If you know me, you’ll know I love red velvet cake. I really, really love custom cakes. And I really, really, *really* love meta cakes. 😉

So when this lovely customer emailed asking if I could customise our original Red Velvet Meta Cake for his partner’s 40th — because she adores red velvet *and* penguins — there was absolutely no way I could say no.

The sponge is based on the same reliable recipe I shared in one of my most beloved blog posts: my Hero Sponge Cake — a fantastically versatile vanilla-based bake that becomes a brilliant red velvet cake with a few tweaks. It’s easy, consistent, and packed with flavour.

Red velvet “purists” love to insist that the cake *must* contain vinegar and buttermilk or it simply doesn’t count. Some claim the acidity is essential for the red colour. While acid does help activate baking soda, it’s not responsible for the hue at all.

Historically, bakers used beet juice to achieve that deep ruby shade — which actually lowered the batter’s acidity. Vinegar was added only to react with baking soda. And in those days, cocoa wasn’t Dutch processed, so it would turn slightly reddish when mixed with acid.

Modern cocoa is almost always Dutch processed, meaning it’s washed with an alkaline solution to neutralise acidity. It won’t redden naturally, but it tastes smoother and far more chocolatey — the flavour we now expect.

Luckily, we have modern food colouring and baking powder (baking soda already paired with an acid), which makes red velvet infinitely easier to get right without faff.

Anyway — enough cake geekery! The brief was simple: red velvet plus penguins. And here she is: a gloriously velvety, meta-styled red velvet cake topped with a hand-modelled fondant penguin. Job done, joy delivered.

Love, Reshmi xoxo

If you're craving something equally charming, explore our full range of red velvet cakes — freshly baked and delivered with love.