What's red and velvety soft?

One doesn't have to be a food fanatic to guess, right?

Extremely moist, this is a great recipe from Paula Deen - a personal choice compared to the one I've used before by Martha Stewart.

Tight crumbs and may I add again, delightfully moist! This recipe is a winner! Check it out here.

And making this cake this time around, I found out that this recipe is closest to the authentic Red Velvet cake recipe so famous in the southern states of the US.

So what apparently makes a red velvet cake authentic? Here are some essentials:

1. The cake must have some cocoa, but not too much because it is not a chocolate cake.

2. The cake must have red food coloring; beet juice does not add the right kind of red.

3. The cake must have cream cheese frosting.

4. There should be pecans. (This was news to me.)

5. You must use high-quality ingredients, including White Lily flour, a Southern specialty flour.

6. Precise measurements and meticulous attention to detail are key for this cake; therefore, it must be made in small, easy-to handle, family-sized batches. (Mass-produced batter just doesn't cut it. Sorry, large-scale bakeries.)

7. You must use a hand-held electric mixer, not a stand mixer: Larger machines can over-mix the batter, which sometimes prevents the cake from rising properly.

8. Red velvet cake batter needs vegetable oil, not butter or shortening. Oil yields a very moist cake.

Ok, so I got 6 out of 8 right! No White Lily flour over here and hmmmm...I did not have any pecans at home! So, can I get an 8 out of 10 for this?