Not-So-Red Velvet Cake

My mom had never tasted Red Velvet Cake before and as a classic/iconic/American cake, I think it's a crime, so we decided to make one. It's true that Red Velvet Cake is nothing more than a glorified chocolate cake — if it's possible to even taste the chocolate (I've had some red velvet that didn't really taste like much of anything, to be honest) — but there's something sort of whimsical about a cake that looks average from the outside and upon cutting into it, a fluffy, rich red filling is exposed. It just feels kind of special. My mom was a little skeptical about adding red food coloring because, let's be honest, there's nothing real natural — or necessary — about adding random drops to food to make it change color. It's a little weird and I'll be the first to admit it. But every now and then, it's kind of awesome to eat a cake that would otherwise be brown and that's where Red Velvet comes in. So, we decided to cut down the amount of food color originally called for and crossed our fingers that it would still turn out red.

Wishful thinking.

What we were left with was a delicious, brown cake that had no right to call itself Red Velvet, so we'll go ahead and call it Not-So-Red Velvet Cake. I would absolutely recommend this recipe — it's Smitten Kitchen, when have I not recommended her? — but if you are set on a red filling, then it would probably be wise to follow her directions rather than ours, which were to add a measly three drops of red food coloring. And if you don't really care either way, then skip the food coloring altogether, because it's still a really delicious cake. I think it would work well as a classic chocolate cake and it uses canola oil instead of butter, which I can totally get into.Enjoy! xo, R.