SANTA CRUZ — NotPie Cakery reinvents the red velvet cake. Hitting mailboxes through the month of February, the latest addition to NotPie’s cake portfolio features a fresh raspberry chocolate cake, topped with a raspberry marshmallow finished with a dip in semi-sweet chocolate.
Commonly served for Christmas or Valentine’s Day, the deep-red color traditionally came from the anthocyanin in non-Dutched cocoa reacting with vinegar and buttermilk (thanks chemistry!). Modern Red Velvet cake forgoes the chemical reaction for heaps of artificial food coloring instead. The only remaining similarity to the original at your local bakery is a heap of cream cheese frosting.
Famous for unique flavors and meticulously sourced ingredients, NotPie is ditching the traditional idea of the red velvet cake for something a bit more bold — a swirl of organic raspberry filling brings a bright counterpoint to the cakery's signature single-origin Peruvian chocolate cake. Topped with a house-made, fresh raspberry marshmallow and finished with a dip in semi-sweet chocolate, the finished product is rich, sweet and devilishly red.