Red Velvet

Red velvet cake is a red-colored layer cake with cream cheese or ermine icing. The origin of the cake is unknown, although it is popular in the Southern United States and has been served as a dessert at New York City's Waldorf-Astoria hotel since the 1920s. Both the hotel and Eaton's in Canada claim to have developed the recipe. Ingredients of the cake include baking powder, butter, buttermilk or vinegar, cocoa powder, eggs, flour, salt, vanilla extract, and, in most modern recipes, red food coloring. The cake's popularity declined after Red Dye #2 was linked to cancer in the 1970s but has since improved in the United States and elsewhere.