Talk:Red velvet cake

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Affable-A.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 07:55, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Recipe

This is an excellent article - is there any reason not to include a recipe, or at least a link to one? We're disseminating all human knowledge - how to do things counts, right? -MBlume 21:20, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. The beginnings of this article were the top hit on my blog back in the day. Wikipedia discourages "how to's" such as recipes. WP:NOT contains the relevant guidelines and suggests posting instructional material to Wikibooks or Wikihow. --Dystopos 06:04, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

It's not my most common thing to make, or I would post a recipe (over at Wikibooks, of course). There still isn't a recipe over there, or else I'd suggest a link in this Wikipedia article to the Wikibooks recipe page. Anyone willing to work on this? — ArkansasTraveler 15:39, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

yumyumyum

I am eating a piece of it right now! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.18.104.52 (talk) 22:05, 17 February 2007 (UTC).

Picture

I just looked this up because I was eating a piece (scrumptious), and I was almost (almost) turned off from finishing the slice by the photograph. It looks...well...sick—sepia-toned off angle blob on a green plate. Someone take a new, bright red picture quick.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 23:45, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

I was thinking the same thing! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.152.107.54 (talk) 17:35, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

Done. --Dystopos (talk) 19:24, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

Thanks. The new photo shows a cake very heavy on the red food colouring, but it's a clearer photograph. --Skeezix1000 (talk) 19:33, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

Cupcake

Red velvet cupcakes should be mentioned in this article. Badagnani (talk) 06:35, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

Use of carmine in red food coloring

As I was watching the Food Network "Food Detectives" on June 9, 2009, it was mentioned that female beetle carcasses, or carmine, or E120 dye, are a common source of "natural" red coloring used in most Red Velvet Cakes. I was very surprised that this was never mentioned in this article as I found it fascinating and important. He showed how thousands of female carcasses were ground up with mortar and pestle to extract a rich red color which will not deteriorate and is therefore widely used in the food industry, particularly for Red Velvet Cake. Please insert this in the main body of the article. 69.110.150.182 (talk) 01:32, 1 September 2009 (UTC)

• The composition of the coloring is not specific to the cake. This article links to Food coloring which links to Cochineal. --Dystopos (talk) 21:40, 13 October 2009 (UTC)

Urban legend

I was told in a college class on folklore that there is more to red velvet cake, that the recipe is a practical joke or an urban legend itself, based on the quantity of red dye that goes in it. Can anyone confirm? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.162.77.10 (talk) 12:38, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

There's a disagreement about whether the mention of the urban legend surrounding the history of the cake is germane to the article. I believe that it is as it's a common piece of folklore sometimes passed as fact in non-scholarly works. Input from other editors is welcome. --Dystopos (talk) 21:37, 13 October 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, but the disagreement probably isn't worth wasting two editor's time with. Parenthetically, the edit on rumor was part of my larger cleanup [1]. The article seemed to be attracting a wide variety of un-Wiki contributions. Piano non troppo (talk) 22:40, 13 October 2009 (UTC)

I may be misinterpreting that diff, Piano, but it looks like your cleanup removed a number of sections in favor of combining what you left behind into one big pile. Yes, much of it was a bit iffy, but I think much of it could have been saved rather than deleted, in particular the Urban Legend section, which was clear and well-sourced before you (it looks like??) removed the reference and the context of the story as an urban legend. I might take a crack at cleaning up some of the old stuff tomorrow. Anyway, when I came across the article earlier today, the mention of the Waldorf-Astoria bit implied that the story was true, which is demonstrably false based on the source you have been removing.

In regard to mentioning the urban legend at all, I happen to think that it's quite pertinent to Red Velvet Cake, as that's the only context I had ever heard of the cake in. I'm not married to the idea of keeping the mention in, but if it stays in I think it must state, with a source, that the story is an urban legend, rather than just saying that "it is said." keɪɑtɪk flʌfi (talk) 23:02, 13 October 2009 (UTC)

Go ahead, if you feel strongly about it. I don't think urban legends in any form are likely to be encyclopedic. They are either true, or they are rumors that became institutionalized. The one needs a citation, if encyclopedic, and the other is not encyclopedic.

It's a strange sort of "urban legend" in a way, though. It's not hard to believe that recipes are sold for large sums, and it's easy to believe that someone would be charged more than they expected. So...lol...if it's believable...what kind of legend is that? Regards, Piano non troppo (talk) 03:26, 14 October 2009 (UTC)

I'm deleting the urban legend because it isn't even about red velvet cake. It's usually about some department store's cookie recipe. But it's the same legend and is just as fake. CGameProgrammer (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 23:41, 11 January 2011 (UTC).

Desert!

Comment moved from Talk:Red velvet cake/Comments Astronaut (talk) 03:03, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

"A red velvet cake was a signature desert" -- learn to spell. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.246.158.186 (talk) 16:09, 24 October 2009

Fixed. Astronaut (talk) 03:03, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

Ellen's wedding cake

Was fairly widely publicised as a vegan version was used as Ellens (Ellen Degeneres') wedding cake . This link shows the chef discussing it : http://www.accesshollywood.com/video_525781 Perhaps worth mentioning after steel magnolias as being featured with a prominent celebrity couple is likely to add to popularity. Aliciaa1988 (talk) 01:13, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

The New York Times article already linked mentions Jessica Simpson's wedding and were we to put in Ellen's cake, then I feel like we'd have to put in Jessica's as well, so I'd leave out.--Aichik (talk) 22:08, 27 March 2014 (UTC)

Red Coloring

"All use Red Coloring" I'm fairly certain that is wrong. 70.119.247.185 (talk) 00:18, 23 August 2010 (UTC)

• That statement refers to the three recipes given in James Beard's book, not to every recipe ever conceived for Red Velvet Cake. --Dystopos (talk) 20:07, 23 August 2010 (UTC)

"The typical flavor makers in Red Velvet are, chocolate, buttermilk, vinegar, butter, and red dye. These all contribute to giving Red Velvet its truly unique flavor." The inclusion of red dye regarding taste is dubious at best, as most dyes have no discernable flavor. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Millagorilla (talk • contribs) 08:26, 26 November 2011 (UTC)

Science?

"All use red food coloring, but the reaction of acidic vinegar and buttermilk tends to better reveal the red anthocyanin in the cocoa. Before more alkaline "Dutch Processed" cocoa was widely available, the red color would have been more pronounced. This natural tinting may have been the source for the name "Red Velvet" as well as "Devil's Food" and similar names for chocolate cakes."

Really?

"There’s also a scientific myth associated with Red Velvet Cake. It has sometimes been asserted that the cake’s red color comes from a chemical reaction between the baking soda and the chocolate in the recipe. This is the result of a simple misunderstanding of the chemistry involved. While cocoa powder contains anthocyanins (red vegetable pigments) they are only red in the presence of acids –they turn blue-green in the presence of bases. When cocoa is mixed with the baking soda, a base, the combination should turn the cake an unappetizing brownish-gray. It doesn’t, of course, because the anthocyanins are present in very small quantities, and any color shift is masked by the more prominent brown of the chocolate."

Having made this cake, I will tell you the above correct.

Starlilyth (talk) 04:45, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Steel Magnolias mention

Could we take this out? I've saw the movie when it came out in theaters, and I've enjoyed more than my share of red velvet cupcakes in the last 10 years. Neither ever connected in my mind... Steel Magnolias did not do for red velvet cake as E.T. did for Reese's Pieces, sorry.--Aichik (talk) 22:29, 27 March 2014 (UTC)

Warning: may contain cocoa

The lead suggests, "a true red velvet cake contains cocoa as only one of the ingredients"... as opposed to... cakes where cocoa is the only ingredient? The phrase should probably be changed to something that makes sense.--Jeffro77 (talk) 10:31, 19 May 2017 (UTC)

Betty Crocker is given as the source for that. "She" says: "One of the most rampant rumors is that Red Velvet cake is full of chocolate. The truth is that chocolate—in the form of cocoa—is just one ingredient." I'd be surprised to find any reader familiar with making cakes who thought otherwise. Feel free to reword the article. Jonathunder (talk) 10:52, 19 May 2017 (UTC)

The 'source' you reference (not really much more than an ad) is clearly not written in a style suitable for an encyclopedia. It seems to imply that there are unstated 'other' ingredients' that give red velvet cakes their flavour, though there could be some other intended meaning. In any case, it's terrible, terrible wording. If there is some other ingredient or process that is supposed to give these cakes a 'unique' flavour, someone should update the article accordingly.--Jeffro77 (talk) 00:58, 20 May 2017 (UTC)

I agree it's not a great source. If you think it's best to just remove the phrase, go ahead. Jonathunder (talk) 02:38, 20 May 2017 (UTC)

Already done.--Jeffro77 (talk) 02:44, 20 May 2017 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Black Foodways in the United States

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 18 January 2023 and 5 May 2023. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Smoothieaficionado (article contribs). Peer reviewers: FrioUverd, Wikiguy2003.

— Assignment last updated by Mantaray2 (talk) 18:24, 23 April 2023 (UTC)