I just baked a red-velvet cake from a southern recipe - I had to make adjustments to it due to my high altitude living in Salt Lake City, UT.
The cake was amazingly moist in a good way and delicious! They baked great, did not sink in middle and had a beautiful even bake circular shape!
It frosted well, did not crack or break - but when it was time to serve it crumbled at slicing. Why does this happen? The cake calls for traditional mixing
of alternating dry with wet ingredients, creaming butter, sugar and eggs etc… But I am curious for any tips as this seems to happen to me when
I make red velvet cake recipes? Any suggestions would be FABULOUS!! Thanks!  :(

Here is the original recipe - 2- 9” Pans @ 350 Degrees.

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup of buttermilk
2 tablespoons of cocoa
1 oz red food coloring
1 cup of butter, softened
2 cups of sugar
2 eggs, room temp
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
1 tablespoon of cider vinegar or white vinegar

Now!! Here are my high altitude adjustments which I made:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, I sifted after measurement
1 cup of buttermilk + 2 tablespoons (did not have buttermilk so made my own)
2 cups of sugar BUT reduced by 4 tablespoons
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda BUT reduced by 1/4 teaspoon
Added additional moisture to cake with liqour sugar water 2 tablespoons for each cake layer

I don’t know a lot about the chemistry of baking OR about high altitude substitutions, but I have a couple of thoughts, for whatever they’re worth:

1.  Do you know anyone who made this particular recipe and it “worked”?  Sometimes, it’s just a bad recipe.  (That’s the nice thing about Rose’s—they’re all tested and they all work.  There’s a red velvet cake recipe in Rose’s Heavenly Cakes, by the way)

2.  I compared your recipe to the one on the Swan’s Down box (a basic recipe that was handy) and, for the same amount of flour, yours has 2x the buttter and 1/2 c. more sugar—maybe it has something to do with that?

Good luck on finding your answer!

—ak

Anne, thanks so much for your reply! Funny my name is Annie too! I also thought the amount of sugar and butter was a bit much, it was a new recipe for me as I had done red velvet cakes in the past.
I will look for the recipe you mentioned by Swan’s Down box or I should just be brave and try Rosie’s from her book! I recently just got it as a gift but have been so scared to try them as I am a beginner
baker and would be embarrassed to fail her wonderful recipe!

No problem!  Glad if I was any help.  Nothing worse than when a recipe fails!  Hopefully, even thought it crubled, it was still delicous!

If you’re a beginner, you’re always safe with a Rose recipe, because they are so well tested and guaranteed to be scrumptious!!!

slclove - 14 July 2010 01:06 PM

Funny my name is Annie too! I also thought the amount of sugar and butter was a bit much, it was a new recipe for me as I had done red velvet cakes in the past.

Given that your cake was too tender, you might compensate by just mixing it longer to develop the gluten.  The large amounts of butter and sugar tend to inhibit gluten formation, which provides the strength of the cake.

But Rose’s Red Velvet is very good, if you like Red Velvet cake, which I don’t.    I made it a couple of weeks ago and those for whom it was intended thought it was wonderful.  Note that Rose’s recipe is geared for one layer in a heart-shaped pan and you’ll have to boost it if you want to make a two layer round cake.