I don't know how I feel about the fact that the New York Times has a feature piece up on red velvet cake.

Especially with a lede like this:

IT’S a cake that can stop traffic. The layers are an improbable red that can vary from a fluorescent pink to a dark ruddy mahogany. The color, often enhanced by buckets of food coloring, becomes even more eye-catching set against clouds of snowy icing, like a slash of glossy lipstick framed by platinum blond curls. Even the name has a vampy allure: red velvet.

Sheesh. Why is most food writing so bad?

That said, I kinda do want to try their recipe.