Waldorf-Astoria Red Velvet Cake

For the Cake
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt chocolate in a metal bowl and set over a saucepan of boiling water or in the top of a double boiler. (Or, melt in a microwave for 20-30 seconds.)

Meanwhile, place sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla in the bowl and mix for about one minute on low speed.

In a mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Add dry ingredients to egg mixture and continue to mix on low speed until well incorporated. Add melted chocolate and mix on low speed.  Add pureed beets and food coloring. Continue to mix on low speed until all ingredients are thoroughly combined.

Divide batter evenly between 3 greased and floured pans and bake for 20-25 minutes or until cake springs back when touched, or when toothpick comes up clean.

Cool for 10 minutes in the pans and turn layers out onto rack to cool completely.

For the Icing
Pour heavy cream into small bowl and whip to soft peaks. Refrigerate. Place cream cheese in a bowl and mix on low speed until soft and smooth. Add mascarpone and mix until combined. Add ½ of vanilla and powdered sugar and mix well. Fold in whipped cream by hand with spatula. Refrigerate until ready to assemble.

Is it one of the most Googled recipes? At last check, there were 563,000 sites for Red Velvet Cake with its dramatic, deep burgundy layers of chocolate decadence. That’s a lot of places to search for the signature sweet that originated in the 1920’s at America’s grand hotel of luxury and elegance, the Waldorf-Astoria in New York.  

But you can quit clicking, because we have the original right here.

It’s not the version that’s loaded with tons of red food coloring and yet very little flavor (you’ll find plenty of those in your search). This is the authentic and luscious Red Velvet Cake right from the Waldorf-Astoria Cookbook given to us by the hotel’s executive chef, John Doherty. (He is, by the way, the youngest executive chef ever to head the hotel’s three restaurants and exquisite room service, long known as the Waldorf-Astoria’s crown jewels.)

But Chef Doherty has been at the helm for more than 20 years now, and has said that despite the attempts around the globe to improve on this classic recipe (with little success, red-velvet cake aficionados tell him), the hotel continues to serve it in its pure form. Chef, we love this cake. Here’s to the next 100 years of Rescuing Red Velvet!