Red Velvet Cupcakes

I found a Red Velvet Cake recipe on the Internet. The recipe originated in the 1920's and was supposedly served at the restaurant in New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. So, the history of the Red Velvet Cake has inspired me to make these cupcakes, which I am going to serve today for Memorial Day dessert. I tasted one of the cupcakes and they turned out delicious!

Here’s an account of this recipe's urban legend as it appeared in Jan Brunvand’s book, The Vanishing Hitchhiker (W.W. Norton, 1989):

Our friend, Dean Blair, got on a bus in San Jose one morning and shortly after, a lady got on the bus and started passing out these 3 x 5 cards with the recipe for “Red Velvet Cake.” She said she had recently been in New York and had dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria and had this cake. After she returned to San Jose, she wrote to the hotel asking for the name of the chef who had originated the cake, and if she could have the recipe. Subsequently she received the recipe in the mail along with a bill for something like $350 from the chef. She took the matter to her attorney, and he advised her that she would have to pay it because she had not inquired beforehand if there would be a charge for the service, and if so, how much it would be. Consequently, she apparently thought this would be a good way to get even with the chef.



Here is the recipe to make the red velevet cupcakes: http://www.food.com/recipe/waldorf-astoria-red-velvet-cake-8972