I've had it up to here with cream cheese icing! I know you're probably thinking I must be some kind of nut to get my knickers in a twist over cake icing but you have to know my history with it before passing judgement. Sheesh, the mere fact that I have a history with cream cheese icing is pretty darn frightening in and of itself. And, to tell you the truth its not that I even HAVE a history with cream cheese thats so infuriating as much as feeling its a Philadelphia based conspiracy to totally take over the entire baking world! I swear if they aren't using it for icing, they are squirting inside cupcakes or dipping fruit in the stuff. Thats not even considering the cheesecake industry or the new cream cheese sauce starters. Mercy goodness, where will it end?
I'd like to know who in their right mind thought that slathering a perfectly good cake with some glomy sweetened cheese mess was a good idea? The way I figure, there must have been a glut of cream cheese on the market about 30+ years ago, kinda like postwar Spam. Then they must have had a contest to see all the things one could make with those mushy bricks whose purpose started out mainly as a cracker spread or the glue for holiday cheese balls (both figuratively and literally).
My main beef is with bakeries and just plain bakers in general thinking it belongs on my precious and practically sainted Waldorf-Astoria aka Red Velvet Cake. This is THE original Red Velvet Cake - none of that cream cheese frosting crap or butter cream nonsense. This is the real McCoy. This cake makes grown men swoon and beg for marriage! it really is that powerful. Word of caution; be careful who you make it for!
According to livejournal.com, the recipe that's been passed around since the 1950's, contains shortening, white sugar, eggs, vanilla flavoring, butter flavoring, red food coloring, cocoa, sifted cake flour, buttermilk, salt, vinegar and soda. The frosting recipe calls for cooking flour, salt, milk, shortening, white sugar, vanilla flavoring and butter flavoring. The original icing is a cooked concoction and no where in the original recipe is cream cheese even mentioned! Take note impostors! A true Red Velvet Cake has nary a spec of cream cheese anywhere in it or near it!
You are probably wondering how I come to know so much about this particular cake. When I was about 8, my grandmother told the story of a lady staying at the Waldorf-Astoria and she wanted the recipe for a fabulous cake they had for dessert. They gave her the recipe but charged her a tidy sum for it. As a result she passed the recipe out to everyone! I think Grandmother got it from her beautician. Sounds a lot like the Neiman Marcus cookie tale doesn't it? Anyway, the first time she made this cake I was totally in love! (and yes, Im aware I should be embarrassed to say my love affair with cake started at an early age) but it is definitely the most beautiful cake you will ever see, and the taste is beyond compare. Its not too sweet but terribly satisfying.
This became the cake my grandmother would make for my birthday every year. Its labor intensive, to be sure, but worth every single minute and frustration. Occasionally she would have to make it twice because her 1930 gas oven was temperamental or perhaps she got distracted with a Readers Digest Crossword puzzle or something. The fact she would make it twice made me feel all the more special and loved. Its the kind of fantasy cake that begs for pomp and circumstance. Its the Waldorf-Astoria Red Velvet Cake for cryin out loud, not the Red Roof Inn Cake. We need to give it the respect it deserves and at the very least the correct icing!
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