History

• H. David Dahlquist invented the Bundt pan in 1950 for his kitchenware company, Nordic Ware. He based the design on the kugelhopf pan, in order to imitate the rich, heavy cakes of Europe. The pan had to have a hole in the middle to allow the cake to cook in the center.

Conventional

• The red velvet cake has a slight chocolaty taste, as it contains a small quantity of cocoa powder. The buttermilk traditionally gives the cake a velvety texture, from which the cake takes its name, but substituting pudding for this produces a similar result. The frosting varies according to different recipes. Usually, the cake has a cream cheese frosting, but it can have a white confectioner's frosting or even a white peppermint cream cheese frosting.

Variations

• For a red velvet bundt cake with pudding, the cook substitutes the vanilla and buttermilk with vanilla pudding. Replacing the cocoa powder with chocolate chips distributes the chocolate differently for another variation.