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Any suggestions for adding more moisture?

post #1 of 17
6/18/12 at 1:13pm
Thread Starter 
Don't know if that is how I should accurately phrase what I would like to do but I hope to convey my question properly. I like the flavor of the following recipe, but it is not as moist as some of my cakes. I would prefer the cake to be more moist than dense. Do you have suggestions for how I can make this recipe more moist?

Red Velvet Cake:

2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising)
1/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. salt
8 Tbsp. (1 stick) unsalted butter , at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs , at room temperature
2 Tbsp. liquid red food coloring
1 tsp. vanilla extract | Get the recipe!
1 cup buttermilk , at room temperature
2 tsp. distilled white vinegar
1 tsp. baking soda
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post #2 of 17
6/18/12 at 3:16pm
I mix this recipe a little differently than the usual.

I sift the baking soda with flour and baking powder and cocoa. I use 1 cup all purpose flour and 1 cup cake flour.

I mix the vinegar into the buttermilk. You can also try half yogurt and half milk in place of buttermilk. I use paste colour (1/2 teaspoon ) so I add 2 tablespoons more milk.

After creaming butter-sugar-eggs-vanilla, fold in the dry in 3 portions alternating with the wet in 2 portions. Do not overmix. Pan immediately but the batter can sit in the pan if it has to.
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post #3 of 17
6/21/12 at 6:36am
What about adding a small amount of Glycerine to the mix?
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post #4 of 17
6/21/12 at 7:54am
Hmmm I use cakeman ravens red velvet cake recipe. It is great...except for the oil factor which I notice only in my cupcakes (not cakes though) because it stains the cupcake liners. I got the recipe online. Have you tried it with any success? It is a buttermilk recipe similar to the one you posted except it uses 1 1/2 cups of oil (I know that is a lot) and only 1 tsp of cocoa. I had a red velvet recipe similar to yours with a lot of cocoa powder and it wasn't a moist cake. Sometimes I wondered if the amount of cocoa in it was resulting in a less moist cake.
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post #5 of 17
6/22/12 at 2:08am
Pearl, I adjust that recipe and it solves that problem. I use 1 1/4 c oil.
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post #6 of 17
6/22/12 at 3:41am
Dutch process cocoa does dry out a cake more.

I also reduce my oil to 1 1/4 cups in CMR's recipe.
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Life's too short to make cake pops.
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post #7 of 17
6/22/12 at 4:48am
I'm surprised that no one has suggested a wash.
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Answers to the most often asked questions re: SPS. SPS instructions are on Page 15 of the Sticky at the top of the Cake Decorating Forum. Supplies can be ordered from Oasis Supply, Global or BakeryCrafts.
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post #8 of 17
6/22/12 at 5:15am
I have a few thoughts...
RV is a chocolate cake and will dry out quickly if overbaked.
Use a toothpick or wooden skewer (the metal testers as well as knives are way too slick to check cakes for done, IMO) pull the cake when you still have some moist crumbs clinging and get it out of the pans ASAP to prevent any carry over baking.
Are you using low fat buttermilk?
If so, switch to the higher fat product.
A scoop of mayo may also help.
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post #9 of 17
6/22/12 at 6:15am
RV is not a chocolate cake, it's a buttermilk cake with a tiny bit of chocolate. Also, in the oil based cakes, pulling out with crumbs left will be undercooked. It will be ok to do that on a butter cake.

I'm not big on changing recipes if they are dry. I just start over. Butter cakes will dry out before oil cakes.

I would suggest you try Cakeman Raven's, but add the extra cocoa powder, I add 3 tsp and because of the oil, I know it will handle more cocoa powder. This will tell if you like oil cakes. If you don't like this one, Bobby Flay has a butter cake on Food Network that gets rave reviews. I have made both and customers seem to like Cakeman's even though Bobby Flay won a Throwdown.
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post #10 of 17
6/22/12 at 11:34am
Thanks for advice scp on reducing oil and increasing cocoa powder. Made recipe adjustments.

What is a "wash" Leah?
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post #11 of 17
6/22/12 at 12:14pm
i wonder why it is only 2 large eggs! I always use at least 3 or 4 for my chocolate cakes
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It's not "just" cake...it's my life!
WI State Representative for Icing Smiles...start 'Baking a Difference" today!
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post #12 of 17
6/22/12 at 12:31pm
Yes I wondered the same when I 1st saw the recipe but it is a really good recipe with cream cheese frosting. I get 2 dozen cupcakes from this using a 2oz dry ingredients measuring cup. Then again, this recipe has a lot more liquid than any of my other recipes call for. Some of my recipes use only 1/2 cup to 1 cup milk. This one calls for 1 1/2 cups oil (best you use 1 1/4 cups as advised above ) plus 1 cup buttermilk. That is 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 cups liquid!
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post #13 of 17
6/22/12 at 12:34pm
according to Shirley O. Corriher
"Oil greases flour proteins better than butter. Coating the flour protiens prevents their forming gluten, which ties up water, thus leaving more water in the batter to make a moister cake." She sets the weight of fat as a percentage of the weight of the flour (between 30% to 70%), she uses 70%. And of her fats, she has a ratio of 1/3 butter; 2/3 oil + the fat in buttermilk.
So 2 1/4 cup flour = 9oz
x 70% = 6.3oz of desired fat
less (1.6oz) of fat in 1 cup buttermilk =
4.7 oz left to work with =
1.56 oz (roughly 3.9 tbs of butter) = 4tbs of butter
3.13 oz (roughly .45 cups of oil) = 1/2 cup of canola oil

the weight of the eggs should also be greater than the weight of the fat; which you're right that it should have more than 2 large eggs (3.5oz)

And by wash, did she mean a soaking solution? water+sugar+flavoring(like your favorite alcohol), you'd soak it in to the cake before you frost.
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post #14 of 17
6/22/12 at 2:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by scp1127

RV is not a chocolate cake, it's a buttermilk cake with a tiny bit of chocolate. Also, in the oil based cakes, pulling out with crumbs left will be undercooked. It will be ok to do that on a butter cake.

I'm not big on changing recipes if they are dry. I just start over. Butter cakes will dry out before oil cakes.

I would suggest you try Cakeman Raven's, but add the extra cocoa powder, I add 3 tsp and because of the oil, I know it will handle more cocoa powder. This will tell if you like oil cakes. If you don't like this one, Bobby Flay has a butter cake on Food Network that gets rave reviews. I have made both and customers seem to like Cakeman's even though Bobby Flay won a Throwdown.



Amen sister, I've had to explain to more than one person that RV was a buttermilk cake with a little chocolate added (could it have been originally added to counter bitter red color?).
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post #15 of 17
6/22/12 at 6:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by akaivyleaf

Don't know if that is how I should accurately phrase what I would like to do but I hope to convey my question properly. I like the flavor of the following recipe, but it is not as moist as some of my cakes. I would prefer the cake to be more moist than dense. Do you have suggestions for how I can make this recipe more moist?

Red Velvet Cake:

2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising)
1/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. salt
8 Tbsp. (1 stick) unsalted butter , at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs , at room temperature
2 Tbsp. liquid red food coloring
1 tsp. vanilla extract | Get the recipe!
1 cup buttermilk , at room temperature
2 tsp. distilled white vinegar
1 tsp. baking soda



If I were to mess with this recipe, I would substitute some oil for the butter: 30ml oil for every 1oz of butter I take out.

2 large eggs should equal approximately 3.4oz, I would increase the yolk while keeping the same weight (or real close to it) so maybe 1 egg and 3 yolks for a total weight of approximately 3.8 oz

And I'd use full fat buttermilk.

Bake a couple of cupcakes (not necessarily the whole recipe), taste, and get to tweaking, If those changes don't work. I would be more inclined to add oil maybe 1 - 2 oz to the recipe, drop my flour by a fraction and/or slightly increase my sugar.
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