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
This is how he starts every day: assessing the surf. 😉
Hi Nagi,
Can I use self raising cake flour and omit the bi carb???
Looking forward to making it!
Hi Penny, I haven’t tried sorry – normally I’d say yes for recipes with baking powder and regular flour – but this one is slightly different. Would love to know if you try! N x
I chickened out!! I had to hunt around due to people going crazy with panic buying again but I finally found some plain cake flour!!!
Hi, Nagi
It was my first ever cake, and it came out so so good, everyone loved it. tasted amazing, moist and just delicious.
Thanks!
Aastha
Can I make this gluten free?
I haven’t tried with a gluten free sub sorry Megan! N x
Hi Nagi! I was wondering if I could use less icing sugar for the frosting since I’m making this for my big family (with lots of elderly) and I don’t want the frosting to be too sweet. I previously used another recipe, the cake came out a bit dry while the frosting turns out too sweet for some of my family members. Thanks a lot!x
Made this for my daughter’s 28th birthday (special request). Although I bake a lot I had never done a Red Velvet Cake. Your instructions are fantastic and I followed them to a T – hence a brilliant result. Am in the UK and your substitutions worked just great. Thank you so much
That’s so great to hear Alison, thanks so much!! N x
Would you be able to tell me how many cups of batter this recipe yields? Can’t wait to make this!
Hi can the cake be left outside? Also can it be refrigerated once made?
Hi Gurjinder, I refrigerate mine then bring it to room temp before serving. N x
Baked these twice in two days because the first batch was eaten too quickly haha! Thank you so much for this amazingly moist and scrummy recipe, I made them as cupcakes so it was easier to share around with everyone 🙂
I made this cake using a different recipe and it was horrible. So then I made this one the next morning and it was amazing!
I think the Cake flour and half butter/half oil made all the difference.
Hi Nagi!can I use an 8 inch square pan instead of the round pan?
Sure can Anitha, the cakes will just be slightly shorter in height. N x
Lovely detailed recipe! I substitute the red food computing using beetroot juice mmmmm the cake didn’t turn out red :(. But the texture was excellent! I need to get a proper red food colluding.
Hi Wei, yes the food colouring is the best way to get the red colour unfortunately! N x
Hi Nagi, I made this cake for my daughter’s birthday. You are so right about the liquid colouring in the UK. It doesn’t work but still tastes great!! We all enjoyed it. And also, 250g of Philadelphia cream cheese works too. Thank you for the recipe 🙂
Hi, I only have 9 inch tins would these be ok to use out do I need to increase amounts? Thanks x
Hi Lisa, that’s fine, the cakes will just be slightly shorter 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi, I want make these into cupcakes, so would there be any adjustments to quantity or baking time?
Thank you 😊
Can we half this recipe without any adjustment?
Sure can Hue! N x
Hi, can you use salted butter and leave out the salt x
Hi Sharon – you sure can, I just prefer to use unsalted so I can control the amount that get into the cake. N x
Hi, I’m going shopping to get these ingredients to bake this cake…. it looks delicious. Would white wine vinegar be ok?
Hi Kirsty – yes that will be fine. N x
OMG…. I love this recipe. Thank you so much for sharing it. I will be making it again and again. I will never buy another red velvet cake, I will only make it using your recipe. I look forward to making the red velvet cookies next.
Xx
Hi, as we are on lock down at the moment (we are in the UK) I am going to attempt this cake for my sons birthday. Ive looked for white vinegar but cannot find it, I bought distilled vinegar. Is this the same thing. If not what should I use? Thanks x
Hi Nagi, I made this cake on Eid day for the 2nd time and my family loved it. It tasted much better than the first attempt as I swapped some of the plain flour with cornflour as we do not have cake flour in the UK & used readymade buttermilk! The issue I had this time was the red food colouring gel I used did not dissolve in the cake mixture it remained as dark red streaks/dots in the cake so the red colour was not as rich once baked. I noticed that the cake layers were more brown towards the edges and then red towards the middle even though I baked at an even lower temperature of 170°C instead of 180 so I’m not sure if its the food colouring or not. Also the cream cheese frosting didn’t seem to set. When I initially mixed the softened butter & soft cheese the colour and thickness looked fine and as soon as I added the icing sugar the mixture went more runny which I found strange as powder should thicken it.
Any tips for improvement? I wish I can upload photos on here to show you
I had the exact same issue with the frosting as well and it just wouldn’t get thicker. I put it in the fridge for a couple of hours and it was still runny. I added more using sugar but still runny.
Hi Coral – any vinegar like cider, white, rice vinegar will work fine here – N x
I bought distilled vinegar. Is this ok?
Hi Nagi,
i baked this cake for my birthday, i think i slightly over cooked it but the taste is great, first time i made red velvet
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Antonella! N x
Has anyone tried substituting the cake flour with a gluten free flour blend, to make it gluten free?
I haven’t tried to be honest Gillian, I feel like the texture just wouldn’t be the same though. N x
Got it! Thanks for your quick reply Nagi. Always appreciate your awesome recipes.
Hi Nagi, jist a quick question, hope you don’t mind..I am planning to make this cake as a cake balls. Do you reckon it could work? How much of the frosting you would use then to make the best structure? Thank you! 😊😊☺️
Hi Michaela, I haven’t tried to be honest! It would definitely work but I’m unsure how much frosting you’d need. N x
Hi! I made this cake for mother’s day (I used a different frosting because I wasn’t sure if yours would have been enough). The cake is absolutely delicious!! It came out so fluffy and moist enough .. I was worried it would be dry based on some reviews but it was just perfect. My oven is slower so it took me about 10 or 15 minutes longer.
My family loved it!! We rarely eat more than a few bites but we have been enjoying this cake non stop!! It’s almost gone in only one day. Thanks for this amazing recipe. Also – I used americolor food coloring and I definitely did not need 2 tbs. I think I used about one teaspoon and my cake was nice and bright red. Next time I’ll try adding even less because I hate adding food coloring .