A classic southern cake that usually makes its appearance over the Christmas holidays.
Mama's Red Velvet Cake
This was a traditional Christmas cake around our house growing up and it is as moist as it is pretty. I can barely think of Red Velvet Cake without thinking of my Mama, and it is the Christmas season where my heart gets real heavy on missing her.
I have heard that there is a newer evolution of red velvet cake that substitutes cooking oil for the real butter used in the original cake. I can't imagine why. Why you would want the oily residue of a cooking oil versus the flavor impact and richness of butter is beyond me, though I think it probably has something to do with the mouth feel texture result, which would probably be somewhat similar to a box cake mix that so many people use. If so, then just use the box mix I say! As far as me, I don't know that I'll go messing around with something that I know is delicious and good... and works!
That, of course, brings me to another thing. Over mixing batter and over measuring - two things that often cause the failure of baked goods in a home cook. A lot of us are guilty of the scoop method of measuring - meaning you take your one cup measure and scoop it into the flour bag and shake off anything that tops over. Nothing could be worse in a cake. Scooping causes the flour to compact in the measuring cup and the results are often that you are actually using quite a bit more flour than you intended to. The right way to measure is to spoon into the measuring cup from the bag or canister until the measuring cup is overflowing, then use the straight edge of a knife to level off the top.
The other thing is not being familiar enough with the way your oven bakes. The only way you can know that, is from how often your result matches a recipe, versus having to remove something sooner or bake something longer. You can also use an oven thermometer as a back up to see if your oven temperature match what your thermostat says. Every oven bakes differently and over time and use of your own, you will know how to make adjustments. Always check your cakes first about 5 to 10 minutes out from the earliest recommended cooking time and no sooner. Opening the oven too early will make the oven temperature fluctuate and often results in a cake to fall in the center.
This is a very special cake in my family - and meant to be made from scratch in my opinion. It's my Mama's recipe, and I promise it will be worth every single ounce of energy you put into it, so long as you make it according to the recipe and directions, and don't make any substitutions. I hope that it becomes a special Christmas cake for you, but by the way, it's also the perfect cake for a romantic Valentine's Day dinner.
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