Popularity of red velvet cake rises throughout the country

Red velvet cake, a tradition in the southern United States for more than a century, recently has become so insanely popular in bakeries and on dessert menus that it now has international renown. Cupcakes & Co. opened last year in Paris and sells a red velvet cupcake.

Here in America, the cake, or cupcake version, once limited to the domain of the home baker and the occasional soul food restaurant, is everywhere, from Los Angeles to Boston, north and south.

Red velvet even of