This is the red velvet cake I was telling you about that I won a blue ribbon for at this year’s state fair. It not only won a blue ribbon for the red velvet cake class, but won second best of all cakes turned in for judging from all classes! So I guess you could say this one is a winner. :)
I get 95% of the recipes I use from the web, mainly from other food blogs, but when I saw the recipe for this red velvet cake in Dam Good Sweet, I knew it was the one I had to use for the state fair competition. I could tell by reading the ingredients that it was going to be killer, and I was right!
Most recipes use white vinegar in addition to the buttermilk, which can cause the crumb to be coarse because there is too much acidity for the baking soda to neutralize. I learned this from Rose Levy Beranbaum, who has a red velvet cake recipe in Rose’s Heavenly Cakes that I almost used, but decided not to since the amount of cocoa she used was the usual paltry two tablespoons. After learning about the vinegar, however, I knew what to look for in a red velvet recipe and this one passed the test: buttermilk only.
**Update: upon re-reading Rose’s explanation of why she used buttermilk only, I see I was wrong about the vinegar. She said that baking soda neutralizes the acidity of the buttermilk which makes a coarser crumb on the cake. She uses only baking powder to keep the acidity in the cake high, thus making the vinegar unneccessary. So it’s not the acid that makes the crumb coarse, it’s the lack of it caused by the soda neutralizing the acid. So this cake DOESN’T pass her test, but now I’m thinking of making it again with baking powder only and seeing if it makes the color brighter and the crumb finer.**
This recipe has a whopping half-cup of Dutch-processed cocoa, which is more than any other red velvet recipe I’ve found, and it gives the cake a nice devil’s food flavor, far superior to the other from-scratch red velvet cakes I’ve made, where the frosting was the best part about them. With this one, the cake itself is just as good as the creamy frosting. In fact, the flavor is very similar to the Duncan Hines red velvet cake mix. This is the only cake I’ve ever made that came as close to a cake-mix taste. (Some might see this as not ideal, but cake mix cakes are my standard for the best cakes.) It is not as moist or light as the Duncan Hines red velvet, but it is still very, very good.
Dutch process cocoa has a smoother and deeper chocolate flavor than regular cocoa powder, which means while it makes the cake taste incredible, it also affects the color, making it a deep red. (I was racing against the sunset to shoot these pictures and due to the low light (and my lack of a good camera & photo editing program), the color of the cake appears darker in the first photos than it really is. The actual color is closer to these last couple photos). The deeper color doesn’t bother me, but if it bothers you, you might want to go with Rose’s recipe, which is a very bright red.
Red Velvet Cake
Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture
For the cake:
3 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 (1 lb) box light brown sugar (about 2 ¼ cups)
3 tablespoons red food coloring (about 1.5 oz)
2 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 ¾ cups buttermilk, room temperature
For the frosting:
1 ¼ pounds (2 ½ packages) cream cheese, room temperature
1 ¼ cups (2 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 (2 lb) bag confectioners’ sugar (about 7 ¼ cups)
To make the cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans; set aside. Sift flour with the cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and set aside.
With an electric mixer, cream the butter with the brown sugar, food coloring, and vanilla on low to combine. Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and beat until aerated and pale, about 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium and add the eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly between each addition and using a rubber spatula to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary. Reduce the speed to low and add one-third of the dry ingredients followed by half of the buttermilk. Repeat, finishing with the final third of the dry mix. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl and divide the batter between the two prepared cake pans, spreading it out as evenly as possible.
Bake until tester inserted in center comes out clean and center of cake resists slight pressure, about 40 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then run a paring knife around the edges of each pan to release the cake from the sides; invert the cakes onto the cooling rack. Cool for 1 hour, then wrap each cake in plastic wrap for at least a few hours.
To make the frosting: Beat the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla together with an electric mixer on low speed to combine. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until aerated and light, about two minutes. Stop the mixer and add a few cups of the confectioners’ sugar, incorporating it into the cream cheese mixture on low speed until combined. Repeat with the remaining sugar, adding it to the mixer in two additions. Once all of the sugar is added, increase the speed to medium-high and beat until fluffy, about 1 minute.
To assemble the cake: Unwrap and cut the dome of the tops off the cakes. Break up the cake domes into a food processor fitted with blade attachment and process to crumbs; set aside. Slice each cake in half horizontally to make four layers. Ice between layers of the cakes then over the top and sides. Press the crumbs into the sides of the cake. Refrigerate at least two hours before serving.
Veronica’s notes: 1) I omitted the vanilla from the frosting because I’m used to working with much thicker frosting and didn’t want to thin this recipe any more than it already was. This kept the color lighter and the flavor didn’t seem to suffer for the omission. If I’d added it, I’m afraid it would have squooshed out between the layers as I added them, making the appearance of the finished frosted cake not as pretty. The icing did squoosh out a bit even without the vanilla, but would have been worse with it. 2) I had trouble with the cake crumbs because they were very moist and stuck together pretty badly once I processed them. I had to add a couple tablespoons of flour and process until incorporated to get them to turn into smaller crumbs. 3) I left this cake in it’s original two layers for the fair, and it made things a lot simpler. If you don’t have a lot of experience with layer cakes, I’d suggest making it two layers instead of four. 4) I had about a cup of leftover frosting after making this cake. If you like to make cake pops like I do, freeze the extra in a tub for your next cake pop/ball project. I use 1/3 cup of frosting per batch, so this will make three batches of cake pops for me.
Recipe source: Dam Good Sweet
I haven’t made a Red Velvet Cake in years….I’m going to try your recipe. I love a moist cake!
Congrats on the win! i always enjoy your baking
Joan
I’ll just come over and have a piece, I don’t think I could duplicate this perfection! Congrats on the win!!
Congratulations !! really like your baking …
keep it up
Personally, I love the deeper color red. Congrats on that blue ribbon! The cake looks stellar. Even though my anti-bakings sentiments are groaning, I just wrote it down on my list of things to make in the next couple weeks. We’ll see if it happens. My mouth says “PLEASE!” =)
so this is your sourdough :) perfect creation it did deserve its first place. I like the detailed dummies-tested description of the method. I feel like I could actually succeed following your thourough instructions and make me feel I want to bake right now! you should really publish a book all about baking. do the ribbons give good credits for publishing companies?
Gonna have to try your recipe, looks delish:)
Glad you used the one with extra chocolate, that’s one reason I don’t like these cakes, the actual cake usually isn’t that good. Lots of chocolate = really good cake! It looks gorgeous too!!
Yum! This cake looks delicious and is simply beautiful. Congratulations on the win…you deserve it!
Your cakes are so gorgeous! Wow! Talk about inspiration! I can cook all kinds of “home cooking” style recipes. I can bake bread like a baker, but I CANNOT make a decent cake! I do okay with the ones baked in a 9 x 13, but what I wouldn’t give to be able to make impressive cakes like the beauties you have pictured on here! Would you consider giving some basic instructions on how you put such gorgeous creations together (the frosting instructions and everything). I would be honored to learn whatever tips you have to offer this newbie cake baker.
Well, together we’d make quite a pair. You could handle dinner and I’d provide a stunning dessert. I’m just now learning to cook what you’re arleady wonderful at. But you know, I think we can learn from each other! You flatter me, and I would be happy to help. I’d already been thinking of doing a cake tutorial and think I will go ahead since you asked. Look for it in a month or so!
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This looks amazing!
I’ve got to the point of no return with cream cheese frosting… It just runs -
I love that there are so many layers, more frosting per bite!
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Can this cake be made without the food coloring?
I have tried other Red Velvet recipes before but never tasted like this one! Very delicious cake, thank you very much for the recipe. I’m decorating a mountain bike theme birthday cake with this cake, it will look amazing.
I’m a follower now!
I’m so glad to have your feedback! Thank you! Glad you enjoyed. :) I’d love to see that mountain bike cake when you’re done–send me a picture! :)
Sure I will! By the way I have modified your recipe a little bit in the second batch. Since I run out of buttermilk, I used thick yogurt instead and the result was great! I think it has similar properties as buttermilk, although I don’t know how it plays with theory about the acidty above…
Buttermilk and yogurt have the same acidity, just different thickness. Did you think it was better with the yogurt? That’s something I haven’t tried yet.
I think the results were very similar. Now that you mentioned I used a very thick, cream like yogurt. I will try it with a different thickness of yogurt next week, maybe that would change the results. By the way I make my own yogurt so I have different thickness of yogurt available. I will let you know!
Would you replace any part of the buttermilk with creme fraiche? I love yourblogs, I just recently found your website looking for a red velvet. Secondly do I have to sign up each time I would like to send you a message?
I did get your question on this, but you left it on another page and I left the answer there (can’t remember where you asked). I just had another reader tell me she used yogurt in place of the buttermilk with good results to my guess would be that you could use creme fraiche in place of it too since it’s also acidic. I’m not sure what you mean by “sign up.” Do you mean subscribe to follow up comments or subscribe to my blog? If the former, then the answer is that it depends where you’re leaving a comment. If you’re leaving a comment on the same page you left one before and subscribed to follow-up comments the first time, then no. If you’re leaving a comment on a different page, then you’d have to click the “notify me of follow-up comments” button again if you want to be notified when I reply. If the latter, then the answer is no. Subscribing to my blog will not help you with getting my replies, you will just be notified by email if I post a new blog. Thanks for reading!
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HEY ITS FALLON MADE THIS CAKE AND AGAIN I SALUTE YOU . THE CAKE IS SO TENDER AND MOIST AND JUST MELTS IN YOUR MOUTH. I AM SO GRATEFUL I FOUND YOUR BLOG. BE BLESSED.
I love to hear from you Fallon, you always have such nice things to say! :) I’m glad this one turned out well for you!
Hi
I have baked this cake a few times now…I am an eager baker and have been doing cake decorating for many years…
I have an order for a wedding cake “red velvet”
My problem is this…the cake seems to be very dry and because I have to bake it a week before the wedding due to delivery, decoration ect I am worried that the cake would be really dry by then.
I also find the actual baking time needs to be much longer then the suggested time
I love the smooth texture of this recipe and although I used regular cacoa it tasted awesome…
I also stuggle to get the colour nice and bright…
Please help….I am very perfectionistic when it comes to my work and want this to be 100%
Thanks
This cake will never be bright because it has a high cocoa content. Please try the recipe as is to determine what the cause of the dryness is. It may be that you used regular cocoa powder, which would make the acidity level higher. If you want a brighter cake, you will have to try a different recipe. Also, my trick for every cake I make is to spray it all over with water as soon as it comes out of the oven. I spray quite liberally and it doesn’t change the taste, just makes for a very moist cake. I wish you much success with your wedding cake!
My understanding is that these cakes were never very red originally, just slightly pink (as much as chocolate cake can be pink) because of the chemical reaction of the natural cocoa and the acids. This reaction is negated if you used Dutch processed cocoa, which means they’ve added an alkali to the cocoa. That’s why the food coloring is needed if you want this to be red. Food science is cool.
Very cool, I’d never heard that. I love food science!
I tried the recipe with unprocessed cocoa and people did agree it was slightly pink when compared to a Devil’s Food cake or regular chocolate cake. This is interesting too: http://www.gilttaste.com/stories/2290-the-unknown-history-of-red-velvet-cake
This is a yummy cake! I baked it yesterday and just finish spreading cream cheese on it.. its already so good without cream.. moist, melt in ur mouth..
With the cream cheese.. its heaven! However… I had some big air bubbles in the cake.. not sure if its due to the baking powder or my convection oven.. which tends to over bake! I already lower the temp!
Hmm… I do hope my friends will just eat without looking! Haha!