I didn’t grow up celebrating Juneteenth, but I learned more about its origins and celebration, thanks to living in Austin, TX for 14 years. One of the aspects of the celebration is consuming red libations. The color red has symbolic meanings from blood to spiritual renewal.
One particular red food that caught my eye was Red Velvet Cake. When I discovered that Red Velvet was actually a chocolate cake with red food coloring, of course I asked that oft repeated question: why not just have a chocolate cake without the food coloring?
The answer may lie in the symbolic meaning of red, but regardless of whether I ever figure out a definitive answer, I found an online recipe that used a natural way to color the cake, which intrigued me more than anything else.
The Ingredients
The most obscure ingredient turned out being the chocolate powder. The vast majority of chocolate that we buy is Dutch processed, meaning that it’s processed with alkali, so the cocoa is neutral rather than acidic. I was about to buy the cocoa powder online until I saw that shipping cost as much as the chocolate. So, I checked my local upscale grocery store.
Chopped Beets
That grocery store had the chocolate I needed, but in solid, not powder form. Since I no longer have the patience to drive around town to buy ingredients, I bought everything I needed at that pricey place. The way I saw it, since I don’t buy the weekly groceries in my parents’ home, I could afford to spend about what I used to on a week’s worth of groceries prior to the pandemic.
Gloves and Covered Cutting Board
Two precautions I took were to wear disposable gloves and to wrap the cutting board with plastic before chopping up the beet–the source of the beautiful red coloring. As a matter of fact, the author of the recipe that I found online had included their narrative trial and error with beets as part of the recipe.
Fresh Lemon Juice
Originally, they had cooked the beet puree, which caused the redness color to fade to brown once baked. So, they recommended raw beet puree. Additionally, the batter had to be acidic to help preserve beet’s color. Hence, the use of non Dutch processed chocolate, buttermilk, creme fraiche, and fresh lemon juice.
Mixing the Batter
Since I used chocolate chunks, I mixed them into part of the batter that I processed in the blender. The butter and sugar were creamed in the mixer, while the flour and other dry ingredients were stirred in a large bowl. At one point, I switched off pouring the beet and flour mixture into the mixing bowl.
Beautiful Batter
This was one of the few recipes where the batter was attractive. Of course I had to sample it. Absolutely delicious! No earthy nor acidic taste, thanks to two cups of sugar.
Baked Cake Layers
Most of my baked goods have tended to be over baked because my parents’ oven. As much time, energy and money I put into this cake, I put the lowest suggested baking time, 25 minutes, on the timer. I added 10 minutes when the cakes didn’t pass the toothpick test. If I ever make this recipe again, I’ll know that it needs to bake for 45 minutes in this particular oven.
Haphazardly Frosted
Although I’d started the baking process on Saturday morning, I didn’t frost the cake until nighttime since I’d seen “Wakanda Forever” in the afternoon AND I’d forgotten to buy cream cheese for the frosting. My sister, who I thought would arrive sooner, brought the cream cheese since she was picking me up anyway.
Beautiful Through and Through
I’d left the ingredients for the frosting out. Maybe they were too warm rather than room temperature. At that point, I didn’t care. I’d seemingly spent all day baking. The frosting was less viscous than I would have liked, but that didn’t stop me. Even the second thoughts of adding lemon zest to the frosting didn’t stop me from adding it. I’m glad I followed that suggestion because the bright taste of the lemon contrasted well with the cake.
The spirit doesn’t move me very often to bake/cook, but when it does, I’m so happy that things turn out as delicious as this.