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Purple Velvet cake

post #1 of 15
9/3/10 at 5:27pm
Thread Starter 
Does anyone know how to make a red velvet cake into purple? I'm doing a wedding cake for a friend and they want purple velvet cake (using my regular red velvet recipe). I thought I'd just use red and blue food coloring, but I read somewhere that it won't actually give me a purple cake, even though red and blue usually make purple. Any idea how to do this?
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post #2 of 15
9/3/10 at 5:45pm
Purple velvet? That's a new one to me. I would experiment with your recipe and the colors. Maybe try making a half batch and adding some blue and seeing if that will get the color you want.
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post #3 of 15
9/3/10 at 6:00pm
definitely let us know how that works out for you. icon_confused.gif I keep imagining a very dark gray cake when baked.
laughter isn't the best medicine. It's the cure.
Grabbing my bowl of faux-'nache and running from the ganache police!!
link to Jello MMF recipe: http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopicp-6934662-.html#6934662
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laughter isn't the best medicine. It's the cure.
Grabbing my bowl of faux-'nache and running from the ganache police!!
link to Jello MMF recipe: http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopicp-6934662-.html#6934662
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post #4 of 15
9/3/10 at 6:00pm
Try using purple food color, the gel or paste kind. Add a teaspoon at a time until you get the color you're looking for. Maybe try a test run with before hand just be be sure it works. I've stopped using liquid food color in my velvet cakes and I find that they have a better texture and flavor. The gel colors open up a wide range of cake colors, too! I know pink and green work. HTH!
www.mandymakescakes.com
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post #5 of 15
9/3/10 at 6:02pm
In the Phillipines purple pastries are made with ube (purple yam) flour or powder. Available at any asian market. Also look for a Pilipino pastry or cooking book at the library.Hope that helps.
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post #6 of 15
9/3/10 at 6:36pm
Thread Starter 
Mandy, what exactly do you mean by "gel" food coloring? The stuff you can get at the grocery store in the little squeezable tubes? The Wilton type round jars that come in a box of 12 colors? I'm sorry, but I want to make sure I'm doing the right thing.

Also my recipe calls for 1 oz of liquid coloring mixed with the cocoa, so would I need to add water or something to make up for the missing liquid from the food coloring?

TIA!
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post #7 of 15
9/3/10 at 6:36pm
if your recipe calls for 2 oz (or whatever the measurement is) of red food coloring. Measure that much water out. Then use the gel food coloring to color the water purple. I use americolor gels and it works great. Then add this to the batter.
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post #8 of 15
9/4/10 at 1:11am
Paula Deen made a blue velvet cake on one of her shows and it was a deep, vibrant color. The recipe is on foodnetwork.com, but all she did was sub 2 oz. blue food coloring for the red. Purple is not so far from blue, so the results will probably be good. She should have a picture of that cake with the recipe.
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post #9 of 15
9/4/10 at 6:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by JustGettinStarted

Mandy, what exactly do you mean by "gel" food coloring? .... The Wilton type round jars that come in a box of 12 colors? ....
Also my recipe calls for 1 oz of liquid coloring mixed with the cocoa, so would I need to add water or something to make up for the missing liquid from the food coloring?



Yes, and Yes (sorry it took me so long to get back to you!). Leily described it best just after my post. I actually just add the gel/paste food color directly to my batter, but I don't know your recipe. Try .5 to .75 of an ounce of water, then add the food color until it equals an ounce. The less water, the more intense your color should be.

Looking forward to seeing your results!
www.mandymakescakes.com
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post #10 of 15
9/4/10 at 6:46pm
I've never tried purple before but I did make a green velvet for St. Patty's Day this year. I used green liquid coloring instead of red. I've never tried using gel colors (such as Wilton or Americolor), but I know that the gels work just as well as the red liquid so I'd say go for a purple gel coloring or try mixing the red and blue liquid colors beforehand to get the right purple.
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post #11 of 15
9/4/10 at 7:13pm
I tried this once, and the purple turned out gray. The batter was the purple of the darker lilacs, but it didn't bake out right for me.

Let us know if your attempt is more successful, and how much/which type of color, you used.

Theresa icon_smile.gif
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post #12 of 15
9/4/10 at 7:24pm
There's one here. Not sure if that's the shade of purple you want, but maybe you can check it out.

http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/purple_velvet_cake
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post #13 of 15
9/4/10 at 7:40pm
Mix a magenta/pink (the different color brands all call it something different) color instead of the red with the blue. That will give you a much better purple.
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post #14 of 15
9/4/10 at 8:14pm
I agree with DSmo. Red velvet cake recipes have vinegar that reacts with the baking soda to make the red coloring a deep red. If you add blue it might get into an awful gray. I'm not sure how the vinegar reacts with the other colors.

You'll probably be better off using magenta. FYI, there's a set of Americolor's electric colors that includes the electric pink.

http://www.amazon.com/ELECTRIC-PINK-Ounce-Paste-Color/dp/B002H02PO0/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1283656405&sr=8-17
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post #15 of 15
9/5/10 at 11:26am
Thread Starter 
Thanks everyone! I have the Wilton gels jars so I'm going to try the magenta and a little blue. Thanks so much. I'll post results if I can ever figure out how to post a picture...website was buggy last time I tried.
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