 |
 |
 |
red velvet cake. all natural. no red dye.
This cake ended up being a science experiment.
I wanted to make a red velvet cake without any red food coloring. Though I can handle a little food coloring here and there, the idea of putting in such large amounts into a homemade cake . . . well, I just couldn’t do it. I mean, why would I want to eat a cake that is red for no reason, other than the fact that someone calls it red?
In my research, and the research of my sister (who actually inspired my making this cake after she had made an attempt at something similar), we discovered a number of people in the blogosphere that get quite uppity about what a red velvet cake is and isn’t. I won’t get into that. But I will say that many of these red velvet soap boxers were suggesting the color should come from beets.
So I started there.
My first attempt was brownish purplish. My daughter called it the Purple Satin Cake. It tasted good, so good in fact, that when I stood there, holding the last piece, thinking that I should snap a picture for the blog to show what it looked like, my will power buckled, and into my mouth it went. But it was still brownish purplish.
I spent the next few days reading other blogs and websites. Amy, from BakeCakery*, had a recipe that was a great starting point. From her post, I could see that it could be done. Then, with the help of her descriptions, beet cooking methods, and links to other bloggers, I was able to piece together the science I needed to get a red cake. Oh, and by the way, if you haven’t seen her blog yet, she is extremely talented you should definitely take a look.. She has this tres leches cake that will amaze you.
Amy directed me over to bittersweetblog, where the writer painstakingly experimented with the pH levels in the cake, and how it affects color.
Armed with that knowledge, and before I dove in and wasted another couple pounds of ingredients, I put a small amount of beet puree into two small cups. Then I added different ingredients to each, to see if they would keep the color pink, or turn it purple. Once it turns purple, you see, you will be making the lovely Purple Satin Cake, instead. Which, sadly is more brown than purple.
The goal was to keep the pH as acidic as possible, with no additions of anything alkaline. So baking soda is obviously out. Anyone who has ever helped their kid with a model of a volcano for the science fair knows what I’m talking about. And then Dutch Process or Dark Cocoa powder is out, too. Apparently, chocolate is sometimes processed with alkali to make it smoother, so don’t add regular chocolate or melted chocolate chips, either. To achieve the chocolate taste, you can really only use natural cocoa powder. It’s easy enough to find, though. Hershey’s cocoa powder—as long as it’s not the Special Dark variety—works perfectly. (In the pictures, I used only two tablespoons of the cocoa powder, which kept things very red. If I were to make it again, though, I’d probably add as much as 4 tablespoons.)
Working with this knowledge, I took out my trusty old cream cheese pound cake recipe to use as a base, and created this cake. It’s moist, but dense, smooth, and has the exact crumb I was looking for. My kids loved it, even after I told them it was made with beets. They didn’t care. This cake was all they talked about for days. They wanted it after school, for breakfast, and dessert.
While I was frosting this, I kept thinking of Rosie and her blog Sweetapolita. Oh my goodness is that girl talented! And she has a beautiful family, and she’s an excellent photographer. She’s is the Queen of Cakes. Here are some of my favorite posts:
Her asparagus cake. Crazy beautiful.
This chocolate bundt cake is so stunning.
And her latest is a buttermilk cake with fudge frosting.
So if you’ve never seen her blog, make sure you go take a look.
For good measure, and based on Amy’s suggestion, I used quite a bit of lemon juice just to keep things as bright as possible. So keep these things in mind when you make your cake. Keep the acidity high, and the pH numbers low!!
*Earlier, I had said that Amy’s blog was called CakeBakery, when it is actually BakeCakery. Sorry, Amy! And sorry for any confusion!
all natural red velvet cake
2 large beets (enough for 1 1/2 cups puree)
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon vinegar
2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened, but not quite room temperature
1 8 ounce package of cream cheese, softened slightly
2 1/3 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
4 tablespoons natural (not dark or dutch processed) cocoa powder*
cream cheese frosting (recipe follows)
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (165 degrees celsius). Place beets in a small baking dish and add a 1/2 cup of water. Cover with parchment paper and foil, and roast until quite tender, about 60-90 minutes. Allow to cool completely.
2. Butter 3 8 inch cake pans. Cut out parchment paper circles and place in the bottoms of the pans. Butter the parchment paper and dust with flour. Set aside. Peel the beets and cut into large chunks. Place in a food processor (or a very good blender) with the lemon juice, and pulse until smooth and pureed.** Stir in the vinegar.
3. In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and cream cheese. Pour in sugar and mix until smooth. Add in eggs, one at a time, mixing well until each is incorporated. Mix in vanilla.
4. While ingredients are mixing, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder in a separate bowl. Slowly add flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Measure out 1 1/2 cups of the beet puree mixture, and fold into the cake batter. Divide the batter evenly between the cake pans. Tap pans on the counter to remove any air bubbles.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean. Invert cakes onto cooling racks, and allow to cool completely. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze until ready to frost.
*Some people have commented and said that their cake has turned out maroon in color, instead of the red like the picture. I just tested the recipe again, to see if I could recreate what happened. It could be the cocoa. In the photographs, I used only 2 tablespoons of cocoa because the red color was my main objective, not the chocolate flavor. So, if you’re more concerned about the color than the chocolate flavor, then just use 2 tablespoons of cocoa instead of the 1/4 cup.
**The other thing I discovered while testing it today, is that I didn’t make my puree as fine. In the pictures from last time, you can see that the texture of the beet puree is very smooth, almost like baby food. I think that may have affected the color. Each tiny piece of beet adds to the color, and if there’s more surface area surrounding each teeny tiny piece, then you’ll get a stronger red. I think.
cream cheese frosting
2 packages cream cheese, at room temperature
2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 pound (4 cups) confectioner’s (powdered) sugar
2-3 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon pure almond extract
Combine all ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Switch to the whisk attachment, and mix until smooth and slightly fluffy.
499 Responses to “red velvet cake. all natural. no red dye.”
Leave a Reply
YEA!!!! Three cheers for Leonor!!! Can’t wait to see it on your blog!!
Done!!:)))
I tried these tonight, following the advice of another commenter who used buttermilk in place of the cream cheese. Results to be posted soon @ thecupcakeaddict.com
[...] again to Sophistimom for all of her work! The cake turned out really moist and fluffy. Without the icing, it has a [...]
How much buttermilk should I use instead of the cream cheese?
PMom–use 8 ounces, or 1 cup.
Newly separated father of two wonderful boys and I’m definitely going to try this recipe out for my eldest’s birthday coming up this weekend. There’s something about the red color on the cake that I think he would love..
I had the same problem as you. I don’t like too much colourant in cakes and I thougth there should be an other reason why this cake is originally red, not just simply the style… I started searching and found you. I’m so happy! I will try it as soon as I can! I had an other prjoect-idea as well – rainbow cake without colorants. Now I have red, thanks to you, and I can make green with green tea, orange with carrots, yellow naturally… The only one I can’t solve is blue…
Thank you again! Greetings from Hungary!
Yes, blue is really tricky since there really aren’t any blue foods that occur in nature, besides the blueberry, and they are actually more purple than blue. Chemical reactions with blueberries can even make them show up as green. Good luck with your rainbow cake. When you figure it out, show us a picture!
Hi Jaime….I just want to let you know that my cake came out just perfect! Your recipe really rocks! And guess what…I live in Canada! I just used regular butter from grocery store. The butter was yellow in colour but the cake still came out nicely red just like yours. I used fresh beets and roasted them exactly 30 minutes like your instruction. I didn’t wait till the beets cool down, I pureed them and forgot the lemon juice. When it was super smooth, I added the lemon juice and pulse the beets again. Afterwards, I just added the vinegar (I used white rice vinegar). I also used regular grocery store cocoa powder (Fry’s brand), 3 tablespoon because I like a little bit chocolatey. I used 2 of 8inch round instead of 3,because their high height. Following your instruction, I lowered the temperature to 325 and cakes were done in 55 min. All in all, thanks a lot for the recipe!
That’s so good to hear, Jen!! I’m glad it worked out!!
I am confuse with ‘cup’ measurement. We use gram in Indonesia. How many grams for 1 cup? I read another recipe, it says 2 1/2 cups (250 gr) flour. Which one is right? Thank you! Sorry
Dyah–It’s no problem, thank you for asking. The way I measure out flour, I get about 135-140 grams in a cup. Does that help?
I LOVE red velvet cake, but hate beets! Does this have a beet taste to it?? I never make, nor eat, red velvet cake anymore because of the massive amount of food coloring, and this sounds too good to be true… as long as you can’t taste the beets…
Well, Pamela, That is a tricky question. I don’t think it tastes like beets, but other people have said it does to them. I would say it has that earthy sort of flavor, though. It’s hard to say. It sounds like you’re a die hard hater of beets, so if that’s the case, maybe you have a heightened ability to taste them, I don’t know. I hate lima beans, but I imagine if there were some miracle cake that had them baked in, I might eat the cake. So, I don’t know!! It’s a tough one.
Hi Sophistimom! Thank u for ur wonderful recipe.I just tried it and it tasted great n turned out red,although not as red as in your pic since I used only 1 beet. But the texture of the ck wasn’t fluffy, it was more like a brownie sort of. What’s the actual texture it should be?
Thanks, tweeties. This is a pretty dense cake, and with more beets, it’s not quite the same as brownies, but close. If you use buttermilk instead of cream cheese, the texture comes out more cake-like, and not so dense.
Hi! I love how your cake looks like, and I’m going to make this for party this weekend
.
But here I can’t find natural cocoa, only the Dutch Processed kind. So, if I don’t use cocoa at all, will it change the texture or the color?
Thank you for posting such amazing recipes and thank you if you want to answer me!
I wonder if natural food coloring could be used instead of beets for those concerned about getting a beet taste.
Hi Jamie….
I really interested with your recipe. Can I use another fruit for red velvet cake? Such as raspberry or strawberry. Because I don’t like beets.
Thanks a lot for your advice
Made this twice, once with suggested cream cheese frosting, then (at my son’s request) with buttercream frosting. Had only two cake tins so baked for 55 min at 325 degrees as suggested above. Four small beets only made 1 cup of the beet mixture but it still seemed to work out ok. I used red wine vinegar. Really really delicious cake and even my two picky eaters loved it…even when they found out it had beets in it (which they would never TOUCH on their own!). Such a great alternative to food coloring. Great recipe, thank you.
Dear Jaime,
How many gram should I use the cream chesse for the cake?
SO GOOD. I just used some ghirardelli baking cocoa and it came out amazing. It seemed a little salty to me (and I love salt), but I think it may balance out with the frosting. I haven’t eaten a complete slice yet since it’s for a relatives birthday, but the bottom of the cake pans and the frosting are amazing!
And the almond extract in the frosting is a must!
Alyssia–Thank you!
Veronika–I don’t know that any fruit would have the same intensity when baked into a cake, but if you discover anything, let us know!
Audrey–It’s possible, but you’d probably need to add a lot to get the intense color.
Hello from Australia. I tried your recipe today but halved everything to make cupcakes, but used 1tb cocoa powder and added buttermilk instead of cream cheese. The colour turned out perfectly so THANK YOU! I used apple cider vinegar too just because another red velvet recipe I have uses that. I swear I can slighty taste the vinegar though so maybe I added a little too much. I also cut up my fresh beets and steamed them so it would be quicker than roasting them, I also used foil to catch any juices that came out and added that to my puree so that all worked out fine too. I just wanted to ask, what does the lemon juice add to the recipe? Would it be fine to leave out? Thanks again for the recipe
Mandy–Great call on the steamed beetroot. I think id you left out the lemon juice it might be fine.
Hi Jaime,
I was wondering if this recipe could be used to make a single sheet cake instead of 3 8-inch cakes. I would really appreciate a reply! thanks!
Marrie—I think a a sheet cake would work perfectly for this, but since I haven’t tested it, I can’t tell you the amount of time it should be in the oven. I would just keep an eye on it. Please Let us know how it works out if you give it a try.
hi jaime! i’m so going to try this recipe for my son’s birthday
but i’m not sure about the cream cheese measurement, how many cups or grams exactly is 2packages of cream cheese? and what brand did you use? thanks so much!
Merilla–8 ounces of cream cheese is in one package, so there’s about 220 grams per package.
Oh, and I use whatever cream cheese I can find, but I know that doesn’t help much. Philadelphia is the most common, though, so I’ve used it before.
Hello from the San Francisco Bay Area. I have been looking for just such a red velvet cake recipe for the last couple of years, and even tried out one without much success. I finally found yours last week, and baked it yesterday (June 13, 2012). For the cake itself, I replaced the cream cheese with buttermilk (as per posted comments), used Apple Cider Vinegar, and only 2Tbs of the natural cocoa pwdr (since my preference was the red color and not the chocolate taste). I am a very picky eater and baker, and I thought the cake turned out great! The red color could not be more perfect, and the texture was very similar to a sponge cake made with cake flour! Thank you ever so much for sharing this recipe of yours! Now, I’d like to try it out with less butter; do you have any recommendation for such modification? I plan to try out the red velvet cupcakes next.
Love this! I used some of the great info you provided to make a natural rainbow cake (and linked this page, of course). Thanks so much
) http://www.teacheatlove.com/2012/06/natural-rainbow-cake-and-vanilla-bean.html
NH–I’m so glad the color came out well for you. I wonder if adding more beets would help with balancing out more butter. Let us know how you do!
Thank you Jaime… With this recipe my red velvet cake turn out red
not like any other recipes I’ve tried. But my cake not fluffy rather oily. I use creamcheese, 8 ounches. Is it the same with 8 ons (800 gr)? At the comments I read that 8 ounches equal to 220 gr? Thank you Jaime.
Maybe i can sugest natural blue color for rainbow cake (my friend-Tania- informed me), u can use teleng flower (kembang teleng) its indonesian flower, have blue color in their petals. But I haven’t try it yet
Thanks, Sinta! If anybody tries this out, let us know how it goes!
Glad this turned out red, Sinta. This cake is definitely dense. I wonder why it turned out oily, though. Do you mean greasy? It sounds like you got the right amount of cream cheese.
At the first time i use 800 gr cream cheese my cake turn greasy. after i re read the comment i realize that 8 ounches is equal to 220 gr. at second attempt i use 1 cup buttermilk. and the cake is near perfect. maybe because i’m not a cheff
thank you so much jaime 
At the first time i use 800 gr cream cheese my cake turn greasy. after i re read the comment i realize that 8 ounches is equal to 220 gr. at second attempt i use 1 cup buttermilk. and the cake is near perfect. maybe because i’m not a cheff
thank you so much jaime 
[...] I Googled “Red velvet without food coloring”. My first hit was for a blog called Sophistimom. It sounded promising, but of course, I had to read a billion other recipes before I decided on [...]
Made the red velvet cake for a zombie theme party – it was a hit!! (I didn’t tell any of the boys it was even slightly healthy).
Ellen–Wow, how perfect for a zombie party!
Hi Jaime,
Do you think I can use canned beets as fresh beets are not easily available in Singapore.
Margaret–Some of our readers have commented that the canned beets didn’t make their cake as red as they would like. You could always try it, though. Please tell us how it
turns out!
[...] about a red velvet cake in a jar layered with blueberries and traditional frosting. Finish with a fork or spoon (I like [...]
Hi Jaime , what is the difference between this recipe and the all natural red velvet cupcakes?? I wanted to make the red cupcakes recipe but couldnt find the rice vinegar in the market, can I use any type of vinegar instead ?
Dua–yes, you can use any type of vinegar.