Red Velvet Cake [General]

2011 Mar 2
I'm planning on making this for my children's birthday over the weekend - I have twins who will be 2. My kids may not appreciate the work but I know the adults will!

I have a few recipes and they include variation so I can turn this into cupcakes if I find the assemby too fussy. Any suggestions about the cocoa powder and food colouring?

2011 Mar 2
One of the best red velvet cakes I ever tasted had a layer of fresh blueberries incorporated into the cream cheese frosting between layers.

CI did a testing of cocoas in 2005
www.cooksillustrated.com

they recommended Callebaut, Droste and Merckens in that order.

here is an interesting excerpt:
"The only case remaining for choosing natural cocoa concerned leavening. Getting a baked good to rise properly depends on a delicate balance of acids and bases. Conventional wisdom thus dictates that Dutched cocoa and natural cocoa cannot be used interchangeably. Many cookbooks include cautionary notes about the dangers of substitution. With these caveats in mind, we chose two recipes (for devil's food cake and hot pudding cake) that call for a particular type of cocoa--one Dutched, one natural. We noticed no difference in leavening among the four samples in either of these applications. And, across the board, the two Dutched cocoas beat out the two natural cocoas in terms of both flavor and texture.

So does the home cook need both Dutched and natural cocoas? Not based on our findings. But buyer beware, too much “dutching” is not a good thing. Our tasters found that while moderate Dutching helps alleviate harsh notes, the overzealously Dutched cocoa we tasted took on a taste and consistency reminiscent of talcum powder"