A few weeks ago my co-worker Jennifer (whom you can thank for that lovely new blog header) was telling me about a brownie that her husband brought home. He picked up the brownie at a bakery near his work and it was called a "Red Velvet Brownie." The brownie itself was chocolate, but it was laced with red velvet cake squares swirled throughout the batter and topped with cream cheese icing. I was drooling.
Jennifer and I searched and searched for a recipe that might be similar to this brownie. We gave up. I couldn't find one that mimicked the brownie she had.
Last year I made mini-red velvet cupcakes for Valentine's Day. I thought these cupcakes were good, yet I hated using all of the food coloring required for the recipe. I decided to look for different red velvet options!
I finally read several recipes that gave a possible alternative to food coloring. These recipes stated that *originally* red wine vinegar or red beet juice was added to the standard buttermilk , cocoa, and baking soda recipe and a chemical reaction occurred during baking which gave the cake a reddish hue. Not food coloring red... just a reddish overtone.
That was good enough for me.
I converted the recipe to be gluten free, lower fat, and lower sugar and gave it a try.
It was worth the try. I LOVE this cake. It's light, yet decadent. Stays moist and fluffy, and has every bit of that delicious red velvet flavor of it's "food-coloring laden" predecessors.
I will post better pictures of this cake this weekend because I'm going to make it again for a dinner we are having.
I've included a halved recipe in the printable PDF in case you would only like to make one layer, as I did originally. It makes a lovely single layer cake. I think this would be perfect for tea parties!
Gluten Free. Food-Coloring Free. Soy Free. Lower fat. Lower sugar. Red Velvet Cake.
I do recommend using a high quality cocoa powder that is NOT dutch processed for this cake.
Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
Wet Ingredients
1/2 cup melted butter -or- canola oil
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup good quality cocoa powder (NOT dutch processed)
2 extra-large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar -OR- 2 tablespoons red beet juice
Dry Ingredients
1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour -or- sweet rice flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease 2 9-inch round cake pans. (I lined my pan with parchment paper and then spritzed it with non-stick cooking spray.) Mix melted butter with applesauce, water, and cocoa powder. Set aside. In a medium sized bowl or your mixer, beat eggs. Add vanilla, buttermilk, baking soda, red wine vinegar -or- beet juice. Add butter/cocoa mixture to egg mixture. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl whisk together all dry ingredients. Fold the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Batter will be thin and a very light brown. Pour batter into prepared cake pans and bake for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Let cakes cool completely before frosting.
Cream Cheese Icing
from Allrecipes.com, submitted by Janni
Whole Recipe
2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 Recipe (I used this to frost a single layer red velvet cake)
4 oz. cream cheese
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
In a medium sized bowl mix together cream cheese and butter, until smooth and creamy. Mix in vanilla and gradually add confectioners' sugar. Frost as desired on cake and store leftovers in fridge.
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