What could be merrier for the celebration of Christmas than a bright red layer cake decked out in snowy white icing? Red Velvet Cake is a classic Southern Retro Cake – equal parts gentility and bodacious attitude. It’s a fine finish to a day of Southern-style holiday feasting. Oddly enough, despite its popularity in the South, some sources trace the origin of the Red Velvet Cake to New York’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel in the 1920s, and there is a recipe for “Velvet Cake” contained in the 1896 edition of the Boston Cooking-School Cookbook.
The cake just barely manages to upstage my Paula Deen “Old Fashioned Holiday Glazed Ham” studded with festive bling – glittering pineapple slices and maraschino cherries – which I served as the main course for Christmas dinner.
The recipe for Red Velvet Cake comes from the Lee Bros. – Matt and Ted Lee – who I got to meet at the International Chefs Congress in New York in September. They are two super nice guys who have truly written the book on Southern cooking. As expected, the ruby-red batter is velvety-smooth, and the addition of orange zest and buttermilk gives the cake a nice Southern “twang.”
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night, y’all!©2009 T.W. Barritt All Rights Reserved
