1/2 c Shortening
1 1/2 c White sugar
2 Eggs
2 tb Cocoa
1/4 c Red food colouring
1 ts Salt
2 1/2 c Cake flour
1 c Buttermilk
1 ts Vanilla
1 ts Baking soda
1 ts Vinegar
This Red Velvet cake recipe was given away in Winnipeg in protest
against the charging for it in the Restaurant. My Mother remembered
much more of the story than I did. Seems that a couple of
Winnipegers were vacationing in the southern U.S.A. & were served
this wonderful cake. They asked if they might have the recipe & were
told they could. When they went to pay for the meal they found a
charge of $200.00 had been added on to the normal charge. This was
for the recipe. When they got home they turned it over to the Women’s
Institute who sold copies for $0.25 to all comers. When the $200.00
had been recovered they had it published in the Winnipeg Free press
and the Hudson’s bay store here also started to serve it in their
paddle wheel room. A copy of the recipe came with each serving! She
has since lost the recipe for the icing but the cake recipe she still
had. This is a copy of the ORIGINAL recipe as printed in the paper
but the method is hers as she never bothered saving that part of the
article. BTW DON’T use any of the modern food colourings in this
amount. They are mineral based & in this quantity aren’t good for
you. If you can get cocheneal type red colouring go ahead. Otherwise
substitute water or something else for the colouring.
Mix all dry ingredients together except the soda. Mix the soda with
the vinegar & add to the wet ingredients. Mix wet & dry together &
bake in two 9″ round pans about 1/2 hr. ( normal cake temp ) Subst.
water or wine for the red colouring.
This recipe came from the Winnipeg Free Press. The date isn’t known
exactly but I was just a young lad so it would be about 35 years ago.
Tom Story 10-14-91 The Bridgeport PCBoard BBS
Another story: The Red Velvet cake recipe was supposed to have been
sold by the Waldorf-Astoria in NYC to some unsuspecting diner; the
price was also $250, and the time was DECADES ago, when $250 was real
money. But it turns out that the Waldorf never even served red velvet
cake in their restaurant! Jan Harald Brunvand wrote about this
particular urban legend as early as 1968, and he said that it was at
least a decade old then.
Michael Loo Cooking Echo 7/3/94
Yields
1 servings