Red Velvet Cake Debate

On Friday, I attended the Red Velvet Cake Debate, which was hosted by Nichelle Stephens of Cupcakes Take The Cake.  I was apprehensive about attending, but boy am I glad I went.  The people were cool, the debate was lively*, there was sparkling wine, I couldn’t stop raving about it to my grandma, and did I mention there was sparkling wine.  Clearly, this event was destined for greatness.

For someone who has never had Red Velvet cake before that night, I certainly had a lot of opinions about how it should taste and what it should be made of.  (Gotta thank hours of watching the Food Network. )  In my mind, the perfect Red Velvet would be a reddish-brown, have cream cheese frosting, pecans, and have a chocolate-y taste.  Participants preferred a redder cake, no nuts, and not necessarily a cream cheese frosting.  Apparently, the original version had a cooked flour frosting.  Who knew there were so many opinions about one cake?

The two cupcakes I liked the best were from New York Sweetest and Billy's Bakery.  The NYS cake was made with butter and had a denser texture.  I’m pretty sure Billy's was made with oil, the cake was a little lighter.  Both I could taste the cocoa and had a distinct cream cheese flavor. Will be going to those bakeries to form my own taste test.  Should be delicious!

Inspired by this event, I think I’ll try my hand at a Red Velvet cake.  My version will have a combo of oil and butter as suggested by Shari Ledgister of LuxSugar.  I love the flavor of butter, but love the lighter texture of oil.  My cream cheese frosting will be on the tarter side, and there will be pecans on the top and the sides – hides a shoddy frosting job.

*Allison Robicelli stole the show with her outspoken ways.  She was the sole Red Velvet naysayer.  To me, she seemed like the female Alton Brown.  I loved hearing her talk about the scientific aspect of baking, not many bakers talk about that.