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Classic Cookbooks: Bread Pudding
A bread pudding must try from Marion Cunningham's "The Breakfast Book" is her "Bread and Butter Pudding" -- by far, absolutely the best bread pudding I have ever tasted. EVERYONE asks for the recipe when I serve it -- whether company at home -- or at work. It's wonderful.
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Recent Comments | Response to Comments
A Red Velvet Affair
This recipe for Red Velvet Cake (a/k/a "Waldorf Astoria Cake") is almost the same recipe as my Aunt gave me fifty years ago! I've been making it ever since, and it is the very favorite cake of all my familly members. This recipe here is missing one ingredient though; that is: one (1) teaspoon of vanilla extract. I also use 1 teaspoon of salt (versus 1/2 teaspoon). If you do not add the red coloring, the cake bakes into an unappealing beige color (because of the 1 Tablespoon of cocoa). The red coloring only enhances the appearance, and you can add enough coloring to go from pink to a dark red cake. It's your choice. Also, I agree with a reviewer who said hold the cream cheese frosting for carrot cake. I always make a good homemade vanilla buttercream frosting. This is the VERY BEST CAKE with a flavor that's hard to explain because it's not a vanilla--nor a white--nor a chocolate--nor a spice cake; it's got a unique flavor of its own.
Classic Cookbooks: Bread Pudding
A bread pudding must try from Marion Cunningham's "The Breakfast Book" is her "Bread and Butter Pudding" -- by far, absolutely the best bread pudding I have ever tasted. EVERYONE asks for the recipe when I serve it -- whether company at home -- or at work. It's wonderful.
A Red Velvet Affair
I agree with everyone who prefers the cooked frosting. That's original to the cake. Here's my favorite recipe, if anyone wants to try it:
FROSTING
1 C milk
5 Tb flour
1 C butter
1 C white ugar
1 tsp vanilla
Boil together milk and flour until thickened. Let stand until cool. Cream together butter, sugar and vanilla. Add milk and flour mix and beat very well. (The longer you beat it the better it gets.)
A Red Velvet Affair
Red Velvet Cake IS a chocolate cake with a reddish color. My late grandmother used to make a red velvet cake and it contained NO red food coloring or beet juice or anything like that. Her recipe has been lost and we haven't been able to duplicate it. It was the best red velvet cake I've ever eaten. Not like todays so called red velvet cakes, with their shocking red color. Her's was red AND chocolate. Wish I could find something akin to her recipe.
A Red Velvet Affair
That sounds like a lot of oil...a cup and a half. You may need to adjust your baking time. Overbaking can dry a cake out. If you are using dark coated pans, cut the bake time by five or so minutes.
A Red Velvet Affair
Hey can somebody please help me! This thanksgiving I decided to make this much talked about cake. And to my dissatisfaction after three tries I've frosted what appears to be a very dense three layered cake that didnt rise very much at all. The texture is like that of a pound cake, while the flavor is good and there was some moisture, the crumb is dry is this the intended flavor and texture. I made this from a traditonal way with the vinegar and baking soda combination almost identical to the receipe above except my recipe also called for 1 teaspoon of vanilla, a cup and a half of vegetable oil and 20 ounces of cake flour. I had never eaten one before while my guest said the flavor was good everyone thought it should have had more moisture. What could I have done wrong?
A Red Velvet Affair
Chari: Red velvet cake is not really a chocolate cake. Though most recipes include a modicum of cocoa, I've rarely encountered a red velvet with a marked cocoa flavor.
Shunafish: To wit, there was no misinformation here. I made no claims anywhere in this article as to the origins of the red in the red velvet. In a follow-up article to address our readers' questions and comments (http://www.seriouseats.com/2008/02/red-velvet-cake-history.html), I did, however, address those origins. What I wrote in that second article seems largely in line with your own thoughts on the subject (re: old-fashioned, non-alkalized cocoa, etc., though I and my research tend to disagree with the claim that red velvet is a direct descendent or another form of Devil's food cake). Regardless, thank you for submitting the link and for your input.
Pjracz10: Unless there is something very unique about your brother's mother-in-law's recipe, I can't imagine why it would be such a challenge. Seems like you should definitely try it some time - the only thing you have to lose is some flour and time, but it seems that you stand to gain much more. :o)
A Red Velvet Affair
I remember the first ime I had Red Velvet Cake, I was 9 or 10 years old and my brother's mother-in-law made it for the holidays. It truly was love at first bite. It became my favorite cake heads up. My brother's mother in law told me that it was very difficult to make and at times she had to remake it 2 to 3 times over to get it right? Is this something that anyone has heard of, that it has to have this certain texture or consistency or the whole thing is ruined? She gave me the recipe (still have it) but never made it because of what she said.
A Red Velvet Affair
I really wish a food site as well trafficked as Serious Eats would not continue to advertise mis information.
The origins of the red in this cake come from early American cocoa, not food coloring. The Red Velvet Cake as we know it today is really a Devil's Food Cake in an unrecognizable disguise. Please read further historical information about this cake on the site What's Cooking In America.
While I agree that cakes make with egregious amounts of food coloring, in any color, are shocking to look at, and interesting because of it; I have to, as a baker, call to question, and remind you, the recipe for the RVC of today has no relation to its origins.
This cake that is now fast becoming a trend, is one dimensional in flavor, and not delicious, unless you love white cake that appears red.
A Red Velvet Affair
So, is red velvet cake a chocolate cake or not? I don't really know, even though I've eaten in made from a mix a few times.
I remember old recipes using beet juice or tomato juice to add moisture (not really noticeable in the taste) and wondered if that's where the whole "red cake" idea came from.
A Red Velvet Affair
MY OLD RED VELVET CAKE RECEIPE CALLS FOR 1 TSP BAKING POWDER PLUS THE BAKING SODA 2 TBLSP COCOA POWDER
FOR THE ICING 1 8OZ TUB OF MASCARPONE CHEESE ALONG W/CREME CHEESE/ TRY THIS WED ROSES USA
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This recipe for Red Velvet Cake (a/k/a "Waldorf Astoria Cake") is almost the same recipe as my Aunt gave me fifty years ago! I've been making it ever since, and it is the very favorite cake of all my familly members. This recipe here is missing one ingredient though; that is: one (1) teaspoon of vanilla extract. I also use 1 teaspoon of salt (versus 1/2 teaspoon). If you do not add the red coloring, the cake bakes into an unappealing beige color (because of the 1 Tablespoon of cocoa). The red coloring only enhances the appearance, and you can add enough coloring to go from pink to a dark red cake. It's your choice. Also, I agree with a reviewer who said hold the cream cheese frosting for carrot cake. I always make a good homemade vanilla buttercream frosting. This is the VERY BEST CAKE with a flavor that's hard to explain because it's not a vanilla--nor a white--nor a chocolate--nor a spice cake; it's got a unique flavor of its own.