More Food Coloring

Make sure your volume is up and listen to this song - it's the closing song from every episode of big sister's new favorite TV show.  And, what's not to like?  When these kids have a problem, they "look in a book" for the answer and their super powers are spelling power, alphabet power, word power, and the power to read.

The Red Riding Hood character (she's "Wonder Red" when she transforms into a super hero) made red velvet cake with her grandma in a recent episode and after that, big sister was filled questions about red velvet cake.  Is it real?  Is it really red?  What does it taste like?  And, of course, Can WE make it?

So, you guessed it, more food coloring and baking.  I know recipes abound and everyone has their favorite but I made the Hershey's recipe with cream cheese frosting for potluck last Sunday.  I should have taken it out of the oven about 5 minutes earlier but it was pretty good.  When I tasted the batter before washing the bowl, it made my mouth tingle - was it too much food coloring or the vinegar?

I was reading a little bit about the history of the cake and it cracked me up when I read that in the '70s, the popularity of red velvet cake "faded when red food dye was linked to cancer."  I should hope so!  Has anybody used beetroot juice to color a red velvet cake?  Honestly, I'm not a big enough fan to make this (or ingest this much food coloring) on a regular basis but, like the rainbow cupcakes, we had a fun experience trying it out.  I think big sister has had enough food coloring to last her until 2012!

The batter:

What big sister does while I do the dishes and we wait for the cake to bake.  On this particular day, we took turns saying nursery rhymes.

Hershey's Red Velvet Cake  Click for recipe

Recipe notes:
*Instead of 2 T, I only used about 2 tsp. red food coloring (what was left in the little vial I bought for the cupcakes)
*I made my own cream cheese frosting
*Check your cake between 25 and 30 minutes
*Other than that, I followed the recipe