Red Velvet Buttercream should have a depth of flavor and a gorgeous red color. This recipe achieves that and is actually really easy! If you love American buttercream frosting as much as I do, be sure to try this recipe!
Red Velvet Cake Frosting
Or, Red Velvet Buttercream. Deep, rich, vibrant, and tasty red velvet frosting that reminds you of a red velvet cake. This recipe offers up the color you want, the flavor you love (chocolate!) and the ability to pipe and create beautiful designs with. It’s just plain fun!
I wanted to show off this red awesomeness with my Rose Cake technique because there is nothing quite as beautiful as a deep red rose. Right? Right.
How to Make Red Velvet Buttercream
The most popular question I get whenever I share something red velvet is, “How do you get it so red?” Well, it’s easy. Red food coloring. The more you add, the redder it will be. One reason I like this recipe is because there is SO much cocoa, you do not need a huge amount of food coloring.
Red food coloring will darken considerably the longer it sits! If you feel like your frosting is too ‘pinkish’, put it in an airtight container (PRO TIP: I like to store frosting right in plastic disposable pastry bags) and let it sit for a few hours or overnight. You will see the color deepen.
Yes, you can use all-natural food coloring like India Tree. I recommend using the entire bottle .75 ounce bottle for this size recipe. The color will be a bit more mauve, but still in the red family.
To achieve the rosette look I have a picture tutorial here and a video here. This cake specifically uses a CLOSED star tip. Using a closed star tip gets the very delicate ruffle edges that you can see above.
The red velvet buttercream recipe will be enough to cover a 2-layer cake.
To get a nice clean cut, make sure that your cake is very chilled. If you don’t care about looks and prefer a light and moist crumb, then room-temperature is a great way to go!
Adapted from Perfect Chocolate Buttercream.
I paired the frosting with a white cake simply because I love the look and idea of a delicate white cake with a rich bold red velvet.
I can imagine that this red velvet frosting would be absolutely stunning with a red velvet cake! Or even a chocolate cake! You really can’t go wrong.
As a matter of fact, everything about this is so, so right.
Red Velvet Buttercream
Ingredients
- 4 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
- 1 cup cocoa powder
- 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks or 170g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup whole milk, room temperature
- 1 one-ounce bottle Red food color
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- In a small bowl, sift together the confectioner's sugar and cocoa powder.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, add butter and whisk for 2 minutes on high speed.
- Turn the mixer off and add in sugar/cocoa mixture.
- With the mixer on low speed, add in milk, red food coloring, and vinegar. (Carefully pour in food coloring into the center of the butter mixture)
- Whisk on low/medium low speed until smooth and glossy.
Video
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To see more Red Velvet creations click here!
STUNNING!!
Love this!! So beautiful! And I can imagine that the buttercream tastes just like red velvet – yum!
This is SO beautiful Amanda, and I love that you had the idea to reverse a typical red/white red velvet cake – so original!
Omg I had never heard/thought of a red velvet buttercream! I don’t know how long I’ve missed this in my life. I love red velvet cake but this frosting on chocolate cake is definitely happening this weekend. More than likely very often. And this color? Goegeous! You are also correct the deeper red the rose the more beautiful it is! Have a great day:)
Gorgeous, Amanda! The idea of reversing the red and white is so creative. I bet that frosting is good enough to eat with a spoon!
Does the McCormick’s liquid red color have a “taste”? Have you ever made regular white buttercream and used McCormick’s to color it red? Delete that same amount of liquid from the milk? Though Super Red, No Taste Red, and Tulip Red have less taste, it would be nice to know you could pick up a simple bottle of McCormick’s.
Almost too pretty to eat! …. although, I would totally eat it. DUH.
Simply stunning and completely beautiful. Pinning! 🙂
This cake is just gorgeous. And I love the white cake recipe too. The Red Velvet buttercream is just brilliant.
Amanda, that’s some beeeautiful piping! Just gorgeous!