Red Velvet Cake

Heather introduced me to Red Velvet Cake a few years ago. She's made it for each child's first birthday. RVC is a southern dessert with deep red color, a little cocoa, Crisco (not butter) and a slightly bizarre white frosting recipe (cold butter combined with sugar and cooked milk and flour cooled to room temperature). Then there's the ritualistic sprinkling of baking soda over the cake batter and the splashing of apple cider vinegar over the top to make it fizz. Oh, and don't forget the two bottles of red food dye. Not one bottle, two bottles. One time Heather skipped the second bottle of dye and a RVC connoisseur from Texas glanced at it and dismissed it by saying "That's not red cake." And never ever put nuts on your red cake (I'm talking to you Bobby Flay). Heather's mother heard she made RVC cake this weekend and said "I just want to go to the store and get the ingredients to make some."

Heather is a little annoyed with the recent popularity of RVC. Its not that she wants to horde it all to herself, rather she complains that no one makes it right. "Cream cheese, pu-leeeeze!"

Heather says you either love RVC or you hate it. I guess I'm the exception to the rule - its a fine cake but it doesn't hold a candle to German chocolate cake. The chocolate, the coconut, the nuts . . . that's what I want for my birthday.