FSB Author Article
In Search of America's Best Red Velvet Cake
By Laura Dave
Author
of The Divorce Party: A Novel
A
little over eighteen months ago, I undertook a crazy person's
assignment: I set out to find the Best Red Velvet Cake in
America. I
began tasting cakes everywhere from Seattle to Springfield to Santa
Fe. And I began working on a list of criteria for judgment:
something
a little more refined than my normal "yum" scale. I contacted a
lot of
chefs, bakers, bakery managers, and various Red Velvet experts (AKA:
Mom
and her friends) in order to develop a list of qualities to
assess. Sadly, for me, their answers were so wide and varied as to what
was
most essential to an ideal Red Velvet, I began longing for the "yum"
scale. How could all these things matter -- and matter so much: The
benefits of using cherries versus beet juice, the amount of red food
coloring, the precise ratio of buttermilk to sugar to vinegar. I
have
baked (and eaten) my fair share of cakes, but I was learning quickly
that Red Velvets were not an eye-it type of operation. James
Beard's American Cookery
references three distinct types of Red Velvets. And don't get a
Red
Velvet baker started on the complications of frosting. I can now
write, with full confidence, a thesis paper on the advantage of
cream-cheese frosting over a pure butter icing; and one on why a butter
icing is more authentic than its sugary-vanilla counterpart.
But, perhaps, I should first explain what has spurred this
mission. In my latest novel, The Divorce Party,
Red Velvet Cake plays a pivotal role. The novel focuses on a
family on
the Eastern end of Long Island -- who have lived in the beautiful town
of
Montauk for generations -- and who now are struggling to hold
themselves
(and their home) together during a defining weekend, in which the
oldest son brings his fiancée to visit for the first time. An
unconventional party is at the center of the weekend. And, at the
center of the party, is one pristine and delicious Red Velvet
Cake.
But people's passion for the cake has shown me that I can't think about
the cake as just part of The Divorce Party's story. In my
search for The Best Red Velvet, I've learned that this cake has it's
own story . . . and it is an emotional one.
There
is an urban legend that, mid-century, a baker at the Waldorf Astoria
Hotel baked the very first Red Velvet Cake. According to the
legend, a
customer at the restaurant requested the recipe for the unique cake,
and was billed hundreds of dollars. In retribution, she spread
the
recipe to all of her friends. It is a charming story, but a
legend
from start to finish. The real history of the cake's origin seems to
begin somewhere in the 1920s in the American South. Exactly who
was
responsible? That is still a matter of debate. And all versions
I've
heard are full of emotion. My favorite -- and the one I utilized in
my
novel -- revolves around a Southern baker who wanted to create a cake
that
symbolized the contrast between good and evil: the good represented by
the lily, white frosting, the evil represented by the red cake. She
wanted to make a cake that would have an emotional impact on those who
ate it, even if they didn't completely understand why.
And
while I'm afraid to name a current front-runner in my own search, I
will say that I keep that first baker in mind as I try different
options: like the wonderful piece of Red Velvet I recently ate at a
quaint restaurant in the Eagle Rock section of Los Angeles called
Auntie Em's Kitchen.
Can
I tell you why I enjoyed it so much? Maybe not. But I'm
working on
it. And I promise it's not just a yum thing. It's an emotional
one.
©2009 Laura Dave, author of The Divorce Party: A
Novel
Author Bio
Laura Dave is the author
of the acclaimed novels The Divorce
Party and London Is the Best City in America. Her writing
has appeared in The New York Times, Glamour, Self,
Redbook, ESPN the Magazine, and The New York Observer.
Dave graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. In August, Cosmopolitan
magazine named her as one of the eight "Fun and Fearless Phenoms" of
2008. She lives in California.
For more information, please visit http://lauradave.com/