Red Velvet Cake – Online Course

Red Velvet is one of the most famous cakes ever and for good reason. It is so beautiful to look at! But did you know that Red Velvet is not just about the way it looks and the bright red, but more so about the taste. A true Red Velvet Layered Cake is not just a vanilla cake with red food coloring. It is a cake that has a tangy, slightly sour taste and it is incredibly moist. The sponge combines perfectly with the cream, but I wanted to take an extra step and added raspberry into the equation, thus creating a cake that I super proud of and that has received countless amazing feedback messages over the last couple of months. 

The element of surprise in this cake is the baked cheesecake that takes the place of a sponge, creating some sort of insert. It’s not just any cheesecake though, but one that has goat cheese as a flavoring agent. The acidity of the goat cheese combines perfectly with the acidity of the sponge cake and the raspberry ! The aroma of the goat cheese is amazing and it goes into the category of the je ne sais quoi, that something that makes the cake delicious and interesting without actually being able to name it right away.

One thing that I do like about Red Velvet and just any other similar dessert for that matter is the fact that it is surrounded by the legend of how it was created. Think of the famous Opera or St. Honore. Well, Red velvet is no less than those! The legend says that Red Velvet was created at the famous Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, being a menu favorite ever since the 1950s. Velvet Cakes have been baked in the US since the 1800s however, most of these cakes having cocoa powder in the recipe with the purpose of obtaining a finer texture. By the early 1900s there were plenty of recipes for velvet cakes, red cocoa cakes and other variations. One of the most notable mentions of Red Velvet Cake comes from Irma S. Rombauer in The Joy of Cooking in 1943.

Originally the cake was colored with beetroot juice, but once Adams Extract started selling red food coloring, the Red Velvet was changed. Variations still exist though. My take on this classic preserves the same moist, colored sponge cake, combining it with an updated mix of flavors. It is a cake that can easily be left naked, decorated perhaps with raspberry, but it can also easily be covered in buttercream completely and decorated to impress! I wanted to bring back some of the earthiness of the beet juice in the original cake by using goat cheese in one of its layers. And it works so well with the raspberry – I am in love!

The elements of this Red Velvet Layered Cake are:

• Red Velvet sponge cake
• Raspberry marmalade
• Baked goat cheese cheesecake
• Cream cheese buttercream
• Italian meringue buttercream
• Red Velvet powder