I’m making a dragon cake for my daughter’s birthday. I’d like to use Red Velvet cake. Does anyone have a recipe they would recommend?
Thank you!
red velvet cake is easy just take your fav chocolate recipe (if you have one) and toss in a whole thing of red food coloring …
We’ve made a Red Velvet cake very similar to this for both our kid’s birthday.
The secret is the mayo. Makes any cake super moist.
Btw, we use butter in our cream cheese frosting. Not that fake butter spread mentioned in the recipe.
Red velvet cake isn’t just chocolate cake colored red. It’s made with cocoa powder, true, but it’s more than just making a chocolate cake.
I like the Willard Scott Recipe. I’m not a great cake-maker, but everyone who tries it really likes it. Is very moist and stays that way for a good while (unlike my spice cake which only good for a day or three before it’s too dry to eat). Not hard to make, either.
I will say it sort of falls apart on serving sometimes. I think that’s more than likely my fault as the cook, rather than the recipe’s. But it tastes so good, I don’t want another recipe. Though maybe a smidge less oil would fix that - I don’t know; I’m not a natural cook; I just follow recipes. I know there is a variant that uses shortening instead.
I will say this does not result in a “dense” cake, like a lot of red velvet cakes I’ve had. I prefer this version, but your taste may vary.
I always do cream cheese icing (it’s the norm for red velvet cake here, and I much prefer it) and don’t know how it would taste with buttercream icing.
Thank you everyone.
I will be using something other than cream cheese for this cake in particular, since I’m decorating the dragon. I do really like it generally.
I do need a dense cake this time, but a lighter cake would be nice to try in future.
I don’t bake at all - but looked at the recipe. 1 teaspoon of cocoa doesn’t seem like much - does it really end up with much chocolate flavor? I guess cocoa powder may be stronger than I remember from my mom’s baking days.
A 1/2 cup cocoa is what we use in a red velvet cake.
I can’t imagine one teaspoon being enough.
Not very chocolatey, but then no red velvet cake I’ve ever had has been chocolatey.
I found a good recipe in The Vanishing Hitchhiker by Jan Harold Brunvand. If anyone asks I’ll post it in this thread. 
Yes, please.
True - but it is just devil’s food cake colored red, rather than any old chocolate cake. At least in modern times. In the old days, before all the cocoa was “dutch process,” it was really acidic and you could make a red cake through some chemical process with the acid from the cocoa. I forget the details but Uncle Google will assist anyone who wants to know.
Here you are, from The Vanishing Hitchhiker, 1981, pp. 154-55:
THE CAKE:
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp. cocoa
2 oz. red food coloring
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
1 1/2 tsp. soda
1 tbsp. vinegar
FROSTING:
5 tsp. flour
1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter or margarine
1 tsp. vanilla
CREAMED MIXTURE:
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
The cake:
Make paste of cocoa and red food coloring. Beat well, add to creamed mixture.
Add salt and vanilla to buttermilk. Add alternately with sifted cake flour to creamed mixture. Beat and beat. Mix soda and vinegar; fold into mixture. DO NOT BEAT. Bake in two 9-inch pans 30 min. at 350º.
The frosting:
Mix flour, milk; cook until thick, stir constantly. Let cool. Cream together sugar, butter or margarine, vanilla.
Add to flour mixture. Beat until consistency to spread. Looks like whipped cream.
Thank you! That looks interesting.