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
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I haven’t made a Red Velvet Cake in years….I’m going to try your recipe. I love a moist cake!
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Congrats on the win! i always enjoy your baking
Joan
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I’ll just come over and have a piece, I don’t think I could duplicate this perfection! Congrats on the win!!
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Congratulations !! really like your baking …
keep it up
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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!” =)
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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?
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Gonna have to try your recipe, looks delish:)
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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!!
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Yum! This cake looks delicious and is simply beautiful. Congratulations on the win…you deserve it!
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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.
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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 –
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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?
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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!
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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! :)
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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…
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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.
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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!
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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?
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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.
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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!
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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
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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!
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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.
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Very cool, I’d never heard that. I love food science!
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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
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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!
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Well if it tastes good I’m sure your friends weren’t complaining! :) I have a regular oven and didn’t have the air bubbles problem but I really can’t say what caused that. Hopefully it was a fluke!
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Hi, Veronica. Have you tried this with cake flour?
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No I haven’t. Honestly I’m anti-cake flour but if you have success with it please let me know! You might have to use a little more of it since it’s lighter and fluffier.
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Thanks, Veronica! One last question- which Dutch cocoa would you recommend?
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I’m not persnickety and use what my cake store carries – it doesn’t even have a brand name. I also use Hershey’s Special Dark which is available at most supermarkets.
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Is there enough mix to use 3 9″ pans for this to be a 3 layer cake? If not then I’ll use use 2 9″ pans.
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Yes, but the layers will be a little shorter than usual. Still higher than doing it in two pans and making it a four layer cake, though. And I’ve made it as a two layer cake – just as good!
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Thanks for the reply. Since I don’t have experience making 4-layer cakes, I will make this into a 3-layer cake. Do you have an estimate time for baking?
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It will definitely take less time so maybe start checking after 30 minutes? That’s my best guess. They are done when a toothpick poked in the middle comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it.
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Ever bake it in a 9×13 pan? Results?
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Nope but it can be done easily. Just increase the baking time – start checking on it at the same time (40 minutes) – it’s done when the tester come out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
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Beautiful Crimson Cake..A splendid Red Velvet Cake..a Temptation to one’s soul..Please one slice, well maybe two….a cup of steaming screaming hot java and a tiny tea fork to prolong my fantasy affair in the afternoon glow.
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What a bummer with just 3 tablespoons of food coloring my cake was pink velvet not red :( , the taste and texture was amazing but the color not, I mean really just 3 tbl spoons and you got that color?? I will make it again cause is delicious but just adding more color
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That is a bummer! I believe on one of the cakes I didn’t have enough regular food coloring so I added some icing gel coloring which is more saturated color. However I usually only use regular and do get this color! I have no idea why yours didn’t turn darker and am so sorry. :(
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Hi! I first tried this recipe of yours a couple years ago and absolutely loved it. I am a stay at a home mom and love baking, holiday time comes around and I’m the person to bring the desserts, it’s a given. I recently made red velvet for my sister and searched and searched for your recipe, as I am like you, if I want to try something I just Google it and find a recipe and go from there, well I never came across your blog when it came time to make her cake, I was very disappointed in the cake I made (I think my family was just being nice when they said it was good haha). Now my twin daughters are turning 2 and for there bday day I am doing a polka dot theme and what better way to celebrate polka dots than with cake pops and less of a mess for 2 year olds!!! All my searches for red velvet cake pops tell me to buy a box of cake mix and go from there, I am more of a from scratch kinda gal not a box so I began to search for just red velvet cake (rather than pops). And found a very familiar picture of a blue ribbon cake! FABULOUS! I just pulled your cake out of the oven and the color looks perfect and in the morning I am making cake pops with your lovely red velvet! Mmmm thanks so much, I have already saved this recipe so I have no more red velvet flops.
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Well I’m glad you were able to find it again! Have fun with those pops!
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Hi Veronica–Thanks for sharing! It looks like a slice of heaven. Instead of spraying the cake with water, have you tried using a glaze made with 1 c sugar, 1.5 t baking soda, .5 c buttermilk, .5 c butter, 1 T light corn syrup and 1 t vanilla? You bring first 5 ingredients to a boil and cook for 5 minutes stirring constantly, remove from heat and add the vanilla. Poke holes in warm cake and pour over immediately after removing from the oven. I have a carrot cake recipe which is over the top and uses this glaze. Do you think it would be too much for this recipe? Please advise. Thanks again I enjoy learning from you!
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I’ve used that glaze on carrot and apple cake – love it! If you did it to this one it would change it into a more country-type cake but that’s OK if you don’t mind it! I think it would be mega delicious and wouldn’t even need frosting, though frosting would be yums too.
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Veronica as a child I got Red Devils food cakes, I have moved from the home area and the bakery that made them went out of business. I have never found a cake mix or recipe that duplicates that cake. Your’s appears to do that, Most Red Velvet have a fine dry texture. I want a deep rich not so fine texture can you tell me if this cake is VERY moist?
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I’m sure I can make these into cupcakes, correct? If so, do I spray these with water as well to make them moist?
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Yes you can make any cake recipe into cupcakes just by baking them a shorter amount of time. I rarely spray cupcakes with water as they tend to be more moist since they don’t need as long of a bake time, but if they feel dry, spray away!
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I made this Red Velvet cake, and it was nothing short of AMAZING! I did it as a 2 layer cake, being that it was my first time making a layer cake EVER, I also didn’t put vanilla in the icing. GREAT recipe
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Hi Veronica
I baked the bake tonight…the centre collapsed badly…so I check the recipe and measurements and decided to bake it again…love the look of it and everbody rave about this cake..the same happend..
You have any idea what I might be doing wrong
I am an old hand at baking …
It tastes awesome…
AND…I love to do the rose decorations any tips on how to get cream cheese icing to be firm and set…specially when the cake needs to travel
Thanks a mil
M
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My first guess would be underbaking – did you check the center with a toothpick to make sure it was finished baking?
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Out of curiosity—what was the cake that beat THIS ONE for best in show?
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I only own a 9×13 pan. How long would I cook it for? And should I use the same amount of ingredients?
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I’ve never tried it in a 9×13 but I do think this amount of batter would fit perfect in one. Try it and don’t fill it over 2/3 full – if you have extra you can make cupcakes or red velvet pancakes. :) I would just time it for 40 minutes, then after that keep checking it every five minutes until it’s starting to get close, then check more frequently, until it’s done. I wouldn’t start poking the cake with a toothpick until the middle is risen up and doesn’t have the wet sunken batter look to it.
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what is the substitute of brown sugar
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You can make your own brown sugar by mixing a tablespoon of molasses into a cup of sugar. You’d have to make three cups to have enough for this cake recipe, and will have some leftover for another use (chocolate cookies is what I’d make with the extra! YUM!).
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H Veronica, I am not able to find the Dutch processed cocoa powder, what would I need to do to ordinary cocoa powder in order to still have the properties you are needing for this cake.
Thanks Barbara
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I made this cake last weekend for a friends birthday and this was literally the best red velvet cake I have ever had (might even be the best cake I have ever made). The cream cheese frosting was perfection. My husband has asked me to use this frosting when I make him homemade cinnamon rolls next. The cake was like eating fluffy devils food cake but with red food coloring. Literally amazing!!!!!
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I live in the UK, what would the equivalent of two sticks of butter in cups or grams?
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one cup. a stick of butter is a half cup
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Hi, I was just wondering which brand did you use for the red food colouring as I can never get it right, not even pink! It still look like chocolate cake to me instead of red velvet. Please advise. Thank you.
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Just Kroger brand, but if you still have trouble (you shouldn’t), you can try the icing gel coloring meant for coloring frosting instead. It is very heavily pigmented.
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How much should I put in for the icing gel colouring?
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I would just add it until it looks good to your eye. I really don’t know from experience.
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Regarding your note about omitting the baking soda, would you increase the baking powder to make up for the loss in baking soda or just omit the baking soda but keep everything else the same? Thank you this recipe looks delicious I’m pumped to try it!
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This cake is magnificent! I made it for my daughter’ birthday. I ended up taking it off the table to save some for later. It was almost gone! Kids ALL loved it, and we had some picky eaters in the bunch. I used Ghiradelli Sweet Cocoa. It is so moist! I totally see why it won an award! This is it for me, no need to look for another Red Velvet recipe.
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I’m so happy to hear this, thank you for letting me know!
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I’ve been baking red velvet cakes all my life….this is the only recipe I will use from now on.
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