The Ingredients That Make Devil's Food And Red Velvet Cake Different

You don't have to think hard to figure out what chocolate, vanilla, and carrot cake taste like — but beyond the basics, it can get a little confusing deciphering the meaning of different flavors of this dessert. Red velvet cake, for instance, doesn't glean its name from red ingredients that get added to the batter. Historically, natural cocoa powder was used in recipes for red velvet cake, where it would react with buttermilk or vinegar to produce its dark red hue. So essentially, we have these acidic ingredients to blame for this dessert's confusing name.

But how does red velvet cake differ from devil's food? These flavors were both extremely popular in the 1800s, and they both use cocoa powder. Devil's food cake is basically the same thing as chocolate, just with a more intense flavor. Cocoa powder is used here to lend a deeper taste than what you'd get from incorporating regular chocolate. But unlike red velvet cake, devil's food also includes sour cream, water, and coffee.

So what exactly do the differing ingredients accomplish in each dessert? Aside from its iconic color, red velvet cake is known for its slightly tangy flavor, which comes from the buttermilk or vinegar addition. In some recipes, you may even find both ingredients listed. While cocoa powder is a staple here, you'll find much less of it in a red velvet cake recipe than in a devil's food version (think a few tablespoons versus a cup). That's because while a chocolatey flavor is an element of red velvet cake, it's not the star of the show. To balance out the tanginess and subdue the cocoa powder even more, most of these desserts are topped with a thick cream cheese frosting. And unlike the acidic reaction that occurred from natural cocoa powder back in the day, most of these cakes today use Dutch-processed cocoa powder and get their hue from red food coloring.  

Unlike red velvet cake, devil's food focuses solely on enhancing the chocolate as much as possible. Sour cream provides extra moisture and richness, while water is used to prevent milk from smothering any chocolatey goodness. We know that coffee is a key ingredient in amplifying chocolate desserts, and it's deployed in devil's food cake to do just that. So if you're a chocolate fiend, you'll want to opt for this dessert — but if you like a little tang in your cake, go for red velvet.