Red Velvet Bars | vegan, gluten-free, healthy cake recipe - Elavegan (2024)

FAQs

Does vinegar and cocoa powder turn red? ›

Cocoa powder contains an antioxidant called anthocyanin, which is pH-sensitive, meaning it reacts to acids and bases. When raw cocoa powder reacts with acidic ingredients such as buttermilk and vinegar, it turns dark red.

Beet Puree & Lemon Juice – Combined, they act as a natural food coloring agent in this recipe, giving the cake its distinct red hue without adding any beet flavor.

Many years ago, the red color came from the presence of vinegar and buttermilk reacting with the anthocyanins in traditional cocoa powder. But for most of the last few decades, the red color has been supplied by Red #40 dye, in part because cocoa powder used now is alkalized to neutralize its acidity.

A chemical reaction between the cocoa and acid give the cake it's red color. Natural cocoa has a lot of acidities and works well with the baking soda and buttermilk. Along with a delicious chocolate flavor, the cocoa makes the cake nice and soft.

White Vinegar: It sounds like a strange ingredient in a cake, but it is essential in a red velvet cake. This recipe calls for baking soda to leaven the cake (make the cake rise). The small amount of added vinegar allows the soda to do its best work.

Natural cocoa powder is acidic and often paired with baking soda (an alkali) in recipes to balance the flavor and create carbon dioxide bubbles that help baked goods rise in the oven.

If you're finding that your red velvet cake is turning out more brown than red, you may want to consider adjusting the amount of cocoa powder and red food coloring in your recipe. You could reduce the amount of cocoa powder or increase the amount of red food coloring to achieve a more vibrant red color.

To retain the proper color and taste, it is best to stick to natural cocoa powder when making red velvet cake. You could use carob powder, dutch processed cocoa powder (with strong red gel food coloring) but I do not recommend using any other substitute.

The Best Cocoa for Red Velvet Cake Is Natural Cocoa

Natural cocoa is the best cocoa for red velvet cake for two reasons. With a higher acidity, natural cocoa works with the cake's baking soda and buttermilk to leaven the cake to a tight, tender crumb. The results are an almost melt-in-your-mouth tender cake.

Red Velvet Cake is flavored with non-Dutch processed cocoa, buttermilk, and vinegar. What makes this unique is that its red color is the result of a natural chemical reaction. The buttermilk and vinegar cause a reaction that brings out cocoa's anthocyanin. Anthocyanin ia a pigment found in cocoa beans and other plants.

Are there red velvet cake mixes? ›

Betty Crocker Delights Super Moist Red Velvet Cake Mix is rich and decadent. Ready to bake in minutes, this red velvet cake can be topped with delicious frosting for a classic take, or try something new with one of Betty Crocker's many baking mix recipes.

Sugarflair Food Colouring

I use the red extra food colouring when I want something red – and it is strong enough to withstand the brown of the cocoa powder in a red velvet cake. Honestly, I wouldn't recommend any others for the job!

While red velvet cake is technically a cocoa cake, there is a key difference between standard chocolate cake and red velvet cake. Chocolate cake recipes traditionally use Dutch-processed cocoa, while red velvet cake uses unprocessed cocoa, a more acidic ingredient that produces a deeper, more intense chocolate flavor.

Fun facts about Red Velvet Cake

During World War 2, bakers used boiled beet juices to enhance the colour of the cake. This was due to poverty all around the world, so it was requested not to use food colouring as it was classed as an unnecessary expense.

The earliest forms of red velvet cake called for raw cocoa powder, which has a natural pigment that gives plants a blue, purple or red hue (depending on their PH). When this ingredient met an acidic substance (like buttermilk), the cocoa turned red.

Dutch-process (alkalized) cocoa is cocoa powder made from cocoa nibs that have been alkalized — that is, treated with potassium carbonate to reduce acidity. Alkalizing deepens and sometimes reddens the color of the cocoa powder, making it appear more chocolatey.

Generally speaking, red cocoa powders are natural. No coloring agent is being added - that's just the color of some cocoa powders. The reddish hue in baked goods has become desirable over time solely for aesthetic purposes," Jessica says.

Dutch Process

It also neutralizes free acids to give the cocoa powder a milder taste. The color change is variable; it can go from a reddish-brown to a deep brown to almost black. If a baked product is very alkaline, it becomes very dark like Oreo cookies.