Mom's Red Velvet Cake

This is red velvet cake the way Southern mothers and grandmothers made it before cream cheese frosting took over. The frosting here is ermine (sometimes called boiled milk frosting or roux frosting), the traditional partner to red velvet cake. Cooked flour and milk make a thick paste that gets whipped with butter and sugar into a silky, less-sweet frosting that lets the cake’s chocolate notes shine.

The cake itself relies on a chemistry trick at the end. Baking soda and vinegar get whisked together until foaming, then stirred into the batter mid-foam. That extra bubble action gives red velvet its uniquely soft, almost spongy crumb.

Buttermilk and cocoa together create the subtle tangy chocolate flavor that defines this cake. The red food coloring is mostly cosmetic in modern recipes, since most American cocoa is Dutched and won’t naturally redden the way the old-school natural cocoa did.

Cake flour is the right call, not all-purpose. Its lower protein gives the tender, velvety crumb the name promises.

Bake at 350F (175C) until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs. Cool completely before frosting.

Pro Tips

• Cook the flour-milk paste for the frosting until very thick, like a tight pudding. If it’s loose, the frosting will be soupy.
• Let the paste cool to room temperature before adding butter, or the butter will melt and the frosting will break.
• Use gel food coloring if you can. The two-ounce bottle of liquid color in this recipe is correct but old-school. Gel gives a deeper red with less liquid.
• Don’t open the oven during the first 20 minutes or the cake can sink.

Variations

• Swap ermine frosting for classic cream cheese frosting if you prefer the modern version.
• Add 1 teaspoon of espresso powder with the cocoa to deepen the chocolate flavor.
• Bake as cupcakes instead, reducing the time to 18 to 22 minutes.