Seeing Red

No, I'm not mad, I'm hungry.  And when it comes to our wedding cake there is only one option.  My favorite cake ever, red velvet.

(source clockwise from top left: 1, 2, 3, 4)

We've had our minds made up on the flavor of our cake since day two of this planning process.  The convo went something like this:

Me: Oh my gosh, we get to try CAKES!  I LOVE CAKE! 
Bear: Mmm, yaaa cake.  You do really love cake.
Me: What kind of cake should we get?
Bear: (Tilting his head sideways and shrugging) Can we get red velvet?
Me:  YES!  We're getting red velvet!

And that is how we let my stomach make the decisions from time to time.  

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But really, I should confess to you that I absolutely adore cake. It's the strangest thing to me because until a few years back I was kinda ambivalent, cake was for birthdays only.  But one day, my love for cake switched on like a light and that was it.  I hold red velvet responsible, because it is, in fact, my Achilles' Heel of cakes.  It got so bad that my friends at work started calling me Miss Red Velvet, but I had to put a stop to it.  Something about being called "Red Velvet" that made me a little uncomfortable...

Anyway, what's red velvet cake you say?

There are a ton of descriptions floating around on the internet, and even more stories of the origins of this red confection, but a red velvet cake is simply a layer cake similar to Devil's Food cake.  Originally the cake was red because of the Dutch-Processed cocoa powder that was used to make it, but now red food coloring (and sometimes beet juice)is added to get the bright hue. The cake is incredibly moist (ugh, does that word make anyone else shudder?) and has a slight cocoa flavor to it.  Red velvet is traditionally iced with cream cheese frosting, it's crowning glory if you ask me.  Seriously, slap some cream cheese frosting on a piece of cardboard and I'd probably eat it. 

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Red Velvet Cake was also made famous as the groom's cake in the movie "Steel Magnolias," which is where I first caught sight of it.  And I've been obsessed ever since.  I know red velvet wedding cake has been a bit of a trend in the wedding world, but so be it.  I'm sold on it!

Did you or do you have a particular wedding cake flavor in mind?  What flavor did you go with?