What Takes the Cake?

For the past couple of years, I have tried out cake recipes that I haven't made before for my sister's birthday. Last year I made these yummy cupcakes:

This year I wanted to make a Red Velvet cake! I have searched for YEARS for a decent recipe of this. I have tried out several versions, including one you can now buy during the holidays from the store, but none of them tasted quite the same.

The first time I had Red Velvet cake was in kindergarten. Jimmy Englar's mom brought these red cupcakes that I just loved. I ran home to mom and asked her if she could make them for me sometime. She had no idea what I was talking about. Red cupcakes that sort of tasted like chocolate cakes, but not really. She thought they were just chocolate cupcakes with red dye, but they are not.

Years later, my dad brought home a Red Velvet Cake he won at an auction. It was the same taste as I remembered! So I asked him to get the name of the cake. I searched in the stores and recipes everywhere to duplicate it, but nothing tasted the same.

Finally, this year, Dad won another Red Velvet Cake that came with the recipe! After tasting it, I decided that this was closest to the right one. I made it for my sister's birthday. By the next day, two of them ate over half of the cake I made! It was definitely a hit!