Red Velvet Cake
After yesterday’s post, I thought it was only appropriate to follow up with the real thing. No purse this time. This is all cake.
Velvety and yes … red.
And delicious. And moist. And one of my favorites.
It’s covered in cream cheese frosting that’s to die for. Help me.
There’s something about a red velvet cake that always makes me feel good inside. And it’s not just the taste. It’s the memories it brings of family and holidays and home. But it doesn’t have to be saved for special occasions. I think it should be loved all year long.
Red Velvet Cake
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 Tablespoon cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups oil
1 cup buttermilk
1 Tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 oz. red food coloring
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease and flour two 8 inch cake pans.
- Lightly stir eggs in a medium bowl with a wire whisk. Add remaining liquid ingredients and stir together with whisk until blended. Set aside.
- Place all the dry ingredients in your mixing bowl and stir together really good with another wire whisk.
- Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix on medium-high for about a minute or until completely combined.
- Pour into cake pans and then drop the pans on the counter a few times to release any air bubbles.
- Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- After about ten minutes, remove from pans and cool completely on a wire rack. I also cover in plastic wrap while the cakes cool.
- Then make the frosting.
Note: This cake has a pretty good amount of oil and is really moist. I haven’t tried this one with cake balls yet. But, if I did, I would either use less oil or less frosting to mix together. Next time I make it, I’ll do a little experimenting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 cups confectioners’ sugar
- Sift sugar and set aside.
- Beat cream cheese and butter on high until creamy. Add vanilla.
- Then, add the sugar in batches. Scrape down the sides in between each addition.
- And frost away.
Please enjoy your heart out.
That frosting looks delicious. I’m looking for a great red velvet cake recipe – I’m going to give yours a try!
This has been my go-to red velvet recipe for the past year and although it’s good even in cupcake form, I find the frosting a bit too sweet for my taste. Will doubling the amount of cream cheese or substituting about half of the butter for cream cheese affect the texture of the frosting? I just want a little more tang from the cream cheese and still firm enough to pipe into the red velvet cupcakes :) Thank you very much!!
I make this cake all the time. Love it!
This cake was absolutely amazing!! So moist! I didn’t have enough patience to wait for it to completely cool, but it turned out great nonetheless. I even reviewed it and added it to my blog (and cited you) http://tstidbits.blogspot.ca/
I will make this recipe, but I will use 300 grams of cream cheese and 100 grams of butter. I hope it stays good.
Please – how does this cake rise using just plain flour and not self raising
is it possible to transport a red velvet cake 1 1/2 hours? should a freeze it?
is it possible to transport a red velvet cake 1 1/2 hours? should I freeze it?
I love cream cheese frosting. But I never succeed in making it firm…. :( Is there any secret I should know?
Will use recipes for desert for our plays coming up in 2 weeks I just have to adjust to feed 100 people at a time.
Anyone tried Cupcakes??? If so how many does it make?
I want to make Cupcakes out of this recipe for my daughters Birthday.
Thanks
I made this today for my mom’s birthday and she loved it! Even my brother who doesn’t especially like cakes loved it! Also, my brother’s girlfriend wants me to make their wedding cake now and ate a nice big piece even though she is watching what she eats really carefully! Just wanted to pass on the great compliments that are very rightfully yours :) This is a magical cake!
in response to 706 try adding 1 tablespoon of milk…. I made red velvet cupcakes and added milk… just the right amount of firm!
Cake is currently in my oven baking. I know they say it’s bad to eat the batter but oh well. Taste great. I’m patiently waiting.
this cake looks so good, i’m going to try and do a sugar free cake since i have diabetes
Do you have to make any adjustments to the recipe to make cup cakes? I’m not a baker so that’s why I’m asking. And is the icing good for piping?
This is one of the BEST Red Velvet cakes! Very moist! I make three layers.
I just wanted to tell you I made your RV cake yesterday for Christmas and it was the most delicious cake I have ever had!!! I am not kidding, I have made many other RV cakes and they don’t add up to yours!! This is the most amazing cake ever!!! I love you!!
This is delicious! Your frosting job is so beautiful as well, I am jealous. Any tips for not getting red crumbs in the white frosting? That was my only problem. Thanks!
I made this tonight and it is amazing. This was my first homemade cake, I usually used box. My husband and kids loved it. I will now be making my cakes and icing from scratch. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Just made this recipe as cupcakes for a baby shower. Made no changes to the recipe other than a little less red food coloring only because I was running low and needed the rest for cookie decorating. DELICIOUS!!! Moist and not too sweet but cream cheese frosting will MORE than make up for that! This might just be my go-to RV recipe. It makes about 33 cupcakes and some of the liners were filled too full so I might squeeze out a full 3 dozen next time.
Thank you so much for such a wonderful recipe. This is the only recipe that I have tried & I won’t be trying anything else again. The cake is so moist & the flavour is perfect. Honestly, this is way better than the store bought one. My friends & family love this cake a lot. Makes for great cupcakes too!
I followed the recipe except for the buttercream since you cant find it in my country. I substituted it with milk and vinegar. Then, the batter was really thick and sticky so i added more milk. Is it supposed to be like that though? The cake turned out gooey and not fluffy. I dunno what i did wrong.
I would like to use this recipe for the cake balls. Since you recommend using less oil, would you say 1 cup is sufficient?
Oh My Soul…….I must try this. Beautiful cake!
Thank you for this recipe my family absolutely loves it. Everytime I bake it, it gets finished in no time. I wanted to bake it for a vegetarian friend and wanted to know what could I substitute the egg with for an eggless version of this cake.
Hi. Very important question, please help.I would really like to know as I have a party coming up what’s the difference between cream cheese frosting on red velvet and mascarpone frosting on a red velvet cake? Would it alter the taste of the red velvet cake if I used mascarpone instead of cream cheese in the frosting?
Thank you for the recipe. But I have a question as I am uncertain and have a party coming up.
Thank you Baker ell a for sharing your recipe! It is amazing and everyone at my work loves it. It was my first velvet cake have ever made and had it. I never had velvet cake before but this is spot on for my first time trial.
I was very unhappy with this cake ????
The cake was no where near dense as the picture and tasted very generic. I feel like a box mix would taste better.
Up baking this cake for a second time this cake is delicious….
I just made this cake for my husband’s birthday tomorrow. It tastes amazing. I will be using this recipe from now on! Thank you so much for sharing it!
Hi. I really want to try this recipe but I live 12,400 ft above see level so baking yummy stuff here is not as easy. What would u recommend I add or change. I would say 2 tbs of flour.. But what are ur suggestion.
I have tried this red velvet and it is awesome… Thanks
I tried this recipe today and it turned out perfectly! This will be my ‘go to’ Red Velvet recipe from this day forward~~ Thank you so much~!!!!
Made this..I think you may be confused. This is a cornbread recipe! Tasted just like cornbread which was definitely not what I was expecting. There are definitely better recipes out there but the picture sure does look pretty
It was so easy to make and taste awesome! I think you could cut the icing in half it made tons you could ice two cakes!
Would love to try this cake but I’m not sure what weight the cups are, can you help.
My daughter, son and I baked this cake over the weekend for my daughter’s birthday and it was a total hit! I had a house full and people came back for seconds! Icing was super easy and super delicious!
I made cupcakes with this recipe at the weekend, and sadly they weren’t a massive success. The cake had a pinkish hue not really red (I used a teaspoon of red gel colouring) and wasn’t especially “red velvetty”. The sponge was still nice, just not exactly red velvet as you’d expect. Think I’m going to try a recipe with more cocoa next time. Topping was deeelissshhh though!
Hi there! I was wondering if there would be any alteration to the liquid content of the recipe if I used red food powder instead of liquid? I usually use it in my cupcakes and the colour comes out so good without using so many bottles of liquid colour. Thanks!
I’ve tried a couple of times to make red velvet cakes and they’ve never turned out as red as this beautiful one! What food colouring and cocoa powder do you use? I’m from England so I’m struggling to find suggestions online relevant! What do you recommend Bakerella? Xx
I tried this recipe and it was the best ever!! Really moist, it was perfect!
Congratulations! It’s beautiful always.
NEVER CREAM CHEESE ICING! Use the recipe Shannon Bush posted in comments.
I tryed the recipe exactly like it said and it was about 25 minutes into baking and it was supper watery.I have no idea what went wrong.
Ok i can’t get RV cake mix in my area have you had a chance to play with this recipe for cake balls yet? Thanks
Ps this is my favourite RV recipe
They will love it! It’s so yummy ; ).
can’t wait to try it looks soooo yummy.
Made this cake for my husband for his 36th birthday and he loved it ! Always wanted to make him a red velvet cake from scratch because it’s his favorite! So glad I came across your recipe, it was easy to follow and delicious! My whole family can’t wait for me to make another one! Thank you!!!
I made this cake and it was a disaster to much oil. By any chance can the oil be edited to less and still be moist. Thanks
not that much taste
I have made this recipe numerous times and it is incredible! The 1oz bottle of food colouring here in Canada seem to be a little on the purple side. I just bought Wilton gel food colouring in red and was wondering if that would work well?
That looks so good!! I must bake this!
I have this recipe and love it every time I make it my family have a fit. Very moist but mine call for two tablespoons of cocoa.
Not the old fastioned red velvet cake I like – will not make this again
Made this about three times and it has been a hit every single time. I am now the go to red velvet person and I love it. Thanks for this easy, delicious, moist cake receipe.
Fantastic!!!
This cake took about 45 min to cook but is a good recipe!
I have made this recipe and it is the BEST red velvet recipe I have tried. Thanks, Bakerella! :)
YAY! I’m happy you enjoyed it.
hi bakerella this red velvet was a blockbuster when i tried it but i have one question the vinegar in the ingredients is it part of the buttermilk or is it individual ingredient that i will add on the on the batter? thank u so much
I’ve baked this cake several times and absolutely LOVE IT!!! I do have a question though. Can I do this as a bundt cake?
Love redvelvet cake i make for my birthday on friday
Best recipe!! Love the cream cheese frosting
I made this tonight for my boyfriends birthday. It tastes fantastic! Thank you for sharing!
I am looking for a red velvet to serve 100 people in a stacked wedding cake. Do you think this would be a solid wedding cake to use? Love your site!!
Also, would this icing be good for piping rosettes and borders?
I’ve made cake balls with this recipe! I did not alternate the oil but I did not use all the frosting! My advice with cake balls is never to use a certain amount of frosting! Just eyeball it and you’ll have better results that way! Plus I add rum to the frosting! Favorite for my friends get together!
Loved the recipe! Family loved it too!!
Hi,
Thanks for the recipe!
Do you use 2 pans? Or it is possible to make in one pan?
Thanks
I am using 8 inch pans but the cake rises to fast causing it to over flow. I followed the recipe exactly. Could it my pans are not deep enough?
Is sugar a wet or dry ingredient in this recipe?
Can this recipe be used for cupcakes???
Yaaaameeeee
It worked really well??
Hi! This looks so good!! I want to bake it for my daughters bday! So here’s my question.. will this work with 8×3 pans and will it work for stacking? I want to make 4 layers. Thanks!!
This cake I easy t make and absolutely delicious!
I have made rv cake using this recipe many times now and i could say this is my go-to recipe now. I have used different frostingsvfor this; ermine, ganache, cream cheese…and it works everytime. I even layer it with my fav choc cake too. But instead of baking i steamed it and it turned out even more moisturised. Try steaming it next time!
A flavor which is liked and hated equally.. Generally it is not a kids cake… Kids prefer to have regular chocolate cake over red velvet…
I have made this cake several time and it is an awesome hit.. my problem is my Icing looks nothing like the picture. It’s very thin and when I put it between my layers my top layer slides off pretty much and the Icing runs Down the side of the cake. I’m following the recipe to a “T” and every time it comes out the same way. I’m fearful to add more powdered sugar because I don’t want it too sweet as it’s already very sweet. Any suggestion what I can do?
thanks for sharing such a wonderful information, we have some designs cake
for more details pls visit
Hi! Any suggestions for swapping out the 1.5 cups oil? my cake was a little “crispy” and oily to the touch even when cooled off, I was going to try it with melted butter instead or maybe a little shortening (cringe, I know) I’m also in Denver so I sometimes have to tweak recipes anyways. Thank you!
-Kate
I just took the cake out of the oven but the center has collapsed! What did I do wrong?
I concur with the first message …. no good for my waist line. This looks delicious! I’ll try this recipe out.
Hi!! I love this recipe, but I can’t seem to get my cakes to rise in the middle!!! Help!!! I’ve never had this problem with a cake before. All my layers are sinking in the middle, even when the toothpick comes out clean. I do wrap the sides of my pan with a damp towel. Do I need even more flour?
Thank you soooo much for the recipe. I love red velvet cakes and I made this one twice now because its soooo delicious. But I have a question. Why the sides of my cake burn before the middle bake properly. I don’t know wha I did wrong I used 8 inch pans greased and lined with baking paper. I baked it at 176 c. And it was in the centre of the oven. Please if you can help because I don’t want to cut the sides of this delicious cake and waste any bit of it. Thank you
Zahraa
Hi Bakerella, I love your blog posts!
Very nice pics !
I love this recipe I made it for my daughter’s birthday. But I made a different frosting .1 cup of milk 3 tablespoons of flour cooked on the stove stirring constantly until thickened let cool until room temperature add 2 sticks of butter 1 cup of sugar. Cream butter and sugar add 1 tsp of vanilla add thick mixture beat until light and fluffy add chopped pecans if desired. You decide how much
Besides the taste that must be magnificent, the colors perfectly complement each other
So very cute!!! Love them!!!
Please let me know the name of the food colouring you used
I had a problem with the cake not rising well in the center, I even took excess batter out if the pans. The cake is very delicious, I just want more rise, any suggestions.