Award Winning Red Velvet Fudge
The fifth, and final, fudge recipe included on my holiday goodie trays is my award winning Red Velvet Fudge. This fudge is very much a crowd pleaser, it is one of the first to disappear on goodie trays I’ve brought to work or shared with friends and it has won both ‘Best of Class’ and ‘Best of Show’ awards at the county fair. The swirls of pale cream cheese fudge contrasting with the deep red, red velvet fudge are visually stunning and stand out beautifully on the trays – I always make sure there are at least a few pieces of Red Velvet Fudge at the tops of the trays to draw people’s eyes.
Most of the time, red velvet isn’t one of my favorite flavor profiles. It tends to taste “red” – there isn’t enough cocoa powder in it to really make it chocolate and the abundance of food coloring has a definite impact on the flavor. However, the red velvet portion of this fudge has an abundance of semi-sweet chocolate in it and, while I think there is still a bit of flavor impact from the coloring, I actually taste chocolate here. The addition of actual cream cheese in both of the colors swirled through this fudge enhances both the flavor and texture. This is one of the creamiest, smoothest, most velvety fudges I’ve ever made, or tasted.
If you’ve been following along with the past few weeks of fudge themed posts, all of the tips and recommendations I shared previously hold true here. If you have not, I encourage you to take the time to do so! About the only additional notes I would make specifically for this recipe are to make sure that you read the recipe through and that mise en place is key here. You want to make sure that you have your chocolates, flavorings, cream cheese and cream of tartar ready to go before your sugar/marshmallow mixture reaches temperature. Allowing the mixture to sit in the pan a little too long may result in carry over cooking bringing the mixture to a higher temperature than intended which can have a significant impact on the final texture of your fudge.
I think this is easily my kids’ favorite fudge that I make and I know there are a few co-workers that rank this as their favorite goodie on my trays, period. Over the years, there have been recipes that have come and gone, making only fleeting appearances on the goodie trays for a variety of reasons. This recipe made its debut in the 2015 holiday season and has remained in rotation every year since and will likely remain until such time as I’m no longer able to make it – and may that be a very long time coming.
Red Velvet Fudge
Equipment
- 1 13"x9" pan
- 2 heat safe bowls (1 quart each)
- 1 saucepan (large, heavy)
- 1 candy thermometer
- 1 Electric mixer (hand held)
- 2 cookie scoops (or large spoons)
- 1 kitchen scale (or measuring cups)
- measuring spoons
Ingredients
- 13 ½ ounce semisweet chocolate chips
- 13 ½ ounce white chocolate chips
- ¼ cup red velvet emulsion (or red food coloring)
- 3 ounce cream cheese softened (divided use)
- 2 ½ teaspoon vanilla (divided use)
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar (divided use)
- 1 teaspoon cream cheese emulsion (or cream cheese extract, or more vanilla extract)
- 4 ½ cup sugar
- 2 ¼ sticks butter unsalted
- 10 ounce mini marshmallows
- 1 cup half & half
- ¾ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Line a 13”x9” pan with non-stick foil; set aside.
- Place semisweet chocolate chips, red velvet emulsion, 1 oz cream cheese, 1 ½ tsp vanilla and ½ tsp cream of tartar in a heat safe bowl and set aside.13 ½ ounce semisweet chocolate chips, ¼ cup red velvet emulsion, 3 ounce cream cheese, 2 ½ teaspoon vanilla, 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- Place white chocolate chips, 2 oz cream cheese, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp cream cheese emulsion and ½ tsp cream of tartar in another heat safe bowl and set aside.3 ounce cream cheese, 2 ½ teaspoon vanilla, 13 ½ ounce white chocolate chips, 1 teaspoon cream cheese emulsion
- In a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat combine sugar, butter, marshmallows, half & half and salt. Stirring frequently, cook the mixture to 238° – 243° F.4 ½ cup sugar, 2 ¼ sticks butter, 10 ounce mini marshmallows, 1 cup half & half, ¾ teaspoon salt
- Immediately scrape half of the mixture into the bowl with the semisweet chocolate chips and half of the mixture into the bowl with the white chocolate chips.
- Using an electric mixer, mix until smooth, starting with the bowl containing the white chocolate and then moving to the bowl containing the semisweet chocolate.
- Using two spoons/scoops, place alternating scoops of red and white fudge in the prepared pan until all of the fudge has been added to the pan.
- Drop pan from a few inches above counter a couple times to remove any air pockets and level the fudge.
- With a knife, swirl through the fudge to give a marbleized appearance.
- Allow to cool completely before cutting into squares and storing in an airtight container.
Notes
Nutrition
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