Red Velvet Cake

Red Velvet cake is a classic cake with a light chocolate flavor and a rich cream cheese frosting.

I also have a Small Batch Red Velvet Cake which is the perfect amount for 2-3 people.  Or if you need to feed a crowd make Red Velvet Cupcakes.

What is Red Velvet Cake?

This red velvet cake is nice and tender with just a mild chocolate flavor.  And my favorite part is the frosting.  Yummy and smooth cream cheese frosting is the perfect compliment to the red velvet cake.

For a little history on Red Velvet Cakes check out my post for Red Velvet Cupcakes.

Red Velvet Cake Color Variations

Red Velvet cake is just too pretty and delicious to only be served at Valentine’s Day. It would be a fun St. Patrick’s Day cake by using green food coloring instead of red food coloring. I have made it using pink food coloring for a fun cake to serve at a baby shower for a girl. You could get fancy and do half the batter red and half the batter blue and serve it for the 4th of July.

Do I have to Use Food Coloring in Red Velvet Cake?

I know some people are allergic to food coloring or prefer not to use it. You can totally leave the food coloring out of this recipe and it won’t affect the taste at all, it will just look like a chocolate cake. Most Red Velvet Cake recipes call for an entire 1 oz. bottle of food coloring but that’s just way to much for me and I don’t like my teeth turning red after eating a piece. I used half that amount or about 4 teaspoons. My cake is a little more pink than red.

How to Make Red Velvet Cake

Prepare Pans and Preheat Oven

Use two nine inch round cake pans. Spray them with a non stick cooking spray and flour them. I also cut a piece paper the size of the bottom of the pan and place that on the bottom of the pan after spraying and flouring.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix Cake Batter

• In a bowl, combine dry ingredients including flour and salt.
• Use your stand mixer or a had mixer to cream together sugar and butter.
• In another bowl combine eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, vinegar and baking soda. Watch a little chemical reaction take place! It will get foamy!

• Alternate adding the flour mixture and the buttermilk mixture to the butter and sugar mixture. Start and end with the flour mixture.

• Mix together the cocoa powder and the desired amount of food coloring. Add that mixture to cake batter and stir to combine.

• Fill your prepared cake pans, dividing the batter evenly between the two cake pans.

Bake Cake and Cool

Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 – 28 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

• 9 x 13 cake will bake for 30-35 minutes.
• Cupcakes will bake for 15-20 minutes.
• Bundt Cake will bake for 50-60 minutes.

After cake has cooled completely it is ready to frost.

Make Ahead Instructions

I like to bake my cake several days ahead or even a week ahead. After it has cooled, wrap each individual layer tightly in several layers of plastic wrap and freeze.

When you are ready to frost the cake, remove from freezer and frost frozen cake. Freezing the cake makes frosting a lot easier and reduces the amount of crumb that ends up in your frosting.

Allow cake to come to room temperature before serving but I also loved chilled cake.

Cream Cheese Frosting for Red Velvet Cake

Traditionally Red Velvet Cake is served with cream cheese frosting but if you prefer you can use buttercream frosting.

After frosting the cake I used a decorating bag and a star tip to add a fancy edge to my cake.

Because I was making the cake for Valentine’s Day I added some heart shaped sprinkles.

Do I Need To Refrigerate Red Velvet Cake?

Cream cheese frosting the cake should be refrigerated. It can sit out at room temperature for several hours so it does not need to be served cold.

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Red Velvet Cake Recipe