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. 😉
Super moist and delicious!
Thanks so much Becci! N x
Can I add strawberries inside the layers and on top?
I don’t see why not Zahra! N x
if I bake the cake the day before, how long would I be able to store it for before it dries out?
Hi Rachel, it will be fine baking it the day before, you can even freeze it in advance. Just make sure you wrap it tightly with cling wrap!
Hi Nagi,
Can I leave out the white vinegar or is there any substitute?
Hi Mary, you can sub with apple cider vinegar to lemon juice – you need the acid here. N x
I made this cake with just baking soda to raise as per your recipe, which surprised me as i always thought baking powder was the better raiser. The cake did not rise to a light sponge and turned out rather dense. What did i do wrong?
would i be able to swap cake flour for plain flour ?
Hi Sam – I talk about this in the recipe notes – N x
Hi could I use less icing sugar .
Hi, this is an amazing recipe !! A dream cake for me. Tried several times and always turned out to be great. But however every time i baked, it took longer than 30min; are the timings correct?
same, i had to cook it for a further 10mins or so then it was overcooked 🙁 but still tasted great
Hi Nagi, I love you recipes and they’re my go to for EVERYTHING !!! I wanted to know could if I could make a 4-layer cake with Red Velvet and the Vanilla Sponge Cake.
Hi Motunrayo, sounds great!! Keep me updated on how it goes! N x
2 years ago I couldn’t boil water without burning it but since finding this place wow. I reckon my family are eating one of your recipes 3/4 nights a week and they love it, I am a worse baker though but I need to try this cake. Please wish me luck lol and thank you for your blog it’s completely changed the way my family and I eat.
Love from Bonnie Scotland
That’s so great to hear Philip!! You’ve got this – keep me updated on how you go! N x
Well I was shocked, I even shocked my wife haha. The cake itself went very well everything is want from a red velvet cake, my disaster come from the cream cheese and not checking to see exactly how much icing sugar I had ( I didn’t have much only 200g) and with lockdown over here and panic buyers icing sugar has proven very difficult to get, but I got it today finally and it has went down a treat, even if it was 2 days later lol
Will make it again thank you
Hi Nagi. Was a bit intimidated by the idea of baking a red velvet cake, but having complete confidence in your recipes decided to give it a try!
Only had access to large muffin pans so baked the cake in that and then frosted using angel wings. Huge hit in the household! Thank you again for another great recipe. Wish I could post a picture to show you, lol.
Hi. I tried your recipe and had a bit of issue on the cake structure. I don’t know if it was the oven issue. When the cake was done from the oven and when I tried to scrape off the top portion, the cake started to disintegrate. The taste is there although. Is it ok to used reduced fat for the cream cheese?
Sounds divine Kyra, I bet you had plenty of happy tummies 🙂
Can I make this cake ahead and freeze the layers?
Hi Nagi
I would love to know if you cook your cakes including this one in a traditional or fan forced oven. I look forward to your answer and thank you very much. I truly love your recipes
Hi Pam, I use fan forced – but you could use either 🙂 N x
Just wondering how much in advance you can make this cake?
We are going away for hubby bday and can only make it 30 hours before we can eat it.
Also can I premake the batter and have it in the fridge over night?
I’m obviously not much of a Baker 🙂
Thanks!
Hi Amee, just make the cake in the entirety. You can’t pre-make cake batter as you activate the rising agent and it needs to be baked straight away 🙂
Amazing recipe for taste – I’ve now made it twice and everyone lives it but the cake seems to be super delicate crumble apart rather than staying like a cakey slice (know what I mean?) I wonder what I’m doing wrong.
Hi Adele, I’m so glad you love it! Can I ask what type of flour you’re using? N x
V tasty. Nagi, you inspired me to do piped frosting for the first time, thank you for the recipes!
You’re so welcome Mae!
Ok. I am still baking (well waiting for the cake to cool so I can frost it) but OMG I am soooo thankful!
I made this and messed it up. I used confectioners sugar in the batter instead of caster sugar (yeah English is not my first language) and the cake stayed soft for such a long time that I was ready to bin it but… with more baking time it worked out and I just tasted some of the crumbs and it is SOOOOO soft, it melts in your mouth!!! Unbelievable.
Nothing Zara-Zara over here!!!
Thanks so much for your work. I’m sure I’ll have to make this over and over once people taste it!
Oh no! I’m so glad it still worked out though Joya!! N x
Can I use 6 inch pans for this recipe? Do I have to adjust the recipe or just use 3 6 inch pans?
Hi Kelly, you can just leave the recipe as is and have a slitty taller cake, or you can scale it down slightly – N x
I made this for my birthday and it turned out really well. Hubby really like it. I would definitely will make it again but this time I might try cup cake for my family.
The icing was a little too sweet for me. I only used 3 cups. Is there other alternative without using icing sugar too much? I’m thinking separating a batch for me as I don’t like it too sweet.
I usually have success with replacing some of the sugar with nonfat dry milk to cut back on the sweetness of icing. It does give a bit of a milky taste but if you won’t mind that you could give it a try.
Hi, I do not like it too sweet either so started with less and slowly added until I was happy with the taste. Hope that helps.
Hi Jo, I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I haven’t tried with an alternative to be honest – I like the icing a little sweet as the cake isn’t overly sweet 🙂
I have made this cake a number of times, and my family and friends can’t get enough of it😊. Thank you so much for the recipe. A friend has asked me to make a 10inch one, have you any tips for me as I’ve never made this size before? Look forward to hearing from you! !!!
Thank you so much Nagi x
Hi Susan, I’m so glad you love it!! You can either make the recipe as is (just use a 10″ pan and you’ll have a slightly shorter cake) or you can adjust the servings to 12 and all the ingredients will adjust for you (for a taller cake).
You may need to bake slightly longer, I’d check with a skewer at 30 minutes, and if need be, leave it in the oven until just cooked (possibly another 10 minutes). Enjoy!! N x
I wanted to ask can i half the recipe
Hi Sharmeen, you sure can – just use one cake tin to bake it in 🙂 N x