Cream Cheese for Red Velvet Frosting | Ask Nigella.com (2024)

FAQs

Is buttercream or cream cheese frosting better for red velvet? ›

Cream cheese frosting is the classic choice for red velvet cake! Its tangy flavor complements the sweetness of the cake layers.

If you can't find cream cheese easily (and note that in the UK it may be labelled as "white soft cheese" but is likely to be the same product) then you could use mascarpone as an alternative. However it is easy to beat macarpone too much, causing it to curdle, so be careful how you handle the mascarpone.

That's right: even though you may not realize it, red velvet cake's predominant flavor is that of chocolate. As for toppings, French-style butter icing is actually the most traditional, but as it's very time consuming classic buttercream and cream cheese frostings have become more common nowadays.

As far as brand, like I mentioned before, only use Philadelphia full fat cream cheese when possible. Other brands of cream cheese don't have that perfect balance of gums in the ingredients, so they won't allow the frosting to thicken and hold its shape like Philadelphia does.

Red velvet cake tastes like very mild cocoa with a slightly tart edge. The cream cheese frosting is the most forward flavor. Perhaps even more important than the taste is the texture: smooth, soft, tender and light with creamy icing.

Neufchâtel cheese has a slightly lower fat content than cream cheese and a slightly higher moisture content. For use as a spread, this difference will be unnoticeable, and you can make substitutions in a 1:1 ratio. But if you're planning to bake with your Neufchâtel cheese, it could be problematic.

Red velvet cake is also usually paired with white cream-cheese frosting. The white contrast highlights the lush red color, while the tanginess of the cream cheese plays off the buttermilk so well.

No mascarpone and cream cheese are not the same, they are both dairy-based and do have some similarities but they are made in different ways. They have a similar texture so can very often substitute each other but Philadephia is more savory while mascarpone is milkier in taste.

When bakers added vinegar, baking soda, or buttermilk to their recipes to tenderize the cakes, the acid in those ingredients reacted with the cocoa, which was not Dutch-processed, to give the cakes a red tint. That color became a signature of velvet cakes.

The earliest velvet cakes date back to Victorian times, when bakers in both the United States and England began to use cocoa powder to produce cake of a fine, crumbed texture, one that was much softer than the traditional yellow or white varieties.

What's the difference between red velvet and devil's food cake? ›

While devil's food cake usually uses water, sour cream, or coffee, red velvet cake usually contains vinegar or buttermilk. Red velvet cakes end up being creamier and denser than devil's food due to these differences.

Stop mixing the frosting as soon as the ingredients are mixed, as over-mixing can cause the frosting to become runny and less sticky. If you do over-mix the frosting, place it into the fridge for 1 hour to harden.

No lumps in cream cheese.

While you can over-whip the frosting after you add the heavy cream, you cannot over-mix the 1st 3 ingredients in the recipe. Beat the cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, and vanilla extract together for as long as you need to rid all of the cream cheese lumps.

If you do over mix, the water in the cream cheese starts to separate out, and it makes the frosting really loose. Stop mixing when it looks like this, and then it's ready to use on your cakes and cupcakes.

In my opinion, cream cheese frosting pairs best with red velvet's flavor and this frosting recipe is really simple. You need brick-style cream cheese, butter, confectioners' sugar, a splash of milk, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt to offset the sweetness. It glides on seamlessly and is silky smooth.

When properly mixed, buttercream has a tendency to be more firm and have a smoother finish. On the other hand, cream cheese frosting can be a little greasy, prone to lumps, and have an unusual texture. However, both cake coatings are good options, depending on the recipe used and what you like.

While red velvet cake is technically a cocoa cake, there is a key difference between standard chocolate cake and red velvet cake. Chocolate cake recipes traditionally use Dutch-processed cocoa, while red velvet cake uses unprocessed cocoa, a more acidic ingredient that produces a deeper, more intense chocolate flavor.

Cream cheese frosting can be left out for two hours before it needs to be refrigerated, so it's important to follow the same rule for a frosted red velvet cake. Serve the finished cake immediately, or keep it in the fridge until it's time to cut a slice and dig in.