Red Velvet

I haven't been baking for very long. Maybe a couple of years and my signature item is Red Velvet Cupcakes. The Paula Deen recipe from the Food Network is the only recipe I've known and loved and perfected, or so I thought. I carted my dogs over to my dear friend and partner in crime, Christine's, and we baked our very first red velvet in her kitchen one weekend afternoon. I thought it was an impossible feat (How do you get it so red? What exactly is that taste?) and actually had it on a list of goals for the year (I know, such paltry goals I have). It was a success and every time I made it, it seemed to get better. It was even the exact same recipe found on the Philosophy Red Velvet Cake shampoo/shower gel sitting in my bathroom. I found that you had to use the fakey red food coloring from the supermarket (none of that natural dye from Whole Foods) to get it just right. I also made it a point try to out red velvet in any form whenever I visited different bakeries in Los Angeles and while traveling. In my opinion, the best red velvet cupcake you can buy is from Auntie Em's. I don't care what Oprah said, the one from Doughboys is just obscenely moist. Sprinkles is pretty decent. Crumbs, no. Cake Man Raven from Brooklyn was almost perfect.

Doughboys' too moist red velvet

Auntie Em's

Victor's perfect Red Velvet Cake

Until I was at a birthday party not very long ago and Victor brought this gorgeous red velvet birthday cake topped with raspberries. It was by far the most amazing red velvet cake I've ever tasted. I demanded to know his secrets and he sent me the recipe from Epicurious on his magic phone. I made the Epicurious recipe, version 2.0, when I was visiting friends in Denver over New Years. It uses a quarter of the red food dye stuff but the cake turns out deliciously red as a red velvet cake should be. It calls for basically the same ingredients as v 1.0 but the method is slightly different. Red Velvet 2.0 was fabulous and even better. And the icing was a bit too cream-cheesy since it's intended for a cake so I added a little more powdered sugar than it called for and it was very good.

My friend Erin recently e-mailed me yet another recipe from Amy Butler, which I will call 3.0 This calls for butter and margarine! This one is yet to be baked but when I do, there will surely be an evaluation of it.