"Red Velvet Cake" (1959) revisited

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

It's Valentine's  Day, and "Red Velvet Cake" appears in stories in the food 
sections of today's  New York Times and Austin America-Statesman.  
...
In the New York Times, it's stated that Red Velvet Cake was a "signature"  of 
the Waldorf-Astoria since the 1920s. (Highly unlikely, IMHO.)  In the  Austin 
American-Statesman, it's stated that a former chef of Waldorf-Astoria's  
Oscar's restaurant couldn't find single mention of Red Velvet Cake! (More  likely, 
IMHO.)
...
I went through NewspaperArchive and just added the following "Red Velvet  
Cake" post to my site. Citations appear in 1959 and recipe started appearing  
everywhere by 1961.
...
Doesn't the New York Times food section interview scholars?...Happy  
Valentine's Day, all.
--Barry Popik
...
...
...
_http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/texas/entry/red_velvet_cake/_ 
(http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/texas/entry/red_velvet_cake/) 
...
 
Entry from February 14, 2007 
Red Velvet Cake
 
Red Velvet Cake (a cake with red layers) has been a mystery. Was it invented  
at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City? Was it invented in the South? 
Was  it invented in Canada? Where, and when? 

The cake shows up in newspaper  recipes from at least 1959. In 1961, one 
Canadian newspaper advertised the “new”  Red Velvet Cake available at Eaton’s. 

Some have doubted that New York’s  Waldorf-Astoria ever served the cake. The 
red cake was associated with the  Waldorf in 1959. An urban myth (similar to 
the _Neiman  Marcus cookie recipe myth_ 
(http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/texas/entry/neiman_marcus_cookie_recipe_urban_myth/) ) started by at least 1959 
that the Waldorf had  charged hundreds of dollars for the recipe, so a person 
(to get back at the  hotel) distributed the recipe for free. 

The famous annual Pillsbury  Bake-Off cooking contests were held at the 
Waldorf in the 1950s, and it’s  possible that the Red Velvet Cake was popularized 
at one of these contests.  Waldorf-Astoria Cake recipes appeared in newspapers 
in the early 1950s, but this  cake was different from the Red Velvet Cake. 

The Red Velvet Cake has  become a Valentine’s Day favorite. 


_Wikipedia: Red Velvet  Cake_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_velvet_cake)  
A Red velvet cake is a type of rich and sweet chocolate cake  (though it is 
often made without chocolate flavoring) which has a distinctive  dark red or 
red-brown color. Common ingredients include buttermilk, butter,  flour, cocoa 
powder, and often either beets, or red food coloring. It is most  popular in the 
American South, though known in other regions. The most typical  frosting for 
a red velvet cake is cream cheese icing. 

History  
James Beard’s 1972 reference, American Cookery describes three kinds of red  
velvet cake varying in the amounts of shortening and butter used. All of them  
use red food coloring for the color, but it is mentioned that the reaction of 
 acidic vinegar and buttermilk tends to turn the cocoa a reddish brown color. 
 Furthermore, before more alkaline “Dutch Processed” cocoa was widely 
available,  the red color would have been more pronounced. This natural tinting may 
have  been the source for the name “Red Velvet” as well as “Devil’s Food” 
and a long  list of similar names for chocolate cakes. 

The use of red dye to make  “Red Velvet” cake was probably started after the 
introduction of the darker  cocoa in order to reproduce the earlier color. It 
is also notable that while  foods were rationed during World War II, some 
bakers used boiled beets to  enhance the color of their cakes. Boiled grated 
beets or beet baby food are  still found in some red velvet cake recipes. Red 
velvet cakes seemed to find a  home in the U.S. South and reached peak popularity 
in the 1950s - just before a  controversy arose about health effects of common 
food colorings. 

The  story of red velvet cake is, probably mistakenly, attached to the  
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. An early version of the infamous  “
Neiman-Marcus cookie” legend has it that a woman asked for the recipe to the  
delicious red velvet cake she was served at the hotel restaurant, only to find  that 
she had been billed $100 (or $250) for the recipe. Indignant, she spread it  to 
all her friends as a chain letter. This genre of legend dates to at least the 
 1940s as a $25 fudge cake recipe given to a railroad passenger during the 
days  of elegant rail travel. 

In Canada, red velvet cake was a well-known  signature dessert in the 
restaurants and bakeries of the Eaton’s department  store chain in the 1940s and 
1950s. Promoted as an “exclusive” Eaton’s recipe,  with employees who knew the 
recipe sworn to silence, many Eaton’s patrons  mistakenly believed the cake to 
be the invention of the department store  matriarch, Lady Flora McCrea Eaton. 
Unbeknownst to Canadian shoppers, most of  whom would have been unfamiliar with 
the cuisine of the American south, the  recipe likely originated in the 
United States rather than in the Eaton’s  kitchens. 

A recent resurgence in the popularity of this cake is partly  attributed to 
the 1989 film Steel Magnolias in which the groom’s cake (another  southern 
tradition) is a red velvet cake made in the shape of an armadillo.  

_New York  Times_ 
(http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/14/dining/14velv.html?ref=dining)  
So Naughty, So Nice 
By FLORENCE FABRICANT  
Published: February 14, 2007 

IT’S a cake that can stop traffic.  
(...) 
Some bakers and food historians attribute the cake’s rise in  popularity to 
its role in the 1989 film “Steel Magnolias,” where it appeared in  the shape 
of an armadillo, with gray icing. The cake, if not the armadillo, had  staying 
power. 

More recently, the cake scored a public-relations coup of  sorts when the 
singer Jessica Simpson served a towering hexagonal version at her  wedding to 
Nick Lachey in 2002. It was made by Sam Godfrey, owner of the bakery  Perfect 
Endings in Napa, Calif., who said he included a red velvet sample among  the 
cakes he gave Ms. Simpson “because she’s from Texas.” He wasn’t prepared for  
her reaction. “When she chose it I was dumbstruck,” he said. “Then she talked  
about it all over television.” 
(...) 
Though the consensus is that red  velvet, like many layer cakes, is from the 
South, it is certainly not in every  cookbook about Southern food. No 
definitive information exists on exactly where  it came from, how it should be made or 
why it is red. In fact, red velvet cake  has produced almost as many theories 
and controversies as recipes. 

One  early story links it to New York. In their new “Waldorf-Astoria Cookbook”
  (Bulfinch Press, 2006), John Doherty and John Harrisson say that the cake, 
which  they call a Southern dessert, became a signature at the hotel in the 
1920s. (It  is also the subject of an urban legend: a woman at the Waldorf was 
supposedly so  taken with it that she asked for the recipe — for which she was 
charged $100 or  more. In revenge, she passed it along to everyone she knew. 
The tale, like a  similar one about a cookie recipe from Neiman Marcus, has 
been debunked.)  

_Austin  American-Statesman_ 
(http://www.austin360.com/food_drink/content/food_drink/dining_at_home/stories/2007/02/14kitchen.html)  
Color me retro: Red velvet cake is back in  vogue 
And the recipe won’t cost one red cent. 
Wednesday,  February 14, 2007 

Red velvet cake is so retro, ruby-hued and rowdy. Not  a crumb of subtleness 
about it. But on celebratory occasions such as  Valentine’s, it shines, 
charming the young and bringing reminiscences to the  seasoned. 

The layer cake, filled and frosted with creamy white icing, is  basically a 
devil’s food cake — a moist light cocoa cake — whose batter is  doused with a 
bottle or two of food coloring to give that signature red hue  

Its history is as deep as its color. Some sources say it originated in  the 
South as far back as the early 1900s, and that beets lent the color. Many  
others say it originated at New York’s Waldorf Astoria hotel in the 1950s. But  
Joe Verde, the former chef at Oscar’s at the hotel, told the James Beard  
Foundation Web site that when he researched the cake’s history in the Waldorf  
archives a few years ago, he couldn’t find a single mention of it. 

So  much for that legend that the famous hotel once charged a customer $100 
for the  recipe. Obviously, that’s an early version of the Neiman Marcus urban 
myth about  the $250 cookie recipe. 

The red velvet cake’s popularity soared in the  ‘60s, with no less than a 
dozen cooks (two from Texas) submitting it to a  “Favorite Recipes of Home 
Economics Teachers Desserts Cookbook.” Amounts of red  food coloring in them ranged 
from 1 teaspoon to 2 ounces. 

In the ‘70s,  however, the cake faded from the table for a while after a 
Russian study linked  Red Dye No. 2 to cancer. Several subsequent studies showed 
no hazards, and when  the Food and Drug Administration conducted its own tests, 
they were  inconclusive. Ultimately, though, the FDA banned the dye because 
it could not  pronounce it safe. Other reds took its place. And while some 
people sensitive to  dyes might need to avoid them, others relish their vibrancy. 

17 March  1951, Modesto (CA) Bee, “Prize Winning Recipes” by Katherine 
Kitchen, pg.  14A: 
Mrs. Masten’s prize winning recipe for Waldorf-Astoria Chocolate Cake  was 
sent to her by her mother. 
WALDORF ASTORIA CAKE 
(Same as below. This  is NOT Red Velvet Cake—ed.) 

22 January 1953, Fresno (CA) Bee, pg.  12B: 
Waldorf Astoria Cake 
4 tablespoons butter of margarine 
3  eggs 
2 1/4 cups sugar, cane or beet 
3 squares unsweetened chocolate,  melted 
1 1/2 cups cake flour (sift before measuring) 
1/2 teaspoon salt  
1 1/2 cups milk 
2 teaspoons baking powder 
2 teaspoons vanilla 
1  cup finely chopped nut meats 
Separate eggs; beat whites very stiff.  Gradually add 1 1/4 cups of the sugar 
and beat until very thick. Beat yolks  until thick or lemon color; set aside. 
Cream the butter or margarine; add  remaining sugar gradually. Add beaten egg 
yolks and melted chocolate, then flour  alternately with the milk, beating 
well after each addition. Fold egg whites  thoroughly into this mixture. 
Sprinkle baking powder over the top of the batter;  fold in thoroughly. (Or, baking 
powder may be sifted with dry ingredients;  either method is satisfactory.) 
Sprinkle vanilla and chopped nut meats over the  batter; fold in. Pour into 3 
shallow 9 inch or 3 deep 8 inch layer cake pans.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 
35 minutes. Frost with the following icing:  

Icing 
1 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar, cane or beet 
1/2  cup butter or margarine 
2 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted 
1 egg  
1/2 teaspoon vanilla 
Combine ingredients; beat together thoroughly until  very light. Makes enough 
frosting for top and sides of cake. 

22 May  1959, Hillsboro (Ohio) Press-Gazette, “Homemakers’ Corner” by Mary  
Gallagher, pg. 15, cols. 2-3: 
Recipe of the Week 
This is a  $300.00 recipe! Yes, that price was actually paid for it, and you 
are getting it  free! It seems that two young ladies were served this cake 
when eating at a  Chicago hotel one day, and since it was a bit unusual they 
asked if they might  have the recipe. The hotel obliged, and asked them to write 
down their names and  addresses. A short time later they received a bill for 
$300 and after going to  court about it, the verdict was made that they were 
obligated to pay the bill.  

This recipe is contributed by Mrs. Homer Watts of Rainsboro:  

Waldorf Red Cake 
Beat until creamy 1/2 cup shortening, 1/1/2  cups sugar; add 2 eggs and 1 
teaspoon vanilla; make paste with 2 tablespoons  cocoa, 1/4 cup red food coloring 
(add to mixture); sift 2 1/4 cups flour, 1  teaspoon salt, alternatively add 
1 cup buttermilk with flour and salt mixture to  above; mix together 1 
tablespoon vinegar, and 1 teaspoon soda, (add to mixture,  just blending in. Be sure 
you do this fast, adding it immediately as it foams);  bake in two 9 inch 
layer pans 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool split layers  and frost. 

Yes, that is really “1/4 cup red coloring,” but Mrs. Watts  and I think that 
half that much red coloring will be enough, use water for the  rest of the 
one fourth cup. When Mrs. Watts made this cake she used 2 bottles of  the 
coloring which was only half of the amount called for in the recipe.  

We are not sure that it is worth $300.000, but you can try it and see  what 
you think.  

25 May 1959, Mansfield (Ohio) News-Journal,  “Readers’ Recipe Exchange,” pg. 
6, cols. 1-2: 
Six readers answered the  request of Mrs. Walter Jarvis for a cake recipe 
which includes two bottles of  red food coloring in the ingredients. One reader 
said a friend had to pay $300  for the recipe, after having eaten the cake at 
the Waldorf in New York City and  requesting the recipe. Another told the same 
story, but calls it a $200 recipe.  

Our thanks to Mrs. David Gongwer, Ashland; Mrs. Loyd Chilcote,  Mansfield; 
Mrs. E. F. Galion; Mrs. C. L. Bisel, Shelby; Mrs. Richard Sloan,  Ashland, and 
Mrs. Robert Orewiler, Shelby. The recipes are almost identical and  all but one 
call for 2 ounces of red food coloring, not two bottles. Check the  label on 
the bottles so that you buy the correct amount, or purchase it at a  drug 
store as Mrs. Fortney suggests. 

WALDORF (RED) CAKE 
1/2 cup  Crisco 
1 1/2 c. sugar 
2 eggs 
2 oz. red food coloring 
1 tsp.  vanilla 
1 tsp. soda 
2 Tbsp. cocoa 
1 tsp. salt 
1 c. buttermilk  
2 1/4 c. cake flour 
1 tsp. vinegar 
Cream shortening, add sugar and  eggs, food coloring and vanilla. Cream 
again. Sift flour, add rest of dry  ingredients, sift again. Combine dry 
ingredients with sugar mixture while adding  butermilk and vinegar. Pour into two 
greased and floured 9-inch pans and bake 30  minutes at 350 degrees. 

FROSTING 
5 Tbsp. flour 
1 c. milk 
1  c. sugar 
1 c. butter 
Mix flour and milk until smooth. Cook until thick,  stirring constantly. 
Cool. Cream sugar, butter and vanilla. Add flour and milk  mixture. Beat with 
electric mixer until fluffy. 
When cake is thoroughly  cool, split layers in half and heap frosting between 
each layer, also on top and  sides. 

Methods are slightly different in the six recipes. One reader  advises using 
8-inch rather than 9-inch pans, and one says it should be baked in  three 
layers. One lists two bottles of food coloring in the ingredients and  directs 
that each bottle also should be filled with water, making four bottles  of 
liquid. Two suggest making a paste of the food coloring and cocoa before  adding 
these ingredients. 

18 September 1959, Zanesville (Ohio)  Signal, pg. 6A, col. 2: 
Waldorf-Astoria Cake 
1/2 cup  Crisco 
1 1/2 cup sugar 
2 eggs 
(BEAT ALL THIS TOGETHER) 
2 oz. red  cake coloring 
2 tablespoons cocoa 
Make paste and add to above. 
1 cup  buttermilk 
1 teaspoon salt 
1 tablespoon vanilla 
Mix and add to above  at low speed 2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour, blend in 
carefully at low speed.  
1 tablespoon vinegar 
1 teaspoon soda 
Add to above and pur into 2  cake pans and bake for 30 to 40 min., at 325 
degrees. 
When cool, remove from  Pans and place in refrigerator at least 1 hr. to 
chill. Split layers and ice.  

ICING 
Mix 8 tablespoons flour with 1/2 teaspoon milk, add to 1 cup  boiling milk. 
Cool and stir. Beat smooth with egg beater if necessary. Chill.  
Beat on high speed until light and fluffy: 
3/4 cup butter 
1 1/2 cup  sugar 
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 
Add flour and milk mixture. Beat until  creamy. 

Mrs. Galen Ferguson, 
McConnelsville 
Rt. 2, Ohio  

19 September 1959, Zanesville (Ohio) Signal, pg. 6, col. 2:  
Waldorf Red Cake 
1/2 cup shortening 
1 1/2 cups sugar 
2  eggs 
2 ounces red food coloring 
1 teaspoon vanilla 
2 tablespoons  cocoa 
1 cup buttermilk 
2 1/4 cups cake flour 
1 tablespoon vinegar  
1 teaspoon soda 
1 teaspoon salt 
Cream shortening, sugar and eggs.  Make paste with cocoa and coloring. Add to 
mixture. Add salt and buttermilk in  with flour and vanilla and make paste. 
Add to creamed mixture. Add vinegar and  soda but do not beat hard, just blend. 
Bake 30 minutes at 350 degree temperature  in two 9-inch pans. Let cake cool 
and ice. 

ICING 
5 tablespoons flour  
1 cup sweet milk 
1 cup granulated sugar 
1 teaspoon vanilla 
1 cup  butter 
Cook flour and milk until thick, then cool. Cream sugar, vanilla and  butter 
until fluffy. Add to flour mixture but don’t beat too long. 
This is  sufficient for a 2-layer 9-inch cake. 

Mrs. Hershel Turner 
West  Sheridan Street 
Somerset, Ohio  
(MORE on website.)

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