Red velvet cake is a Southern dessert staple. A well appointed cake table will showcase at least one. Black home cooks are as persnickety about red velvet cake as they are about their potato salad. Did the baker use an ermine icing or cream cheese frosting? How much cocoa did you use? How moist is it? These and other things matter to red velvet cake lovers.
Red velvet cake has a fascinating history with its origins up for grabs. Various recipes existed in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and the Waldorf Astoria had the cake on its menu in the 1930s. According to the Sunflour Baking Company site, “Finally, around 1943, a popular cookbook, The Joy of Cooking debuted a red velvet cake. The maker of the cookbook, Irma S Rombauer, comically states she doesn’t care for the cake. However, Irma felt she had a duty to her customers to include the red velvet cake recipe. The Joy of Cooking, 1943 recipe was the cake’s first national mention.”
Many African American home cooks include red velvet cake on their menu of special occasion desserts. Because of its red coloring, it is a Juneteenth favorite. And because of the time and expense to make it, red velvet is a luxurious cake served at weddings, repasts and holiday dinners.
Ambitious bakers are creating some unique desserts in the red velvet cake tradition. Recipes for other pastries and baked goods exist and continue to emerge. Here are a few examples of creative interpretations of red velvet cake.
French pastries
Lovers of French desserts and pastries should appreciate these red velvet inspired treats.
Red Velvet Profiteroles with Dark Chocolate Glaze
Red Velvet Chocolate Raspberry Eclairs
Traditional hybrids
We all have our go-to favorite dessert recipes to use when we need to whip up something fast for a special occasion or just want to have something sweet and good around the house. The following recipes are hybrids of our traditional favorites and red velvet.
Red Velvet Brownies with Cheesecake Swirl
Red Velvet Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting
The Unexpected Classics
Remember red velvet cake is just like macaroni and cheese and potato salad. You just don’t use the family gathering to introduce an experiment. So while you are warned to tread carefully, you are most certainly encouraged to try these unexpected takes on red velvet cake.
Vegan/Plant-based
If you’re looking for a plant-based alternative to traditional red velvet cake, these recipes should do the trick. If you’re baking for visiting vegan family or friends, make certain you either make enough for everyone or set them aside from traditionally baked red velvet goods.
Plant-based Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies
Pastry chefs and bakers can give you a thousand tips on what makes a great red velvet cake. But it’s the eater we should talk to. Former WNBA player Maya Moore is quoted as saying, “Red velvet cake is my absolute favorite. It has to be an actual slice of cake, not a cupcake; there’s more surface area, so the icing ratio is higher.”
Icing ratio. Told you Black women were persnickety about red velvet cake.
Robin Caldwell
Robin Caldwell is the blogger behind freshandfriedhard.com and academic researcher focusing on Black history, heritage and culture. Public historian primarily in Black American historical foodways: antebellum and regional.
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Robin Caldwell is the blogger behind freshandfriedhard.com and academic researcher focusing on Black history, heritage and culture. Public historian primarily in Black American historical foodways: antebellum and regional.
