Red velvet chocolate cake

Red velvet cake is a sought-after pastry in bakeries and coffeeshops here. The red color of this notorious cake is from the acidic reaction of buttermilk and vinegar which brings out red anthocyanin from non-Dutched cocoa. Nowadays, as cocoa undergoes Dutch processing, the red color in the cake is rendered by food color or beetroot.  (For the uninitiated, Dutched cocoa is cocoa that has been processed to change its color and to make it milder than natural cocoa.) My red velvet became a brown velvet! I suspect the culprit is the jaggery.

The different jigsaw pieces of the cake puzzle are..

All-purpose flour - 1 and 1/2 cup

Cocoa powder - 1 and 1/2 Tbsp

Baking soda - 1/2 tsp

Baking powder - 1 tsp

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Olive oil, extra virgin - 1/2 cup

Organic brown eggs - 2

Organic jaggery - 3/4 cup

Vanilla extract - 1 and 1/2 tsp

Buttermilk - 1/2 cup

Beetroot, grated - 1/2 cup

Apple cider vinegar - 1 tsp

The rule of thumb is to have two separate glass bowls, one for dry ingredients and the other for the wet. In the dry bowl, put together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In the wet bowl, mix jaggery and oil. Add the eggs and blend well. Add vanilla and buttermilk. Amalgamate. Add beetroot and combine. Add flour from dry bowl into wet in batches, stirring well in between. Add vinegar and merge.

Prepare a cake tin by greasing it and dusting some flour. Pour batter into its center and spread to all corners. Preheat oven to 180C and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Allow to cool on a wire rack. Have a slice with your evening coffee. You will freak out on its fluffiness! ;-)

I appreciate my walking buddy, Sumi for sharing this marvelous recipe. My daughter would be adding it to her newsletter published for the benefit of our colony residents.