12 year old Emily loves reading, drawing, her dog and chickens, making ribbon barrettes to support the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and cooking. But more specifically baking. Ever since she learned how to crack an egg with one hand, she’s stretched her culinary skills. Baking is one of her favorite things to do. She’s a masterful maker of scones, lattice crust fruit pies, and all things chocolate so when Red Velvet NYC offered to send us a couple of their dessert kits, we said yes, please!
After a few clicks on their website, we knew exactly what we wanted. The Lemon Tart with Shortbread Crust caught my eye while Emily selected the Flourless Chocolate Cake. My recipe was advanced, hers was easy. I knew she could probably handle something more difficult but we wanted to give an easy and advanced one a try for comparison purposes.
Our Red Velvet NYC boxes arrived during one of the hottest weeks in Washington, D.C. so far this summer. Each dessert kit came packaged in its own box with pre- measured ingredients for each recipe packed in their own bags, plastic containers, or test tubes.
Perishable ingredients such as the cocoa powder, chocolate chips, butter, and strawberries for Emily’s recipe (and butter and lemons for mine) came tucked inside a silver bubble envelope accompanied by 3 ice packs. The ice packs and ingredients were perfectly cold when we opened the box despite the searing temperatures. Take a look at what it was like to unbox the ingredients for the Lemon Tart with Shortbread Crust!
Once we opened the box, it was time to get to work! Each box is accompanied by a gorgeous recipe card with beautiful pictures and directions. On the front is a mouth-watering photo of the finished item with an ingredient list. While most of the ingredients are provided, there may be one or two items you need to provide from your pantry or fridge. In our case, we supplied the eggs for both of our recipes along with the baking vessel. On the back, you’ll find the step by step instructions for making your dessert.
Emily shares what she discovered in the Red Velvet NYC box for her Flourless Chocolate Cake and walks you through what it was like making this dessert from Red Velvet!
While it’s certainly convenient to order a dessert kit to have the ingredients arrive at your doorstep, I know you’re also wondering how our Lemon Tart and Flourless Chocolate Cake tasted! Both recipes were delectable! The Lemon Tart had a nice tang to it thanks to the juice of five lemons and the bits of chopped lemon that were part of the filling.
In the instructions, Red Velvet NYC gives you the option to chop or zest the lemon peel for the filling. If you choose to chop, make the bits as fine as you can chop them. They’ll bake in the filling and provide a bit of texture. If you prefer smaller pieces, use a zester! FYI- I think zesting lemons is a far less time consuming task than chopping them into bits. Thankfully I had a sous chef who assisted me with juicing the lemons while I chopped the rind!
The Flourless Chocolate Cake was exactly what you wanted it to be- dense, rich, and chocolatey. Emily sliced a strawberry to add to the top as a garnish and then served each piece with sliced strawberries. 6 strawberries came in our box and as a recipe that’s designed to serve 8 people, we could have halved each of the remaining strawberries to top the servings and had plenty left over.
Even though Emily and I are experienced bakers, it was fun to try Red Velvet NYC’s dessert kits. The recipes outline the steps needed to create a delicious dessert, even for the most inexperienced bakers and we appreciated having almost all the ingredients in the box, pre-measured, and ready to use.
For more information, visit Red Velvet NYC’s website to shop their 25 dessert options, some of which are gluten free like the Flourless Chocolate Cake that Emily made! Desserts range in price from $20-36 each and shipping is a flat $5. Also be sure to check out their Instagram feed for more deliciousness!
Red Velvet NYC provided us with 2 dessert kits to try. All opinions are our own and based on personal experience. No compensation was received for this post.
This is so cool!!! I am totally going to look into this!
How fun and delicious!!! My girls would LOVE this!!!
This is genius! Actually, my little girl would love to do something like this. She’s into making desserts with me in the kitchen, and it would be cool to get the ingredients sent to us, and try a new recipe.
I LOVE this! Perfect for boys and I.