[Sca-cooks] OT/OOP: Wazzup with "Red Velvet Cake"

[Sue Clemenger]

Yes, it does remind me of Cujo cereal.
Yes, people really do eat the stuff...some even really like it. 
Personally, I can't stand it, because all I taste is the whole bottle of 
food coloring. <evil yucky face>
But then, I'm not a huge cake fan...I'd rather have my 
carb/fats/chocolate for the day as cookies or brownies or ice cream.  Or 
as a good east coast-style cheesecake (not too sweet, not a lot of other 
goop).
Or marchpanes or Shrewsbury Cakes (OPFC).
--maire

Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius wrote:

> Hullo, the list!
> 
> I just heard my first mention of Red Velvet Cake on the radio five 
> minutes ago, and I went looking for a recipe, only to find it just a 
> little frightening.
> 
> It appears to be a more-or-less innocuous, lightly-cocoa-flavored cream 
> cake (in the sense that you cream together the fat and sugar to a very 
> light, foamy consistency before adding the other ingredients, which seem 
> to be fairly common, except perhaps for a dash of vinegar, often seen in 
> Southern pie crust recipes). So far, so good.
> 
> That is, until you get to the _TWO_OUNCES_ of red food coloring added to 
> the batter. That's 1/4 cup.
> 
> It seems that there are heretical recipes that call for a mere one 
> ounce, but those are inferior because the crumb of the cake is a deep 
> pink, and not, strictly speaking, red. It is rumored that you get points 
> taken off if the powdered micro-grains of cocoa are visible in your 
> finished cake.
> 
> Is anyone else reminded of the Red Raspberry Zinger cereal-ad debacle in 
> Stephen King's novel "Cujo"?
> 
> Okay, guys, let's hear the pitch. Is this really something people eat?
>