I made some Red Velvet cupcakes and I made a few errors, they came out edible but rather dry. I wasn’t very meticulous and I spilled a couple ingredients and then I also didn’t have enough red food coloring so tried to add a little extra water to even out the volume. I think I also overmixed the batter, then I accidentally turned off the oven after I put them in, so I also lost track of my actual cooking time. It was a real comedy of errors. They were edible but a bit dry, I tossed most of them in the freezer in case I’m feeling desperate. I sort of know what went wrong (everything) so my question isn’t about fixing the cake.
The cream cheese frosting came out great and I didn’t want to waste it on subpar cake. I didn’t feel like tackling another Red Velvet cake right away but I don’t want to waste the frosting. So my question is, can the frosting be frozen? If not I think I will just go for a carrot cake.
Also, I wasn’t able to buy a small bottle of buttermilk and now I have way too much buttermilk, can buttermilk be frozen for future use in baking? If not what else can I do with buttermilk that doesn’t involve ingesting it straight up? bleh.
Also, for future reference, I’d like to tackle a Red Velvet cake again sometime but I wonder do I really need the food coloring? Sure it won’t be Red Velvet, more like Brown Velvet but the food coloring can’t affect the flavor, can it? Also if I leave the coloring out do I need to add some other liquid to replace the volume of the food coloring? The recipe only called for 2 ounces of food coloring.
Let’s see…
Freezing frosting probablly ok, depending on the ingrediants. Defineately ok in the frig for a while, but you may have to thin it a bit with milk before use.
Buttermilk will freeze, or you can use it in pancakes/waffles or a yummy, easy
Cornbread.
2 ounces of food coloring Sounds a lot. Water, or booze could substitute.
My grandmother’s/mom’s/sister’s red velvet recipe calls for two ounces of food coloring. The batter should look like nail polish.
As I understand it, the secret to moist red velvet cake is the addition of a significant amount of vegetable oil to the batter. Can’t remember the exact quantity, though.
Hmm… there was no oil in this recipe. There was butter and buttermilk. I always thought it was the buttermilk that made it moist. Anyway it was also for cupcakes so I don’t know if the recipe was altered at all for cupcakeness. I do have some other recipes somewhere for RV cake that I can check but I am pretty sure that I messed up the recipe in many ways and it was my fault, not the recipes. Still I’d like to try one without the food coloring because that’s a heck of a lot of food coloring and I don’t care if the cake is actually red.
Here’s a red-velvet recipe that was featured on the Food Network show Sara’s Secrets. It’s in the ballpark of the recipe my female relatives make – only that the Food Network recipe uses a lot less cocoa powder and food coloring. Note that both a full cup of buttermilk and 1 1/2 cups of vegetable oil are used in the batter.
Hmm, I wonder if there was a goof in my recipe or if it’s different for cupcakes? It was a bit more complicated in the mixing, too. For example you mixed the food coloring and cocoa together to make a paste, then mixed the vinegar and baking soda together separately and folded it in last. Then again, like I said I did goof in some of the ingredients, overmixed and overbaked. I like the food network recipe better, a lot less complicated.
Sounds a lot. Water, or booze could substitute.