Red Velvet Cake is a soft, moist layered cake with a beautiful crimson color and cocoa flavor, topped with a soft and smooth cream cheese frosting. For similar flavors in a cookie form, try my Red Velvet Sugar Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting.
What is Red Velvet Cake?
Red Velvet Cakes have been around forever and started out with simple ingredients like cocoa, buttermilk, and vinegar. The red color was added later, resulting in the vibrant colors we see today. It is traditionally paired with cream cheese frosting like this recipe, but red velvet cake purists often prefer an ermine (what I call cake gravy) frosting.
Ingredients
Room Temperature Ingredients: Using room temperature ingredients, specifically mayonnaise, eggs, and buttermilk in this recipe, is important for the best results.
Cocoa Powder: Look for regular unsweetened cocoa powder for the cake. You could use Dutch-processed cocoa instead, but it could have a slightly different chocolate flavor.
Mayonnaise: Before you judge adding mayonnaise to this cake, try it! It prevents the cake from becoming dry and gives it a soft and moist texture. I recommend using full-fat mayonnaise, but you could use a light variety if that is all you have on hand. Or, make your own!
Buttermilk: Just like you can make your own mayonnaise to use, you can also make your own buttermilk if you don’t have any on hand.
Food Coloring: Red food coloring puts the ‘red’ in red velvet cake. Use as much or as little as you prefer. If using gel food coloring, you will not need as much as if using liquid coloring. And yes, you can leave it out; the cake will still be delicious (but look like a light chocolate cake).
What Does Red Velvet Cake Taste Like?
In most recipes, red velvet cake tastes like a chocolate cake. But it shouldn’t taste AS rich as a traditional chocolate cake because of the addition of buttermilk and vinegar, which cut into the richness of the cocoa. However, all of that depends on the quality and selection of the ingredients. You could use a special dark cocoa or apple cider vinegar or extra-rich vanilla which would all impact the flavor.
Can I Make this Cake Ahead of Time?
Yes! You can get both the cake and the frosting made a little bit in advance. The baked cakes can be cooled, wrapped in plastic wrap, and stored at room temperature overnight. The cream cheese frosting should be stored in the refrigerator.
How to Store Red Velvet Cake
Once this cake has been frosted, it should be stored in the refrigerator, and covered. It will last up to 5 days. You could also freeze the frosted cake for up to 3 months.
Red Velvet Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 cups (400 g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ⅓ cup (39 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup (232 g) mayonnaise, room temperature
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup (245 g) buttermilk, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ounce red food coloring, more or less depending on how deep you want the color
- ½ cup hot water
- 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
Cream Cheese Frosting
- ½ cup (1 stick / 113 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 cups (500 g) confectioners' sugar
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Spray 2, 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray and line each with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder, and salt.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, red food coloring, hot water, and vinegar.
- Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined.
- Divide the batter equally between the prepared pans. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean. A few crumbs are what you want for a MOIST cake!
- Allow the cakes to cool for 10-15 minutes in the pans. Then, turn the cakes out onto a rack to cool completely. After the cakes have cooled completely, make the frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting*
- To a large bowl, add the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla. Using a handheld mixer on medium speed, blend until the ingredients are fully incorporated and smooth.
- Add confectioners' sugar, one cup at a time, until the frosting is light and creamy.
- Cover the cooled cake in a thin layer of frosting, putting it between the layers and around the outside of the cake. Serve.
Video
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Thank you for making my recipe! You took pictures, right? Well go ahead and post them on Instagram! Be sure to mention me @iambaker and use the hashtag #YouAreBaker.
like other mentioned, my three layers were flat as pancakes. I followed the directions exactly as listed and tried not to over mix. My batter seemed way too thick. Confused and any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I’m giving a 4, because my experience with baking a red velvet cake 1/4 cup cocoa is too much.
Thank You First of all for being I AM Baker. I have a friend that uses beet juice instead of red food coloring because of allergies. Have you ever tried this in any recipe.
Can I use this recipe to make cupcakes and how many will it make?
I just did your carrot cake and let me say… I am so impressed!!! I have NEVER baked a cake from scratch, really easy to follow and it turned out absolutely amazing! THANK YOU! I think I’ll be trying the red velvet next! ❤️
I made the recipe and it was a flat pancake, barely an inch high.
I did it again except I added 1 teaspoon baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
Turned out much better
Thank you for that feedback, I will re-test this recipe!
Do you have a jar recipe for red velvet cake?
Would this cake do well as a bottom tier in a two tier cake? It looks delicious but I was curious of how it would hold up to having and tier on top.
I AM A FAIRLY NEW DIBETIC SO I AM BELIVED TO USE NO SUGAR, YET I SEE DIBETIC FRIENDLY CAKES USING SUGARS OF ALL TYPES. WHAT GIVES? WHAT AM I MISSING
THANKS
Best red velvet recipe tested !!!!
but I was wrong in the recipe and suddenly I think it played my favor
For half a dose of all the ingredients I put 2 large eggs instead of just one and the cake was perfect !!!! Thank you very much
I cooked in an 18cm mold; almost 1 hour of cooking.