Red Velvet Cake
User Reviews
4.9
-
Prep Time
30 mins
-
Cook Time
25 mins
-
Total Time
55 mins
-
Servings
10 -12
-
Course
Baked Goods
-
Cuisine
American
Red Velvet Cake
Description
The Red Velvet Cake recipe combines cake flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt as the dry base. Wet ingredients include softened butter, caster sugar, eggs, vegetable oil, white vinegar, vanilla, buttermilk, and red food coloring. The batter is mixed carefully to maintain a tender crumb, with some small lumps allowed to avoid over-mixing.
The baking process yields two 8-inch cake layers with a soft, fine crumb. The cake's distinct red shade comes from the food coloring combined with the cocoa and vinegar, resulting in subtle cocoa flavor with moist texture. It is topped and filled with a cream cheese and butter frosting that is whipped to a soft, spreadable consistency.
This cake is ideal for celebrations and is known for its moistness and tender texture. The frosting balances sweetness with creamy richness. Special attention to ingredient temperatures and mixing techniques ensures consistency. For areas without cake flour, a substitute blend is recommended, but the cake may be slightly less tender.
Adjusting food coloring type depending on location ensures the expected red hue. Proper batter blending avoids oil separation, and careful frosting preparation achieves the right consistency. The cake can be baked in two pans or one pan with longer baking time. The recipe also scales to cupcakes and has tips for frosting firmness and troubleshooting.
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 2 2/3 cups (400 g) cake flour Note 1, plain
- 2 tbsp (10 g) cocoa powder , unsweetened
- 1 tsp (5 g) baking soda NOT baking powder (Note 2, or bi-carb soda
- salt pinch
Wet Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (115 g) butter softened (1 US stick, unsalted
- 1 1/2 cups (330 g) caster sugar Note 3a, aka superfine white sugar
- 2 egg 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 coloring UK: use Gel, Note 7, liquid
Frosting (Note 10)
- 14 oz (400 g) cream cheese softened but not too soft (UK see Note 9, Philadelphia brand; block
- 1/2 cup (115 g) butter softened (but not too soft, unsalted
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 cups (450 g) icing sugar sifted (Note 3b, soft, aka powdered sugar
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.
Notes
- Use cake flour for a softer, tender crumb, or substitute by mixing all-purpose flour with cornstarch if cake flour is unavailable.
- Baking soda must be used to react with buttermilk for proper leavening; do not substitute with baking powder in this recipe.
- Prefer caster sugar for easy blending and icing sugar (powdered sugar) sifted for frosting smoothness.
- Use gel red food coloring, especially in the UK, for a vibrant, consistent red color.
- Avoid overmixing the batter to maintain texture; some small lumps are acceptable.
- Frosting consistency is key: use softened but not overly soft butter and cream cheese; refrigerate if too runny and re-whip before use.
- For one-pan cake baking, increase baking time and monitor doneness with a skewer; cover with foil if browning too quickly.
User Reviews
Overall Rating
4.9
You'll Also Love
