Red Velvet

HotorIced

Some people think red velvet is the height of sophistication and glam. Other people say it is glorified chocolate that found a bottle of red food coloring and a publicist.

One thing is for certain. The people who love it really, really, really love red velvet. And why wouldn't you? It is eye-catching. It is motivating. It is a reason to wake up. And it is red. So you know it is good.

Same as the rest of the hot chocolate. Hot or iced. Kid friendly. Dairy-free if you need it. Almond milk or oat milk. The powder is lactose-free.

Geeky Fact

Velvet did not mean red. It meant the crumb was soft. Bakers were already doing that in the 1800s, cutting the flour with cocoa or cornstarch. Cocoa, buttermilk, and vinegar turned a chocolate cake a little mahogany. That was the whole magic trick. Subtle. Brownish. If you squinted, red.

Then a dye company got bored. Adams Extract wanted to sell red food coloring, so they printed recipe cards and told the country to dump the bottle in. The cake went from 'sort of red in the right light' to lipstick. The Waldorf-Astoria likes to say they invented it in the 1920s. Their own records do not really agree. There is also a story about a guest who paid a fortune for the recipe and mailed it to strangers out of spite. Great story. Not history.

In 1989 Steel Magnolias put a red velvet armadillo on a table and called it a groom's cake. America decided this was glamorous. Some people still say it is just chocolate in a red shirt. They are not entirely wrong. They also keep ordering it.

Back to encyclopedia