A moist, classic Red Velvet Cake!! Made from scratch, and surprisingly easy when a few specific, simple steps are followed. This iconic cake has a soft “velvet” texture, just like what you get from the best top end fine bakeries, and is topped with soft, cream cheese frosting.
After Red Velvet Cupcakes? Here they are! 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.
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
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:
Let them eat cake! 10 more classic cakes
.Life of Dozer
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Ann says
Hi! Is this recipe batter enough to make a 3 layer 6 inches cake? Thanks in advance!
Nagi says
Hi Ann! What I would do is pour 2/3 into one pan and 1/3 into the other. That way you will lose less when yo level off the top. Then cut the one with more batter in it in half. The one with more batter should take an extra 5 minutes to cook. Hope that helps!
Ann says
Thank you! I will try it tonight!
Divya says
Can this recipe be halved?
Nagi says
Yes it sure can! 🙂
Teresa says
Hi. I love red velvet cakes so I’m going to try this one! So excited! Only thing is stopping me is we only have buttermilk powder here in our country, liquid buttermilk is scarce, can I use the powder instead and what is the measurement please, pretty please? 😊 Thanks so much!
Nagi says
Hi Teresa – that should be fine!! 🙂
Hatice says
Hi Nagi, I’ve made this recipe before once and it came out absolutely divine. I will be making it again but this time I have to try and make it dairy free and I also want to use a mirror glaze to cover it rather than a cream cheese frosting. My question was, can I use dairy free maragarine (sunflower oil based) instead of unsalted butter or would the outcome be too different? I’ll be making it on Sunday which is only a couple of days away so I hope you can reply if you can before then.
Many thanks,
Hatice
Nagi says
Hi Hatice, sorry I missed your deadline! I’m afraid I am not sure how this will come out if made dairy free, sorry!
Kelsey says
Made this cake the other day, and even though it had to stay in the fridge for a couple days (I had neither time nor supplies to ice it), it still came out absolutely delicious. Probably the best red velvet cake I’ve ever had. And despite being frosted with a very flavorful icing, the flavor of the cake came through and the icing and cake flavors complemented each other so well. Thanks so much for posting this recipe!
Nagi says
I love hearing that Kelsey! So pleased you enjoyed it, thanks for taking the time to let me know – N x
Vali says
Hi I haven’t got white vinegar at home at moment what can I use instead of that
Nagi says
Hi Vali – do you have any pale coloured vinegar or lemon juice? 🙂
Con says
Hi there. Thanks for your recipe but i have trouble with the cake being cooked within 45 minutes in one cake pan. The middle was not cooked within that timing and it was only cooked after 1 hour total duration and ended up the top and side being crusty and hard and the cake being dry. Im a bit disappointed with the outcome and hope you can suggest some method to troubleshoot it if possible, for cooking the whole came with one cake pan please. Thank you
Nagi says
Hi Con! Cover it with foil to stop the top from browning too much 🙂 This is exactly the reason why I cook this in 2 pans. I’ll add that tip in the recipe! N x
Nagi says
Hi Con – do you find it takes longer to cook things in your oven than most recipes say? Because if that is the case it sounds like your oven might run weak because this should definitely cook in that time! 🙂
Christine says
Hi Nagi! Thanks so much for this recipe. I am planning to make this for a wedding coming up soon. I live in the UK, so the cream cheese will be mixed with butter. I was planning to make this cake on the tuesday- however do you think this will last well until the wedding which is on saturday? it would be covered with fondant icing but i am a bit worried about the cream cheese. Thanks so so much for any help at all! I love the recipe 🙂
Nagi says
Hi Christine! how lovely that you’re making this for a wedding! I would wrap very well and put in an airtight container and freeze 🙂
Muna says
I made this cake today. It was delicious! It so happened that my nearest baking shop ran out of buttermilk, so i had to make some using milk n vinegar (eventho Nagi suggested not to) but it turned out well! (Thank God!). Since my family prefer the tangy taste of the cream cheese, i only used 2 1/2 cups of icing sugar instead of 4. Overall, this is definitely going to my recipe book. Thanks Nagi!
Missy says
looking forward to making this for my daughters birthday!
Sam says
Oh man… this cake… if I could marry something, it would be this cake batter. I baked mine as cupcakes and they turned out DIVINE. What sort of red velvet have I been eating before this? I’ll tell you – trash. Nothing compares to this. I now know what a blend of vanilla and chocolate cake really is.
I did have a couple of things I did different: I only had about a tablespoon of red food colouring, so they are pink velvet cupcakes, and I only had a third-cup of oil in the house, so I used that. I’ve grown up on cakes that are “zara-zara” though, so I didn’t notice if it was dry at all.
Sharin says
Hi Nagi any tips on using this for cupcakes. How much shall I fill the cases? Thanks in advance.
Gen says
Ok, so I have to admit, your blog is the last place I would expect to find a great cake recipe, mainly because I assume you are more of a savory cook. HOWEVER, I used your Red Velvet Cake for my niece;s birthday cake and it was without a doubt AMAZING!!! Easy and fabulous and enjoyed by all. Didn’t use the left over crumbs to decorate, used some wafer flowers, but apart from this followed your recipe to the letter. Thank you Nagi, I LOVE your recipes and am a devoted fan. Definitely recommend this recipe as a great cake to take anywhere.
Nagi says
Thank you Gen!!! And you are right, I definitely have more of a focus on savoury here, so the cakes that make it on here are my very favourite ones!! 🙂 N x
Sandra says
I made this cake all in one baking tin I did what you recommended left it in for a further fifteen mins but when I checked it the centre of the cake was raw it took an extra hour to cook. It’s not my oven I am doing a cake tasting and have baked six different cakes in the last week all perfect. Just to let you know it takes a lot longer than you stated. The end result was fantastic a great looking and tasting cake.
Natalie says
Hello I’m natalie, I was just going to ask if we could use milk instead of butter Milk , we have none in our country
Sarah says
Hello,
I tried making this cake and ran into some issues. Hoping you can tell me what I did wrong.
First it seems there are big air bubbles in the cake. Gaping ones like I’ve never mixed a cake before when I have. Is it the mixing time?
Also, I used the standard round cake pans but the outcomr is half the height of your cake.
Are you using 6″ pans? Did you double your recipe for a better outcome?
Thx for your insight!
Sumalatha says
Hi, I tried it the cake was so soft. I didn’t good color but the cake was so soft. Frosting was a flap as I have used only half of the given measurements. Thanks for great recipe. Made this cake for the first time and it was awesome.
Nagi says
That’s terrific to hear Sumalatha! Thanks for taking the time to let me know – N x
Teresa says
So, I love this recipe. I made it once for a friend’s birthday and everyone that tried it was so impressed! It turned out delicious! Thanks for doing all the testing and the work and giving us this recipe 🙂
I tried last night to make cupcakes from this same recipe, and they did not turn out well at all. I halved the recipe, which made 15 cupcakes. They didn’t seem to rise and are flat and spread out (no dome at all!). They are almost tasteless and crunchy on the outside and softer on the inside (but with a rough texture). Do you know why? I’m trying to google everything and do some troubleshooting – I have a few suspicions!
I used natural cocoa, not dutch process. What kind of cocoa did you use when you originally made this? (maybe it could have kept them from rising, I read about it here: http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/08/difference-dutch-process-natural-cocoa-powder-substitute.html). Also, I used frozen buttermilk (thawed, obviously) instead of fresh. I also used some paper cups and some aluminum cups for the cupcakes to see which worked better, and the cupcakes baked in aluminum cups were SO MUCH FLATTER than the ones baked in paper cups! Have you ever experienced this?
Anyway, if you have any tips or you know what might have gone wrong, please let me know! I want to make these for Valentine’s Day and hope to have the cupcakes down by then!
Again, thanks for your blog and for the great job you do! This is a lovely recipe with lovely pictures!!
Nagi says
Hi Teresa, I’ve used this same recipe for cupcakes and have not had any problems! I’ve used natural and dutch cocoa, and yes I’ve used aluminium cases too because I like them!
Liz says
I’m so annoyed at myself. I bought Self Raising cake flour. What do you suggest I do? Use the flour and omit the bicarb soda? Or make it up using regular plain flour and add cornstarch?
Nagi says
Oh dear!! I would definitely use normal flour and cornstarch with bicarb rather than using self raising. 🙂 Don’t worry it will still work, the texture is just not quite as soft as using plain cake flour!
Diana Davis says
Hey the recipe looks awesome . I’m.planning to make this for my son’s first Birthday. I had one question though can I freeze the cake layers in advance ?
Nagi says
You sure can Diana! N x
Bharati says
Can i bake this in 7inch tin?
Nagi says
You sure can, it will just be a bit taller!