Cake Central › Recipes › 1920's Waldorf-Astoria Red Velvet Cake

1920's Waldorf-Astoria Red Velvet Cake

descakes
By: descakes
Posted 12/10/11 • Last updated 02/21/10 • 8172 views • 38 comments

Posted by descakes

This is the original Waldorf-Astoria Red Velvet Cake recipe and a huge favorite with family and clients alike! The Cream Cheese/Mascarpone Frosting is to die for:) I know it's going to sound odd but give it a try and you'll be delightfully surprised!

Ingredients

  • Red Velvet Cake 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped 2 cups granulated sugar 4 large eggs 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 2 cups all-purpose flour 2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 pounds canned beets, drained and pureed 1 teaspoon red food coloringCream Cheese/Mascarpone Frosting 2 cups heavy cream 12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature 12 ounces mascarpone cheese 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted   

DIRECTIONS

Red Velvet cake Pre-heat oven to 350 F Butter three 9? round cake pans and line them with parchment paper or waxed paper. (Ive used square pans and Pam for Baking as well and they worked fine.) To prepare cake: Melt Chocolate in a metal bowl set over a saucepan of boiling water or in the top of a double boiler (or melt in microwave for 20 25 seconds). Meanwhile. place the sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed for two minutes. In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture and continue to mix on low speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula so everything is well incorporated. Add the melted chocolate to this mixture and continue to mix on low speed. Add the pureed beets and food coloring. Continue to mix on low speed until everything is thoroughly combined.Evenly divide the batter between the three perpared pans and bake in the middle of the oven for 20 25 minutes or until center of cake springs back when touched, or when an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Remove the pans from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack. Let cool for ten minutes in the pans, then turn the layers out onto the rack and let cool completely. To prepare Cream Cheese/Mascarpone Icing: Pour cream into a small bowl and whip to soft peaks. Set aside in the refrigerator. Place the cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until it is soft and smooth. Add the mascarpone and continue to mix on low speed until the cheeses are well combined. Add the vanilla and powdered sugar and mix until everything is just combined. Turn off the mixer and fold in the whipped cream by hand with a spatula. Keep refrigerated until ready to assemble. To assemble: Using a serrated knife, trim the top of each layer of each layer of cake so that it is flat. Place the first layer on a cake plate or serving platter and top with some of the icing. Repeat until all of the layers are covered with icing, then ice the top and sides of the cake. Store cake in refrigerator until ready to serve. Chefs note: Sliced canned beets are easier to work with in this recipe than whole beets. Posters note This cake works well as a wedding cake but use a cream cheese/buttercream as the icing noted here will not harden.

Comments (38)

Liscia 2/22/10 at 6:51pm
Where are the instructions?
2SchnauzerLady 2/23/10 at 5:07am
Yes, please post the instructions - I like the idea of using much less coloring - I bet the beets give a beautiful color.
descakes 2/26/10 at 10:39am
Sorry everyone! I must have hit submit before all the data was saved:( Here are instructions for cake and icing: Red Velvet cake Pre-heat oven to 350 F Butter three 9" round cake pans and line them with parchment paper or waxed paper. (I've used square pans and Pam for Baking as well and they worked fine.) To prepare cake: Melt Chocolate in a metal bowl set over a saucepan of boiling water or in the top of a double boiler (or melt in microwave for 20 - 25 seconds). Meanwhile. place the sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed for two minutes. In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture and continue to mix on low speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula so everything is well incorporated. Add the melted chocolate to this mixture and continue to mix on low speed. Add the pureed beets and food coloring. Continue to mix on low speed until everything is thoroughly combined.Evenly divide the batter between the three perpared pans and bake in the middle of the oven for 20 - 25 minutes or until center of cake springs back when touched, or when an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Remove the pans from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack. Let cool for ten minutes in the pans, then turn the layers out onto the rack and let cool completely. To prepare Cream Cheese/Mascarpone Icing: Pour cream into a small bowl and whip to soft peaks. Set aside in the refrigerator. Place the cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until it is soft and smooth. Add the mascarpone and continue to mix on low speed until the cheeses are well combined. Add the vanilla and powdered sugar and mix until everything is just combined. Turn off the mixer and fold in the whipped cream by hand with a spatula. Keep refrigerated until ready to assemble. To assemble: Using a serrated knife, trim the top of each layer of each layer of cake so that it is flat. Place the first layer on a cake plate or serving platter and top with some of the icing. Repeat until all of the layers are covered with icing, then ice the top and sides of the cake. Store cake in refrigerator until ready to serve. Chef's note: Sliced canned beets are easier to work with in this recipe than whole beets. Poster's note - This cake works well as a wedding cake but use a cream cheese/buttercream as the icing noted here will not harden.
ReesieT 3/2/10 at 9:29am
Has anyone tried making this yet?
bonnster 3/4/10 at 9:28am
this sounds delicious! I'm going to test this out soon, it might replace my current red velvet!
tavyheather 3/11/10 at 2:15pm
yayyyyyyyyyyyy!! I've been searching for a non-food coloring recipe..I've heared of using beets but was assuming all those recipes would be too obviously not-traditional..I can't believe the Waldorf used this!!! I will try it asap and report back my review! I can't wait!! TY so much!!!
beaters 3/16/10 at 9:19pm
What about the icing? Has anyone tried it? I'm searching for a cream cheese icing that's not too sweet.
bonnster 3/17/10 at 9:58am
Have you thought about trying red velvet with BC instead? I always use BC on my red velvet and everyone loves it! Traditionally they don't use cream cheese icing.
descakes 3/21/10 at 10:42am
The Waldorf-Astoria use the Mascarpone/Cream Cheese icing, but I have used crusting cream cheese as well as Creme Bouquet BC and they're all delicious. Just depends on what the client wants:)
claudmaritza 4/14/10 at 9:25am
Hi! I was wondering if you could use fresh beet, since where I live canned beets aren't available. Thanks!
descakes 4/19/10 at 12:23pm
Hi daudmaritza - I've used the beets from our garden that we've canned and they worked fine. I think the original recipe calls for canned just because it's easier - no cleaning and cooking the beets. So if you don't mind the additional labor they should work fine!
Gillicious 5/4/10 at 12:33pm
I'm just curious but what do the beets add to the taste? i'm assuming everyone enjoys the cake...but i've never had beets before and they do sound strange but how does it affect the taste of the cake. I like the tasted of my red velvet recipe but i have difficulties keeping a uniform red colour which drives me nuts. Anyone else have this prob?
Nytepyre 5/6/10 at 6:25pm
Its in the oven right now! I'm hoping it turns out wonderfully, I haven't found a good red velvet recipe yet! :) Thanks for sharing!
lilrhodybaker 5/13/10 at 8:16am
Ooohhh I'm super excited to try this recipe!!! My mom called me the other day to tell me about a RV recipe that she found, but it had like 3 TBS of food coloring, that to me seemed like A LOT!! I do not like the taste of beets, they taste like dirt to me, but I'm curious about the flavor they will impart upon the cake, I guess I'll put them on the shopping list and try this recipe out over the weekend :)
cakelace 5/20/10 at 4:30am
I made this cake recipe and it tastes great...but it's not red. So I'm wondering if I did something wrong. I took two cans of beets and drained them and pureed them and used the 1 tsp of red food coloring. They smell like beets cooking a little bit, but I taste no beet taste at all. It's super moist and has a nice dense texture. Did I not use enough beets? The color was nice deep red in the mixing bowl. Any ideas? Thanks
dhalvors 5/28/10 at 3:50pm
I made this cake for one of our Director's birthdays and it received rave reviews. The frosting isn't too heavy and not too sweet were a couple of the comments I received. So, I highly recommend it.
descakes 6/8/10 at 12:58pm
cakelace - I doubt you did anything wrong, this cake doesn't have the brighter red coloring of the ones with only cocoa. It's more of a brown/red tone. But the taste is fantastic:)
Reneesg 7/18/10 at 7:55am
This cake is delish!! I did a trial for an upsoming wedding and used 2 10" rounds. The cakes were thin, great for torting, so making this recipe again I will use 8" pans for height. The marscapone/cream cheese/whip cream frosting is to die for!!! It's very light tasting and spreads easily. I don't think it would work well for decorating tho. It does not come out true red like you see on the cakes mix boxes, it is a more brownish red, but still looks good. This is a definite keeper! Thanks descakes! :)
CakeDiva101 8/4/10 at 9:51am
Well, I seen this recipe here a few weeks ago and after reading the comments I decided to give it a try. I'm from Brazil and while there. I got to sample all kinds of really good cakes and such. With that said, this red velvet cake is one of the best cakes I have ever tasted. I baked it today and I'm sitting here wrighting this and eating it! Simply AMAZING! Thank you for posting it here. :)
blondedobe6 8/24/10 at 5:23pm
This is the best red velvet cake I've ever tasted. I thought it was strange to put beets in a cake but it does not have a beet flavor at all. I'm going to add more red coloring to the cake next time since mine turned out looking like a chocolate cake. I'm using it for a wedding cake this weekend and I know they will LOVE it!
Cake Central › Recipes › 1920's Waldorf-Astoria Red Velvet Cake