Up until Android 9, Google's mobile operating system was also known by a dessert nickname. Android 9 was Pie, Android 8 was Oreo, and so on. Google changed things up with Android 10 and just used the number and Android 11 will do the same, but the upcoming version does still have an internal dessert nickname.

Dave Burke, Google's VP of Engineering for Android, has revealed on the All About Android podcast (via Android Authority) that Android 11 was known internally as "Red Velvet Cake". Android versions have been following the alphabet and Android 11 is the "R" version, and so that helps to explain why Google engineers chose this dessert.

Here's how Burke explained Android 11's Red Velvet Cake nickname:

"We are turning it up to 11, as you know, so it's Android 11. However, if you were to ask an engineer on my team, 'What are they working on?', they would say, 'RVC.' So 'RVC' is Red Velvet Cake."

Burke went on to say that we won't see any references to Red Velvet Cake or RVC in open source code like AOSP. Instead, it'll just be referred to as "R" there.

Google's Android team did something similar with the release of Android 10. In the lead up to its release it was referred to as "Android Q" and since its launch it's been officially known as "Android 10", but it also had an internal dessert nickname, "Quince Tart".

Android's dessert nicknames were fun, giving the versions more interesting names and giving Google the chance to put up fun statues on its campus. However, the two different names could make things a bit confusing for some consumers, which explains why Google would simplify things by going with just the numbered versions officially. It's good to know that Google is at least keeping up with the tradition of dessert names internally, though.