First, a little about it’s interesting history. Red velvet cake was born when bakers started using boiled beet juices to enhance the color of their cakes when foods were rationed during World War II. Beets are actually found in some red velvet cake recipes today, which can also help to retain moisture.
This technique was especially popular in the south, and it soon became part of the region’s distinctive cuisine. In fact, its current popularity was sparked in part by the Louisiana-set movie Steel Magnolias, which included a red velvet groom’s cake made in the shape of an armadillo.
Yet, being that the cake’s basic ingredients are buttermilk, butter, cocoa, and flour, it’s essentially chocolate cake dyed red by either food coloring or beets. The crimson cake is typically topped with cream cheese or buttermilk frosting — but does it have to be?
Why not try a new topping?Like lace!
So, we decided make edible lace to creatively decorate a red velvet cake — and the result is stunning!
First we got all our ingredients together. I decided to make my life easier by just using boxed red velvet cake mix. I got whatever the box said I needed, plus some lace, powdered sugar, a sifter, a muffin tin, liners, and vanilla frosting (you can use cream cheese frosting as well, if that’s what you prefer).
I poured all my ingredients for the box cake in a bowl.
Then I mixed them all together.
My initial instinct was to make cupcakes. I poured the red velvet batter into a lined muffin tin using an ice cream scooper so that every cupcake would be the same size, and they would all bake evenly.
I put my cupcakes in the oven for about 13 minutes.
They came out perfectly, but when I tried my lace-decorating trick on the cupcakes, it didn’t turn out too well. In fact, I would call this a fail. The space was too small for what I wanted to do. But I had leftover batter. So, on a whim, I decided to bake a cake instead.
