A moist, classic Red Velvet Cake!! Made from scratch, and surprisingly easy when a few simple steps are followed – watch how to make it in the recipe video. This has a soft “velvet” texture, just like what you get from top end fine bakeries, and is topped with soft, cream cheese frosting. UK readers: Please read note 7.
Red Velvet Cake recipe – tried and tested favourite!
This Red Velvet Cake has been taste tested and given a big thumbs up by many people because it’s a rather large cake and I’ve made it 5 times in the last two weeks.
“FIVE TIMES??!!”, I hear you exclaim (out loud or in your head). “You’re MAD!!”
If getting this cake exactly to my taste, as close as I can get it to the cakes you get from posh bakeries, and ensuring it works using both US and metric (i.e. rest of the world!!) measures means that I’m a mad baker, I’ll take that title. 😉
Besides, I’m really enjoying baking at the moment. There is something so satisfying about making something as pretty as Red Velvet Cake.
To tell you the honest truth, the reason I made it so many times in recent weeks is because my original recipe got a “so-so” response from the two toughest taste-testers I know: my mother and brother.
“The sponge is zara-zara”, my mother declared on first bite.
What the….?? Zara-zara? What on earth does that mean??
“Zara-zara” means “rough” in Japanese. The Japanese language has a handful of words which sound like what it means. “Zara-zara” being a perfect example. Usually it cracks me up. Not that day.
I gasped, indignant, and grabbed a spoon to shovel a bite into my mouth, ready to argue. And I realised – she was right. It was not as velvety as it could be. As it should be.
NOT HAPPY.
So I improved it. 🙂
What is Red Velvet Cake?
Red Velvet Cake is not just a chocolate cake with red food colouring added. This cake is softer than most, “velvet-like”, and the chocolate taste is actually quite mild. It’s more like a cross between a vanilla and chocolate cake with a very subtle tang from buttermilk. And it is generously smothered in a fluffy cream cheese frosting.
It’s wildly popular in America and there’s a cult following in Australia. Give it a few years, it will become a firm favourite soon!
The cake tastes buttery and moist, because it has butter in it for flavour, and oil for moisture. Yes, you need both, I promise you. It is not the same if you use only one of them.
Love Red Velvet? Try these Red Velvet COOKIES!
Why should you use THIS Red Velvet Cake?
There are 3 more specific things about this recipe which might be a bit different to other Red Velvet recipes you have seen, but there’s a reason for it.
1. Cake flour – it’s a must! It’s key to achieving that soft silky sponge, just like what you get from posh bakeries. However, if you really can’t find it, please see the notes for a substitute;
2. Only 2 eggs – I’ve seen some recipes call for up to 5 eggs. I only use 2. It’s enough to hold the cake together just fine – any more than 2, and find the cake begins to start tasting “eggy”; and
3. Buttermilk – For almost every other baking recipe that I make using buttermilk, I say that you can substitute with lemon juice + milk which, when left for 5 minutes, curdles to have the same effect as using buttermilk. Not for this recipe – sorry! It is just not the same – part of the reason mine was “zara zara”. 😂
Oh, and one more rule. There is no substitute for Philadelphia Cream Cheese for the frosting. I’ve tried better value store-brand cream cheese before. It is never the same. Promise. ❤
I bake the layers in 2 separate tins, but if you don’t have two tins, you can make one big one and cut the cake in half. And to make the layers nice and neat, I cut the dome top off.
I like to crumble the off cuts and use it to decorate the cake. I think it looks pretty, don’t you? But that’s purely optional!
I promise you, there is nothing tricky about this cake. All you have to do is ensure you measure the ingredients properly, rather than just eye-balling it. 😉 As long as you do that, it’s actually easy to make, no more difficult than an ordinary sponge cake.
Putting aside fiddly fancy decorated cakes, Red Velvet Cake is surely one of the most striking and stunning cakes around. If you’ve never tried it before, you’re in for a real treat! – Nagi x
More cake recipes you should try!
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Chocolate Cake – gold nugget recipe, super easy (no creaming butter) and yet so tender and moist!
-
Easy Chocolate Fudge Cake – made with both real chocolate and cocoa, fudgy but not dense like mud cake
-
Everyday Vanilla Cake – the cake you can make without running to the store
-
Apple Cake – love the spicing in this!
-
Whole Orange Cake – made with, you guessed it, whole oranges for an explosion of orange flavour. And flourless!
-
See all Cake recipes
Red Velvet Cake
Watch how to make it
How to make Red Velvet Cake – quick tutorial video! Red Velvet Cake for UK readers – please ensure you read Notes 7 and 9.
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Red Velvet Cake
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 2 2/3 cups (400 g) plain cake flour (Note 1)
- 2 tbsp (10 g) cocoa powder , unsweetened
- 1 tsp (5 g) baking soda / bi-carb soda , NOT baking powder (Note 2)
- Pinch of salt
Wet Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (115 g) unsalted butter , softened (1 US stick)
- 1 1/2 cups (330 g) caster / superfine white sugar (Note 3a)
- 2 eggs , at room temperature (around 2 oz / 60g each)
- 1 cup (250ml) vegetable oil
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract (or essence)
- 1 cup (250 ml) buttermilk , at room temperature (Note 4)
- 2 1/2 tbsp red food colouring liquid (UK: use Gel, Note 7)
Frosting (Note 10)
- 14 oz (400 g) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, block , softened but not too soft (UK see Note 9)
- 1/2 cup (115 g) unsalted butter , softened (but not too soft)
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 cups (450 g) soft icing sugar / powdered sugar sifted (Note 3b)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F (all oven types). Butter 2 x 21cm / 8" round cake pans (sides and base) and dust with cocoa powder.
- Sift the Dry Ingredients and whisk to combine in a bowl.
- Place butter and sugar in a bowl and beat with electric beater or in stand mixer until smooth and well combined (use paddle attachment if using stand mixer).
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating in between to combine. At first it will look curdle - keep beating until it's smooth.
- Add vegetable oil, vinegar, vanilla, buttermilk and red food colouring. Beat until combined and smooth (Note 5).
- Add Dry Ingredients. Beat until just combined - some small lumps is ok, that's better than over mixing.
- Divide batter between cake pans. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes on the same shelf, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. (Note 6)
- Rest for 10 minutes in the pan then turn out onto a cooling rack and allow to cool.
Frosting
- Beat together cream cheese, butter and vanilla for 3 minutes (this makes it really smooth and changes from yellow to almost white). Add icing sugar and beat for 2 minutes or until frosting is light and fluffy to your taste. If your frosting seems too runny (depends on quality of cream cheese/ if the cream cheese was too soft), just add more icing sugar.
Frost Cake
- Cut the top off the cake using a serrated knife (to make the layers neat).
- Spread one cake with 1 1/2 cups of frosting. Top with the other cake. Spread top and sides with remaining frosting.
- Optional: Crumble offcuts and use to decorate the top rim and base of the cake.
Recipe Notes:
.Life of Dozer
This is how he starts every day: assessing the surf. 😉
Every time I make this, people tell me I should take orders. Nagi, that’s how amazing this cake is.
Unfortunately, my daughter was recently diagnosed with a dairy allergy. She used to love this cake, so I wanted to try and make it dairy free. I substituted the butter with olive nuttelex and the buttermilk with 3-4 tbsp dairy free yogurt and water to make 1 cup. The cake turned out sooo good. Still super moist and tasty.
For the cream cheese frosting, I tried dairy free cream cheese but the one I got didn’t turn out so great, so if anyone has tried anything that works, please let me know!
Thanks again Nagi, for a great recipe! xxx
Woah that’s great to know Neetha, I’m sure other readers would appreciate knowing this too – thanks so much! N x
Hi Nagi
Thank you for sharing this recipe. I would like to make it for our 40th wedding anniversary in a couple of weeks.
How far ahead can the cake be iced with piped rosettes? Would they hold on the side of a cake?
Sorry for so many questions but it will save me having to do a test run.
Warm regards from Brisbane.
Your recipes never fail. I love how detailed your explanations are. They are easy to follow and the Notes you add are very useful, especially for people like me who don’t live in Australia.
Can I substitute plain kefir for the buttermilk?
Hi Lynda, yes I imagine that will work fine here 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi!
It’l be my first time baking a cake, and I’ll be making it for just 2 persons.
I planned to use just 1 cake pan with half of what your recipe called in. Basically, I’m just baking the first pan but cut the cake into two so I could still fill frosting in between. Do you think the cake layer would be too thin or just fine?
Hi Heidi, you’re going to struggle to cut it in half I think – it’s going to be very thin! N x
Hello. Buttermilk is not readily available in my country.Does it make a big difference if I substitute with milk and lemon?
Hi Diksha, you can although as mentioned in the notes, it doesn’t work as well for this recipe. N x
Hi Nagi. I am a bit confused. The recipe calls for 2 tablespoons cocoa (10g) and 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (5g). Is this right? The conversion seems strange to me, but I am probably being an idiot. Your recipe looks lovely and I want to get it right. Thank you
Hi Pauline, yes that’s correct, different foods weigh different weights and cocoa is lighter than bi carb (just like 1 cup of water would weigh more than 1 cup of flour) – N x
Many many thanks for this recipe.. tried so many of them before with no luck.. this perfectly worked! Lots of love from Kenya.
Hey Nagi, the cake looks amazing! I would like to add liquor to this one, like Kahlua or Baileys. Do you know if the other ingredients will have to change a bit? Thanks! 🙂
Hi Nina, I haven’t tried sorry – but adding more liquid will affect the texture of the cake and it’s something I’d need to test sorry! N x
Amazing! Thank you for sharing with us Nagi <3
Hi Nagi, I can’t seem to find your cupcake version of this and also the blueberry cupcake version. Have you taken them off?
Hi Nancy, I mention cupcakes in the recipe notes here. You can find my blueberry muffin recipe here: https://www.recipetineats.com/moist-blueberry-muffins/ N x
Hi Nagi, I wanted to use your recipe for a larger sized cake using s 30cm square cake it. Would I double the ingredients?
This is 200x better than the Hummingbird versions which I thought couldn’t be beaten. Fabulous cake. Just to say that your website has become my ‘go to’ because the recipes are not only great but SO reliable. Bravo
Wahoo, thanks so much Kerry!! N x
I need to make a gluten free cake. How do you think this would taste using gluten free flour instead of the plain flour substitute?
Hi Tara, it will definitely affect the texture but I haven’t tried to be honest. I’d love to know if you give it a go! N x
I’ve made a red velvet cake before and it had a bitter taste what may be the reason
Hi Abby, without knowing what recipe you used, if it’s bitter it could be the amount of bi carb or baking powder that’s in it causing it to have a bitter taste. – N x
I’ve used this recipe with lactose free ingredients (in my case Liddles lactose free cream cheese and milk to make the butter milk, and nuttlex) and it turned out amazing! So happy I can participate in such a yummy dessert that all my non lactose intolerant peeps can also enjoy!!
That’s great to hear Dom, thanks so much for letting me know! N x
– Can I use a 10″ pan and bake as a single cake ?
– Can I use ACV to curdle the milk for buttermilk ? Also, I’m mixing powdered milk to become creamy and then adding ACV.
– Can I use red velvet powder ?
Hi Lanaa, using a 10″ pan will result in a thinner cake, see the recipe notes for using one pan – you’ll just need to keep and eye on it. I haven’t tried using powdered milk, but apple cider vinegar is fine to use. The red velvet powder – is that a colour powder? N x
Pardon the late response. Just getting the hang of how to locate my comments.
Yes, the red velvet powder is a food colouring powder. I want to use 1tsp of red velvet liquid food colour in addition.
I’ve gotten the right pan now, however no buttermilk. So, thinking of mixing powdered milk into thick liquid and adding ACV.
Is this alright ?
Hi Nagi! I’m planning to make this cake this weekend but I don’t hand bicarbonate of soda or white vinegar. Will the cake still work without it?
Also I would like to make 3 layers so shall I move the arrow up to 18 slices to get 3 layers? Thank you xx