Red Velvet Cake

I've been curious about red velvet cake for a long time. But I'm also ignoring it because from what I've heard, it is just a chocolate cake with red food coloring agent so the cake become dark red and not chocolate. Even few recipes require a lot of red dye for this cake. Nothing special for me.

Until one day, my curiosity tickled me again. I decided to read further about red velvet cake. Aha!! It turned out that red velvet cake is actually supposed to have a reddish color because the chemical reaction between cocoa powder and another acidic ingredients, such as buttermilk (which is usually used in red velvet cake recipe). The acidic ingredients will help to reveal the reddish pigment (anthocyanin) which is naturally present in cocoa powder. But sometimes, it is not easy to make the reddish color appear on the cake. So, people are start using red dye to improve the color. My feeling was right! It is not all about red coloring agent. I know there's something wrong when the recipe said i need to add a lot of red dye to the batter. Now, it's time to do some red velvet cake experiment.

Few days later, i found a unique red velvet cake from how to cook that channel in Youtube. She's using Morello cherry juice instead of buttermilk to make her red velvet cake. I think it is a good idea because that fruit juice can give more flavor to the cake instead of buttermilk. I decided to follow her recipe (half recipe only). But because i don't really like cherry, i was using preserved raspberry juice instead. I took about 150 ml juice from the raspberries, boiled it until i get about 62 ml raspberry juice concentrate. I reduce the amount of the red coloring agent as well. It is not because I'm against food coloring agent or something like that, but just simply because I want my cake become just slightly reddish and not too bright.

I was really satisfied with the result. Like as usual, i made mini cupcakes and 2 normal cupcake out of it. After 3 days I even made another batch using the rest of raspberry juice. Everybody like it.

Ingredients (for 48 mini cupcake and 2 normal cupcake) :

• 80 grams All purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp Baking powder
• 1 tbs Cocoa powder
• 82 grams Sugar
• 1/2 tsp Gelatin
• 1/8 tsp Salt
• 30 ml Vegetable oil
• 2 Eggs
• 62 ml Concentrate raspberry juice (from 1/2 liquid or about 150 ml of preserved raspberry in jar, boiled down until about 62 ml left)
• 1/4 tsp red food coloring agent

This is what left on the jar after i used all the juice. (I forgot to take the picture before i used the juice.)

Preparation :

1. Separate the juice from the raspberry and take about 150 ml of it.
2. Boil and concentrate the juice until 62 ml juice left. Set aside and let it cool completely.
3. Prepare and layer muffin tin using muffin paper. Set aside.
4. Preheat the oven to 170 C (about 350 F).
5. In a bowl, whisk flour, cocoa powder, sugar, and baking powder together. Sift and set it aside. 
6. Separate egg white and egg yolk into different bowl.
7. Whip the egg white until soft peak formed, set it aside.
8. Add oil, raspberry concentrate, and egg yolk into the flour mixture. 
9. Mix them well.
10. Add 1/3 part of egg white foam into the batter. Fold it carefully (do not stir or mix it too hard). Scrap the bottom of the bowl and fold it over the top. Do it until the egg white is mixed well and the batter is a little bit lightened.
11. Add another 1/3 part of egg white foam and fold it again
12. Add the rest of the foam and fold it again until all the foam is incorporated and the batter is lightened.
13. Pour the batter into muffin tin (about 1 1/2 tsp for each cup or about 3/4 full)
14. Put it into preheated oven and bake the cake for about 15 minutes (Until toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean). For mini muffins : bake for about 12 minutes.
15. Let the cakes cool completely and decorate them with cream frosting. 

Cream cheese frosting is a perfect partner for this cake. Enjoy :)