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High Noon: Red Alert

Old-fashioned Red Devil’s Food Cake, left, barely gets a tinge of red from the chemical reaction between acid and alkaline ingredients in a recipe from The Spokesman-Review’s Dorothy Dean’s Homemakers Service in 1936. Red Velvet Cake was popularized later in a leaflet from 1962 and called for 2 ounces of red food coloring to achieve the deep red color. (Lorie Hutson)
By D.F. Oliveria daveo@spokesman.com(509) 319-0354
Old-fashioned Red Devil’s Food Cake, left, barely gets a tinge of red from the chemical reaction between acid and alkaline ingredients in a recipe from The Spokesman-Review’s Dorothy Dean’s Homemakers Service in 1936. Red Velvet Cake was popularized later in a leaflet from 1962 and called for 2 ounces of red food coloring to achieve the deep red color. (Lorie Hutson)
Old-fashioned Red Devil’s Food Cake, left, barely gets a tinge of red from the chemical reaction between acid and alkaline ingredients in a recipe from The Spokesman-Review’s Dorothy Dean’s Homemakers Service in 1936. Red Velvet Cake was popularized later in a leaflet from 1962 and called for 2 ounces of red food coloring to achieve the deep red color. (Lorie Hutson)

Old-fashioned Red Devil’s Food Cake, left, barely gets a tinge of red from the chemical reaction between acid and alkaline ingredients in a recipe from The Spokesman-Review’s Dorothy Dean’s Homemakers Service in 1936. Red Velvet Cake was popularized later in a leaflet from 1962 and called for 2 ounces of red food coloring to achieve the deep red color

A simple recipe request sparked a recent red velvet immersion course.

A grandmother called recently to ask for a red velvet recipe she could make for her grandson, who loves the cake but is allergic to red food dye. I had a vague recollection that red velvet cakes weren’t always made with food dye and offered to dig up a traditional recipe for her that instead relies on the chemical reaction between acid and alkaline ingredients to cre ate the cake’s reddish hue. Lorie Hutson, SR

What’s your favorite kind of cake?

* This story was originally published as a post from the blog "Huckleberries Online." Read all stories from this blog