Panera Bread

Red Velvet Crinkle Cookie

Panera Bread in Various US locations

www.panerabread.com/

• Cake: This just tastes like a plain chocolate cookie and is missing any vanilla flavoring.
• Frosting: Dusted in powdered sugar and contains cream cheese chips. Remarkably, the chips DO taste a tiny bit like cream cheese amongst the powerful candy-corn-like sugar punch they pack.
  
• Coloring: Deep, dark red.
  
• Consistency: Nice and soft.
• Additional Comments: This cookie is tasty but it's basically just plain chocolate.

~We give this cookie a 1.5 out of 5 stars~

Godiva Chocolatier

Red Velvet Truffle

Godiva Chocolatier in Various US Locations

www.godiva.com/

• Cake: The truffle tastes just like good chocolate truffle. In this case, there was no hint of vanilla.
• Frosting: The truffle is dipped in white chocolate which neither seems to add nor take away from the overall flavor. It was drizzled in milk(?) chocolate.
  
• Coloring: Deep red
• Consistency: The shell was just hard enough to hold the truffle in tact, and the truffle itself was creamy but with just the right amount of stiffness.
• Additional Comments: Basically just a plain chocolate truffle that happens to be red inside, but Godiva's truffles never disappoint so you're still in for a treat.

~We give this truffle 1.5 out of 5 stars~

Cake Man Raven

Cake Man Raven in New York

https://www.facebook.com/cakemanraven

• Cake: Excellent cocoa flavor, very, very tasty.
• Frosting: We could not tell if this frosting was butter cream or cream cheese but there is a perfect ratio of frosting to cake. It's not an overwhelming flavor, whatever it is, just light and creamy.
  
• Coloring: Fire Engine Red
  
• Consistency: Very moist and delicious. The frosting was perfectly creamy.
• Additional Comments: This cake was very enjoyable. If it had more of a cream cheese taste in the frosting it would be nearly perfect. Most definitely worth the trip to Brooklyn. Get there earlier in the day to ensure you snag a piece. They sell out fast!

~We give this cake 4 out of 5 stars~

Dylan's Candy Bar

Red Velvet Cake Belgian Chocolate Bar

Dylan's Candy Bar in New York

www.dylanscandybar.com/

• Cake: There is a slight hint of cherry in this chocolate bar that was almost reminiscent of the red velvet latte from Caffe Bene. It almost has the same aftertaste as a filled gourmet cream chocolate that you'd get in a box at Valentine's Day. The chocolate flavor prevailed over the cherry, however.
• Frosting: Marshmallow bits were mixed throughout the chocolate bar that didn't really add any overpowering flavor to the chocolate either way.
  
• Coloring: Dark-ish red with some swirls of medium red.
  
• Consistency: Smooth and creamy
• Additional Comments: Strange but not bad!

A visit to Dylan's is a must for the atmosphere alone.

~We give this chocolate bar 3 out of 5 stars~

Georgetown Cupcakes

Georgetown Cupcakes in Various US Locations

http://www.georgetowncupcake.com/

• Cake: Slight cocoa taste but lacks the immediate cocoa bite.
• Frosting: Cream-cheesy goodness.
  
• Coloring: Medium red
  
• Consistency: Slightly hard and bit dried out. It didn't seem very fresh.
• Additional Comments: Overall, this was a good cupcake. Georgetown Cupcakes was made famous with the show DC Cupcakes and has built quite the following and reputation so we had high expectations. To be fair, we did visit the branch located in Discovery Times Square which may attribute to the fact that the cupcake didn't taste quite as fresh as we would hope, so if we ever find ourselves in SoHo with time to spare, we'd be willing to re-evaluate from the actual bakery.

~We give this cupcake 3 out of 5 stars~

Caffe Bene

Red Velvet Latte

Caffe Bene in New York

http://caffebene.com/

 

• Cake: This latte tastes like the cherry ice cream dip from Dairy Queen or Mister Softee. Definite sweet, slight cherry taste, and no cocoa at all. 
• Frosting: Nothing to compare to frosting.
  
• Coloring: Pink and white
  
• Consistency: Creamy and foamy.
• Additional Comments: Well, we have no idea what this is or why the called it red velvet (other than it's red), but it's actually pretty good if you're a fan of the cherry dip. It's just a sweet treat for a cold winter's day, but definitely not for a serious red velvet fiend who is looking for that perfect red velvet...latte...

~We give this latte 2.5 out of 5 stars~

Red Velvet Waffle

Caffe Bene in New York

http://caffebene.com/

 

• Cake: Hot and sweet, but definitely a plain vanilla waffle with no cocoa added.
• Frosting: Powdered sugar, which is always a nice accompaniment.
  
• Coloring: Medium to deep red
  
• Consistency: Rather weird actually. It was nice and super crispy on the outside, and deliciously soft on the inside, but then there were these giant sugar crystals. We're talking clumps of sugar around the size of a small caper. It was rather alarming to bite into these at first before we could figure out what they were. We wound up picking them out.
• Additional Comments: Definitely falls flat in the world of red velvet waffles.

~We give this waffle 2 out of 5 stars~

Dunkin' Donuts

 Dunkin' Donuts in Various US Locations

http://www.dunkindonuts.com/dunkindonuts/en.html

• Cake: Very chocolately. So chocolately that it could easily be confused for the usual glazed chocolate cake donut if you closed your eyes. Still, better to have too much cocoa than not enough.
• Frosting: Glazed with what is supposed to be a cream cheese drizzle, though you can't taste the cream cheese.
  
• Coloring: Beautiful dark red
  
• Consistency: Moist, slight crumble, springy.
• Additional Comments: Also available as donut holes.

~We give this donut 3 out of 5 stars~

Strack & Van Til Food Market

Strack & Van Til in Chicago

http://www.strackandvantil.com/

• Cake: Plain in taste, no real cocoa flavor, and not very sweet.
• Frosting: Buttercream with red sprinkles. Not too sugary which probably means it was slightly stale.
  
• Coloring: Deep red
  
• Consistency: Surprisingly good - moist and not too crumbly at all.
• Additional Comments: Pretty much what you would expect from a supermarket bakery cupcake.

~We give this cupcake 2 out of 5 stars~

Amy's Bread

Amy's Bread in New York

http://www.amysbread.com/

• Cake: Tasted like a nice mix of cocoa and vanilla, but was missing the slight cocoa bite and aftertaste that you usually expect in a good red velvet. It was there overall but didn't have that distinctive, "Ah, there's the cocoa!" moment.
• Frosting: Buttercream that was actually somewhat lemony in taste, but very creamy and delicious.
  
• Coloring: Bright medium red
  
• Consistency: Very moist (almost to the point of being slightly paste-like) and springy to the touch.
• Additional Comments: This was actually very good cake, just not what you'd hope for if looking for a traditional red velvet.

Amy's has some amazing breads, cakes, pastries and soups. This bakery is definitely worth a visit. Renee recommends the dark chocolate cherry bread loaf and the vanilla cake with pink frosting.

~We give this cake a 3.5 out of 5 stars~

Schmackary's

Red Velvet Cookie

Schmackary's in New York

http://schmackarys.com/

• Cake: Doesn't really have a noticeable cocoa flavor to it, or any real distinctive taste at all. It was actually rather bland and very sweet.
• Frosting: The cookie is listed as having walnut cream cheese frosting which sounded interesting but sadly there wasn't any discernible walnut flavor that we could taste. It had only a slight hint of cream cheese to it.
  
• Coloring: Deep, dark red. Instantly dyes your mouth red.
  
• Consistency: Hard! Much, much harder than a cookie needs to be. Despite being hard, it wasn't very crumbly. The white chocolate chips in it were softer than the cookie.
• Additional Comments: The cookie had the potential to be something amazing but turned out to just be a bland, overly-sweet mess.

This bakery is quite hyped up at the moment as it is still fairly new, and we have had many other tasty treats from it. The prices are a little steep but that seems to be the trend in Hell's Kitchen these days. It's certainly worth a visit to check out some of the other unique flavors like maple bacon and carmel apple crisp.
 
~We give this cookie a 1 out of 5 stars~

 Red Velvet Milkshake

Schmackary's in New York

http://schmackarys.com/

• Cake: This shake is described to be a red vanilla anglaise shake with red velvet creme and red velvet cookie chunks, but basically, the entire thing tastes like vanilla, even the cookie chunks. It was also a little too sweet.
• Frosting: We suppose the vanilla anglaise ice cream would be the frosting? The shake did certainly taste vanilla so perhaps we could say it has a very strong "frosting" flavor.
  
• Coloring: Pink
  
• Consistency: A mix between smooth and creamy and hard and chunky. Some of the cookie chunks were still quite large so there was a bit to chew when it came to devouring this shake.
• Additional Comments: Rather disappointing for what seemed to have fairly awesome ingredients involved. Somehow the vanilla just overpowered everything.

~We give this milkshake a 1 out of 5 stars~

Little Cupcake Lover

 

Little Cupcake Lover cupcake cart in New York

https://www.facebook.com/littlecupcakelover

• Cake: Super sweet and not a hint of cocoa to be found.
• Frosting: Vanilla buttercream with red sprinkles. Blech. Too sweet.
  
• Coloring: Dark red.
  
• Consistency: Not too crumbly and dry nor very moist. It was somewhere in the middle. Tasted as if it had been sitting out for a few hours but perhaps not all day.
• Additional Comments: This cupcake didn't taste of cocoa at all. It was likely just a vanilla dyed red.

~We give this cupcake a 1 out of 5 stars~

Yoplait Light Yogurt

Yoplait Light in Various US Locations

http://www.yoplait.com/products/yoplait-light

• Cake: This didn't taste like cocoa or cake batter or anything else than plain old yogurt. Mostly it tasted of artificial sweetener.
• Frosting: What frosting?
  
• Coloring: Medium red
  
• Consistency: Smooth and creamy
• Additional Comments: There was nothing at all that was red velvet flavored about this yogurt. It would get 0 stars but it can have .5 for simply being red yogurt, as it claimed. Very disappointing.

~We give this yogurt a 0.5 out of 5 stars~

Froyo Self Serve Frozen Yogurt

 

Froyo Self Serve Frozen Yogurt in Chicago

http://www.froyo-yogurt.com/froyo/

• Cake: This yogurt was GOOD. It truly had a red velvet cake taste packed into its creamy, icy delicious swirls. In addition to the necessary cocoa flavoring, of which it had enough without being overwhelming, you could actually also taste a cake batter flavor.
• Frosting: No frosting. You could add any toppings you would like. We went for the chips and chocolate covered pretzel since there was no cream cheese option.
  
• Coloring: Medium red.
  
• Consistency: Creamy, smooth and icy.
• Additional Comments: This yogurt flavor was a standout on its own and, in comparison to many other self-serve frozen yogurt establishments, the yogurt selections as well as the toppings were both to be admired. We had noticed that there was also a New York cream cheese yogurt and may consider mixing it with the red velvet next time to see if we can create the flavor of the cake and the frosting. If someone else beats us to it, please let us know what you think!

~We give this yogurt 4 out of 5 stars~

IHOP

 

IHOP in Various US Locations

http://www.ihop.com/

• Cake: The cake was pretty sugary but it seemed as if there may have been a slight cocoa taste to it. It may also have just been a plain buttermilk pancake dyed red. It was hard to tell with the sugar content.
  
• Frosting: Sugary vanilla drizzle which was gooey and delicious.
  
• Coloring: Medium red (for a pancake).
  
• Consistency: Slightly dry but stayed together while cut with a fork.
• Additional Comments: Not bad for a pancake, but certainly wasn't the best red velvet pancake we've ever hard.

~We give this pancake a 2.5 out of 5 stars~