I'd never even heard of red velvet cake until I started dating the man who later became my husband, and he started lending me every book he'd ever enjoyed. One of his passions was the work of Jan Harold Brunvand, a wonderful writer who specializes in urban legends. In Brunvand's The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings, I found the legend of (and a recipe for) red velvet cake.

The recipe was the same one that anyone peeking around the Internet is likely to find if they ask a search engine about the cake. The legend, in brief (and in my own words), is this:

A woman having dinner at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City ordered a piece of their red velvet cake and loved it so much, she asked for the recipe. She received it -- along with a bill for several hundred dollars. Startled and unhappy, she consulted with a lawyer. He said that he couldn't help her, and she had no choice but to pay. As a spiteful gesture, she decided to give the recipe out for free to everyone she could.

These are the bare bones of the legend. How much the woman paid and her method of distributing the recipe can vary from telling to telling, but the gist of the story is the same -- and familiar to anyone who's heard a very similar story told about the "Neiman-Marcus Cookie."

I still enjoy Brunvand's books, and have made the recipe he offers many times. It's a perfectly tasty cake. It has a very nice texture, and of course a lovely deep red color. What it doesn't have is nearly enough chocolate.

The original recipe contains a mere two tablespoons of cocoa. Some of the variations I've seen have even less. Some leave the cocoa out entirely.

Naturally, I don't want to go down that road. I want more chocolate. And so I came up with a variation of my own favorite chocolate cake recipe to fit the bill.

In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 cups cake flour, 1½ cups granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, and half a cup of unsweetened cocoa powder.

In another bowl (or, preferably, a large glass measuring cup), whisk together half a cup of vegetable oil, 2 eggs, one cup buttermilk, and 2 teaspoons real vanilla extract. Add these to the combined dry ingredients and mix just until combined.

Now for the fun part. Gently stir in one ounce -- a whole little bottle -- of red food coloring. Last of all, in a small glass measuring cup or custard cup, combine 1 tablespoon vinegar and 1 teaspoon baking soda. Pour it into the cake batter, preferably while it's still foaming a bit, and stir gently until everything is thoroughly incorporated.

Pour the batter into two round cake pans or one sheet cake pan. Bake round cakes for about twenty minutes; start checking the sheet cake after about half an hour. Remove from the oven when tester comes out clean.

Use your favorite frosting. Some people prefer a boiled white icing, to give the red cake greater contrast. I made a simple buttercream frosting with a few drops of red, and now have a pink and red chocolate cake.