Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I can't get enough interview clips!! I was hoping for MORE AB as well, but I guess those are done. And I was getting just as grossed out as Mario!!

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.)

oh. my. god. the guinea worm.

You are correct, dwagner. Damn those homophones! Title has been fixed. Thanks.

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.

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)

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.

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.

I make my own pancake mix and store it in the fridge for many pancakes in the future. I use wonderful ingredients in the dry mix: such as two or three different kinds of flours, buttermilk powder, wheat germ, etc. And when I make the pancakes themselves, I add more wonderful ingredients: egg, various liquids (depending on what's on hand), melted butter, sometimes a grated apple, and of course fresh bluberries when available. My daughter-in-law really appreciates it when I give her a big can or jar of this mix. When you have this great mix on hand, why would you ever use any of those commercial mixes with their additives and chemicals?

Oh my. Could you imagine if you made waffles how awful they would have been? Thank goodness you stuck to pancakes.

@ohmygod: I hear ya! Same with me-and I like Aunt Jemima too. They make great pancakes.

Did anyone happen to watch the episode of Good Eats where Alton Brown discussed mixes for pancakes and waffles? He said they are not one in the same (my mom used to say the same thing)...That said, I have a problem with anything that says it's a pancake/waffle mix. They are not the same. When I use a mix, it's for pancakes only. And I never have problems with Aunt Jemima :)

Stonewall's Blueberry Pancake mix may be sub-par, but their blueberry sauce is a joy to drizzle over your favorite batch of homemade waffles or pancakes!

Lucy Baker, what is your favorite from-scratch pancake recipe?

That first-batch syndrome happens almost every time, even when I use my big electric griddle, which otherwise is perfect for pancakes, even for just the two of us. (This way the cook gets to eat, too!) It's just the nature of things, I think.