Far-Queue posted...
^ this is the correct answer
There are a few different right answers. It's a name that's been applied to several different styles of cake. The older definition of "velvet cake" just referred to cutting the flour in the cake with some sort of non-glutinous dry ingredient to give it a softer texture because you end up with less gluten structure. This can be cocoa, corn/rice/potato starch, or a couple other options. Adding extra acid (like from buttermilk) also softens the gluten, and in the case of cocoa, you end up with a reddish colour.
On top of that, though, there was the WWI/depression-era practice of using beetroot to make cakes instead of milk, due to rationing concerns, and that created red-coloured cakes outside of the burgundy colour acidified cocoa would give you. When food dyes became more commonplace later in the 20th century, that pushed the concept toward stronger and stronger reds, until eventually getting to the dye-inundated monstrosity that most people think of now.
It's not
wrong
to call a basic white pound cake with a quarter cup of red #40 added "red velvet," but the term can be a bit confusing because of how many different things it's meant over the years.
Kallainanna posted...
I only know Swiss buttercream exists because I worked in the Bakery department at Whole Foods and they used to use it - and one of the actual cake decorators told me, I didn't make a single cake while there. They switched to American buttercream to cut costs LOL - not as good, but theirs at least isn't terrible.
American butter cream is definitely cheaper, since it doesn't rely on eggs and is much less labour-intensive. Swiss requires you to make a Swiss meringue, which means beating egg whites and sugar together in a double boiler until it's whipped up and reaches ~80C (I forget the exact temp), then beating the butter into that. It's stiffer and more temperature-stable than American, and isn't as aggressively sweet because it doesn't rely on powdered sugar to dry it out and stiffen it. In a similar vein, Italian butter cream is made from an Italian meringue, which involves whipping egg whites while pouring in 240F sugar. Italian is very stiff and smooth, and my personal favourite. French is made like Italian, but with yolks instead of whites, and you end up with a very soft icing that's almost custardy, better for fillings than anything structural.
I don't mind American butter cream, especially if it's stiffened by whipping it properly and not just by dumping sugar in until it's thick enough, but pretty much every alternative is an upgrade. Making any butter cream with shortening to cut costs, however, is a travesty.