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Dessert

Red Velvet Cake

A layered cake made with Crisco, eggs, flour, sugar, buttermilk, and red food coloring, topped with a butter‑based frosting.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and cocoa work together. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 357 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Red Velvet Cake

Oven350°F
Time30 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cake batter

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

  2. Put vinegar and soda in a cup; set aside.

  3. Cream Crisco, sugar, and eggs with a mixer.

  4. Make a paste of food coloring and cocoa and add it to the creamed mixture.

  5. Put salt and flour in a sifter.

  6. Add flour to mixture a little at a time. As you add the flour, add buttermilk along with it.

  7. Add vanilla; beat well.

  8. Fold in soda and vinegar.

  9. Beat 2 minutes.

Bake the layers

  1. Measure out the batter into 3 bowls, so you can get the same amount in each layer.

  2. Use 8x8x2 inch square pans for 3 layers.

  3. Grease and flour each pan before you fill it with batter.

  4. Cook 1 layer at a time. Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

  5. After the layers are cooled, trim edges.

  6. Don't frost sides.

  7. Be sure you don't mash the layers as you frost and stack them.

  8. The white frosting is thick between the layers.

Make the frosting

  1. Have butter at room temperature.

  2. Cook flour and milk until thick, the consistency of oatmeal. Let the mixture cool.

  3. After this mixture cools, strain it and set aside.

  4. Put butter and vanilla in a bowl; beat. Add sugar a little at a time; beating with an electric mixer a long time after each addition of sugar.

  5. Fold in the flour mixture. Don't beat.

  6. Frost the tops only of the 3 layers.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1003Calories
29 gProtein
35 gFat
138 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 10 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Chocolate1 oz (28g) semisweet155
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Cakenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Vanilla + cocoatop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together357 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  3. Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,721 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Sugar + buttermilktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,973 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Vanilla and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure as they set during baking.
Flour
Provides the structure that sets the cake crumb as it bakes.
Buttermilk
Adds moisture and acidity that keeps the crumb tender.
Baking soda
Reacts with the vinegar and acid to lift the batter as it bakes.
Crisco
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and carries flavor.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps it brown and stay moist.

The step that matters

Fold in soda and vinegar. The soda and vinegar react to produce gas that lifts the batter, so they should be folded in gently and baked soon after mixing to keep the rise.

Swap the cocoa

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, vanilla, flour, sugar, buttermilk, vinegar, milk):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Chestnutfits better
  3. Hazelnutfits better
  4. Cocoathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, vanilla, flour, sugar, buttermilk, vinegar, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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