbuzz.com/recipes/360300-red-velvet-whoopie-pies

Making cupcakes? These Tres Leches Cupcakes are a perfect Valentines treat...kissed with a cherry on top!

I wanted to do a remake of the red velvet armadillo for my best friend's bachelorette party so I had a trial run the other day and they turned out soooooo stiff and stodgy!

Does anyone know what I did wrong? I followed what I thought was a classic recipe with the baking soda, vinegar and buttermilk (which I substitued with Yoghurt) but they were so inedible not even the boyfriend would eat them!

I am glad that ONE of these recipes tells you how to get that color without all the food coloring.

caseoftornados - Mind telling us which one or should I go through each one too? Then I can keep it a secret too. Good idea.

The second-to-last recipe offers a substitution of beet juice, but using the juice is dependent on having a certain type of cocoa powder (not well-defined in the recipe).

I've done some pretty extensive testing of red velvet recipes with beet juice and beets, and had no good luck so far. The chemical reactions necessary to leaven the cake cause the beets to turn brown. If someone has a totally foolproof and well-tested way of making red velvet with no red dye, post a link!

and states, "Because this cake is leavened with the air incorporated into the whipped eggs, and contains no baking soda, the natural red color of the beet powder remains after the cake is baked, and the texture is similar to that of a moist sponge cake."

Oops, that came out missing the first part: This recipes uses beet-root powder

Red velvet also makes good cake pops. Last year I shaped them into jumbo Hershey's kiss shapes, and dipped them in chocolate. Complete with aluminum foil wrapper and an 'eat me' tag in each one.

i'm actually thinking of trying this recipe which uses beets:
http://www.mylifetime.com/shows/cook-yourself-thin/recipes/red-velvet-cupcakes

I've tried many Red Velvet cake recipes -- for what could be a more appropriate birthday cake for a girl named Tallulah? -- and think the secret is to use White Lily flour. Don't know how it is now that they have changed it (silly move), but it is probably still better than the alternatives.

I'll now be somewhat heretical, and say that I quite enjoy the Lee Brother's riff on the traditional Red Velvet cake -- theirs has orange in it, although it stays a lovely red.

http://mattleeandtedlee.com/lee-bros/recipes/red-velvet-cake/#more-146

Oh! And since the recipe uses so much red colouring, I like to use the flavourless gel (the regular red gel can be bitter).

Faith,

I think that recipe must be trying to specify natural cocoa powder, which stays lighter, and reacts with the acids in the buttermilk. Dutch cocoa I find makes the red of a Red Velvet cake more mahogany than bright red in my experience.

I could never get into red velvet cake. I am not sure if I have just had bad cake or if it is just my aversion to red food coloring (always made me sick). The beet version might be nice, if I ever feel particularly scientific...