Hello everyone I just joined the group today but I have reading posts on this site since last week. I am planning on making a red velvet cake on Christmas eve and I was going to use cake man raven's recipe. Last night I got the idea about adding a box of cake mix to the recipe , if I do so I would probably cut down on the flour and use 4 to 5 eggs. I was wondering if anyone thought that this might not work or that the cake might not come out right. Since it is Christmas eve I won't have time to go shop again for ingredients if the cake doesn't come out right. What can I do to ensure that the cake will come out right with the cake mix added in. The reason I wanted to add the cake mix is because I have a box of Duncan Hines French vanilla cake mix that I need to use anyway and I have been reading a lot of doctored cake mix recipes on this website. ANy ideas or suggestions will be appreciated.
i'm not familiar with cake man raven's recipe--but assuming it's a good one and you wanna incorporate a cake mix into that--i'd just combine both as they are written and i'd add a couple tablespoons of cocoa powder--i'd probably use buttermilk instead of water in the cake mix too--
after it was all mixed-- if it seemed red enough--i'd bake off one cupcake to make sure the red stays the color i wanted throughout the baking process--
but if not just add some more red food color to get it where you want it--
also you can bake the cake in advance and hold it in the freezer well wrapped--ice it later--cuts down on the anxiety--
I made caveman's one time....ack....to me it reminded me of oily cornbread. But I am not a RV fan anyway. I always said if you put a piece of RV cake on a plate with NO cream cheese icing..blind folded taste testers....they would not be able to identify the cake flavor. The cream cheese icing MAKES a red velvet cake.....My southern opinion.
i hear yah, sarge--i'm a yankee been living in the south for decades but i don't see a need for rv either--my yankee/southern opinion--
i mean not when you could do an italian cream cake that has such depth or even a pretty white or yellow cake--
my son was allergic to red food coloring so i am biased that way too--
what i do love is a red devil's food cake -- where there's no red color added at all and it's the chemical reaction between the ingredients that presents you with a reddish color full bodied chocolate cake that is to die for flavorful all by itself then add some icing -- over the top!
'course red velvet is a very light choco so --anyhow --and pretty for christmas -- and i love to pair it with strawberry cake so you have a red then a pink layer--did that for my red headed little girl (who is 34 now ha!)
my mom made this for my birthday from her 1951 bc cb -- and she made me angel food cake too --
"devil or angel -- i can't make u-up my mi-ind" (old song) hahaha
http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/red-devils-food-cake/867adb8c-54a3-4f56-88f4-c6e464426412
obviously it's a soft red glow in the crumb--reddish--
i've always wondered if this is how red velvet started--where someone goofed on the red devil's food and re-named it and started a sensation--
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i'm not familiar with cake man raven's recipe--but assuming it's a good one and you wanna incorporate a cake mix into that--i'd just combine both as they are written and i'd add a couple tablespoons of cocoa powder--i'd probably use buttermilk instead of water in the cake mix too--
after it was all mixed-- if it seemed red enough--i'd bake off one cupcake to make sure the red stays the color i wanted throughout the baking process--
but if not just add some more red food color to get it where you want it--
also you can bake the cake in advance and hold it in the freezer well wrapped--ice it later--cuts down on the anxiety--
Excellent advice.
I ALWAYS mess up if I try new recipe at the last moment. I've learned the hard way to bake, freeze, decorate. Make your cake(s) today. Make a few cupcakes for "testing". Freeze. Try a frozen & defrosted cupcake next day.
If you haven't frozen cakes before:
Wrap cooled (some wrap while still warm to add moisture--I wrap cooled) cake in plastic wrap. I place a cardboard circle under each cake layer, so it is easier to handle when moving around. Wrap in another layer of aluminum foil.
I am not familiar with the recipe you are talking about but, I usually use the Red Velvet Redux Recipe from CC http://cakecentral.com/a/red-velvet-redux-easy-durable. Just like the recipe says be careful not to over mix.
Well the cake is in the oven. I made three 9" layers
Here is Cake Man Ravens recipe with the changes I made in parenthis
~~Ingredients Vegetable oil for the pans
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I only used 2 cups of flour and I added a 16.5 oz box of Duncan hines French vanilla cake mix)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon fine salt ( I didn't add any salt)
1 teaspoon cocoa powder (I used three teaspoons)
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature ( I used 1 1/2 cup of regular milk plus 5 tablespoons of cultured buttermilk blend)
2 large eggs, at room temperature
\2 tablespoons red food coloring (1 ounce)
teaspoon white distilled vinegar ( I did not use any vinegar)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
I may post pictures when cake is done.
I took the cake out of the oven a few minutes ago. I prefer my red velvet cake to be bright red and so I am not happy with the color of this cake as it is too dark for me but it came out great and if I decide to make it this way again I will only use one teaspoon of cocoa .Attached is picture of the layers after I took them out of the oven, As you can see for some reason one of the layer caved in in the middle but I don't know why that happened,
handle it real careful -- the recipe seems a bit low on eggs so be gentle with it -- red velvet is kinda crumbly anyhow -- so de-pan those carefully --fingers crossed for you--
it looks as if they all fell a bit--no worries--but the one that fell the most looks like it had the most batter in it so-- perhaps a tad underbaked than the others?
1 tablespoon (= 3 teaspoons) of cocoa powder to over 4 cups of white powder is a negligible amount--interesting that it turned so dark for you-- it will surely be lighter red when it's cut open? it might only look that dark on the outside--
next time i encourage you to add the salt and the vinegar and more eggs -- enough for the cake mix and the recipe combined --5?
but tell me why did you decrease the eggs and increase the milk?
I was not trying to decrease the eggs, the recipe calls for 2 and the cake mix calls for 3 but I thought 5 eggs might be to much. I added the extra milk because I thought the batter would be to thick since I added in the cake mix but it was still very loose, so if I do it a gain I would probably use less milk and less oil. Attached is a picture of t he cake after I tried a slice.
oooh it looks good--but if you wanted it redder more food color huh -- that's why i suggested making a cupcake first to test the color--
5 eggs is not too much if your combined recipes call for that--i mean one half the combination (recipe/cake mix) had no vinegar and no eggs to poof and hold things together--when you combine recipes and cake mixes you would simply add up all the ingredients for best results --
whether a vinegar/soda based recipe will perform with a baking powder cake mix is an ultimate question but looks like you did pretty good with what you made!
don't think so much next time--
(i'm an infamous over thinker)
congratulations--drop me over a slice-- looks delicious
I make Cake Man Raven's RV recipe frequently. Adding a cake mix to it was a baaaaaaaaad idea. I am not a fan of RV in general but I do like his recipe, and my clients love it. It is far superior to any doctored RV recipes that I've ever tried. The only alteration I make is to double the cocoa powder. It still produces a very bright red cake.
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I have also made Cake Man Ravens rv cake. I really like it. Bobby Flay beat him in the challenge thought. Want to make Bobbys , but haven,t as of yet. I would never mess with the recipe of either one.
As well as adding a French Vanilla cake mix. Cake mixes do weird things.
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