How to Make Red Velvet Cake with Nutella Dressing and Cream Cheese Icing

Mi Favorita Senora Gorda, se llama Blanca Padilla (sorry, Blanca but as you said it once, "Es verdad!") has become my solitary test kitchen in the Lehigh Valley along with my cohorts of colleagues in the medical profession.  Using them as my guinea pigs, they tell me which of my concoctions agreed with their pallate, which are the so-so and which are the "unfortunate" but "fortunately, did not bother the stomach."  So far, the reviews have been favorable. Thank God as I cannot bear to see my reputation go into the cesspool.

Red Velvet Cake...Nutella Dressing...Cream Cheese Icing.
Mmmmmm.

Anyway, in connection with the above, I am in the habit of testing new and exciting flavors in all aspects of a meal - from amuse bouches, appetizers, soups, salads, main courses and desserts.  The first six of these are relatively easy because I find savory dishes to be primarily the taste and not much of the texture.  Tenderness and softness is a plus but still there needs to be a bite.  Example, a great steak should never be tough that it becomes a struggle to the teeth but for most part, meat is meat is meat and whether it is garlic or onions or mushrooms or a demiglace or a fruit based or wine based or cream based or vegetable based sauce will for most part, work. Now, if we put an alien background flavor which wakes up the various points of the tongue in a different combination with the salient nerves of the nose, like let’s say, the essence of Sampaguita flowers (Google it!) in steak, I think that would be daring and unique.

Ms. Blanca - having a foodgasm.

Dessert, for me is the most difficult.  Yes, its sweet.  But should not be too sweet because the base of sweetness is just to close the meal.  But what you can do with the background flavors that accompany the sweetness is the key - will it be citrus?  What about floral?  What about chocolate?  Vanilla perhaps?  Essence of banana?  Cinnamon? Tropical fruit or temperate fruit flavors?  Then the bitch of making dessert is not just the flavor on the base of sweetness but the final texture of how it glides on the tongue.  Because dessert is best described as the velvet curtain that slowly falls to mark the end of meal, it should be as smooth as that velvet with a proper fold and shape like the curtain it resembles. Remember how in the olden days of the movie theater, which the screen is actually a hand over of the proscenium stage of the vaudeville theater and therefore the curtain that was delicately folded on top and the sides closes after a showing of the movie?  Did anyone notice how slowly it unfolds to close the screen.  That should be the feeling that one gets with dessert.  How ironic it would be if the dessert has the proper sweetness and flavor, but grates on the tongue like sand.

To complicate this further, the dessert itself, should of course, hold - structurally, that is.  Yes it is soft, but the product should stand. How could you guarantee that it would stand?  Therefore, this means structure.  It is the balance of structure, velvet softness and flavor is what makes dessert.  Too much softness is nice on the tongue but it does not hold.  Structure makes it hold but velvet smoothness is sacrificed.  New flavors lead to excitement but too much of it leads to the bizarre.

Thus my experimentation with Red Velvet Cake. Historically, based on what I read was that this is essentially a variation of the chocolate cake and with the reaction of vinegar to the cocoa, the brownish color changes to red.  Currently, the recipe calls for red food coloring, loads of it, to make the cake what it is - red.  Also, the slight chocolate taste of the cake is just minimal - in fact, just a hint of it. What is striking; however, is the reddish appearance of the cake is what makes the flavor; meaning, the redder the cake, the more flavorful it is.  Doesn't one notice that there is a hint of pleasant bitterness that somewhat enhances the chocolate taste of the cake and when it merges with the cream cheese icing, just gives out the perfect...well, mmmmm.

This ingredient is just a trifle.

This plays a MAJOR part in making Red Velvet Cake.

And would you believe, THIS is integral in making the cake?

Which begs us to admit, as reluctantly as I want, that yes, Virginia, we are eating carcinogens - if that is what one believes about red food coloring.

Off to the next point. Vinegar, chocolate, buttermilk -- sounds like Devils Food Cake.  Now, take this, lessen the chocolate, add the red food coloring - Red Velvet Cake.  Yes. Historically, there are sources that say that the granddaddy of the Red Velvet is actually Devils Food Cake.


Which then leads to the final point.

My mother has this rather peculiar cookbook called Anna del Rosario Cookbook which I believe, contains the test recipes by this lady who I do not really know what were her credentials in the culinary world.  From what I could gather from the Manila Chronicle cookbook of 1959, it seems that there was this company called del Rosario Brothers in Manila at that time and that they may be owners of what was a once fledging appliance company producing refrigerators and kitchen equipment in the Philippines.  Whether she is related to this company is only what I could guess.

But in this book contained the very first chocolate cake recipe - Devil's Food, at that! - that I every tried as a teenager fumbling my way in my mom's kitchen and which I found to be a success the first time.  With that, making a very moist flavorful cake, I decided to alter the recipe to become Red Velvet Cake.  As what was the historical approach ion producing this cake. Add Cream Cheese Icing, modified with a Nutella Dressing (my recipe, mind you) and voila!  Off to the taste test. Needless to say, the final product was just so delicious that Ms. Blanca Padilla once again lived to her own reputation as Mi Senora Gorda.

Red Velvet Cake with Nutella Filling and Cream Cheese Icing (after the Devils Food Cake Recipe of Ms. Anna del Rosario, 1956)

Red Velvet Cake:

• 2 sticks butter
• 2 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 evaporated whole milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 2 1/4 cup sifted cake flour
• 1-2 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 2-3 tablespoons red food coloring
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 cup boiling water

1. Combine the following in a bowl and sift well: flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda.  Set aside.
2. Mix the following in a pyrex liquid measuring cup: evaporated milk, vanilla and vinegar.
3. Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl until fluffy.  Once this is reached, add the eggs one at a time while mixing until the butter, sugar and eggs are well incorporated. Last add the red food coloring and mix some more.
4. Then, in two or three batches, add the flour and the milk mixtures into the egg-butter mixture each time mixing it until well incorporated.  One would achieve a somewhat semi stiff batter.
5. Add the boiling water last and mix further the batter is homogenous.  The batter would be somewhat thin but do not be alarmed as the original Devils Food Cake recipe calls for a thin batter.
6. Pour the batter in two separate 8-in diameter pans and bake for about 50 minutes to an hour taking care not to open the oven in the early stages of baking.  One can test the cake for doneness but be sure that this is done at the later stages of baking or else, if the cake batter is wet and has not developed its crusting, it would have a tendency to fall leaving a fudge brownie consistency.
7. Once done, cool the cake completely.  It is much preferred that the cakes be cooled in the refrigerator prior to frosting as this lessens the tendency for flaking during the application of the icing.

Cream Cheese Icing.

• 1 cup cream cheese
• 2 sticks (therefore 1 cup) unsalted butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• Some vanilla to taste

Cream the cream cheese and butter together until fluffy. Then, add the sugar and mix some more until incorporated.  To this, add the vanilla and mix once more until of spreadable consistency.  If a softer spread is desired, add about a tablespoon of milk.

Nutella Dressing.

• 1/2 cup Nutella
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• Some vanilla to taste.

As with the cream cheese dressing, first cream the Nutella and butter together until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and mix some more, adding vanilla last, until a spreadable consistency is reached.

Assemble the cake by first laying the first cake on the cake circle then spread the Nutella dressing on top as the second cake is placed on top of the dressing like making a sandwich.  Press the two halves together with one hand with wax paper as the Nutella dressing is spread on the sides using a spatulla. Place in refrigerator for a few minutes to stabilize this structure.

Next, trim the sides using a sharp cake knife in order to smoothen the surface, taking care to preserve the arc of the cake.  This will make it easier to apply the icing.

Divide your cream cheese icing into two batches.  Using the first batch and with the spatula, get some of this and it its the icing on the spatula that you will use ANOTHER spatula to get the icing and spread on the cake.  This will avoid contaminating the icing batch with crumbs making resulting in a muddy, dirty looking icing.  The purpose of the first batch of icing is just to seal the cake of its crumbs.  Once the first batch of icing is applied, cool the cake in the refrigerator again just to stabilize the structure.

Next, it's time for smoothening and patterning.  Using now the second and remaining batch of cream cheese icing, apply the icing further especially on areas where it is rather thin.  Smoothen and apply the patterns as deemed fit.  Lastly, you may use other edible decor (example, fruits or chocolate candies) to top and make it nice and pretty.  Serve at room temperature.