Red Velvet Cake

This homemade Red Velvet Cake recipe makes a moist, tender, and oh, so velvety soft bright red cake. It is buttery with a subtle cocoa flavor and topped with our irresistibly smooth Cream Cheese Frosting. This cake is perfect for any holiday or special occasion, and for years, it has been the most-requested cake on my site.

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Red Velvet Cake Video

In my video tutorial, I’ll teach you how to make the best Red Velvet Cake from scratch. The red cake batter rises beautifully, making it perfect for a two or three-tier cake. The cake layers bake perfectly flat, so you don’t need to trim them.

Red Velvet Cake Recipe

Red Velvet Cake is known for its signature red or red-brown colored cake layers and soft texture that is… well, velvety. Many ask if Red Velvet Cake is just Vanilla Cake or Chocolate Cake with red food coloring, and the short answer is no. Red velvet cakes typically include cocoa powder, buttermilk, vinegar, butter, and flour, which create a moist, fluffy cake with a hint of chocolate flavor, perfectly sweetened with tangy Cream Cheese Frosting.

Red Velvet Cake Ingredients

The red color in this cake starts with a natural reaction of 3 key ingredients (white vinegar, cocoa powder, and buttermilk), so you don’t have to rely on a ton of food coloring.

• Cocoa Powder (not Dutch process) – adds a hint of cocoa to the distinctive flavor profile of red velvet cake flavor
• Vinegar – activates baking soda and adds extra acid to help maintain the red color in baking
• Buttermilk – adds moisture, flavor, and acidity to keep the cake light and fluffy
• Baking Soda – reacts with the acidic ingredients to give the cake rise
• Vanilla – We use our homemade Vanilla Extract for the best flavor
• Butter and Vegetable Oil – add flavor and moisture to the cake to form a soft crumb
• Flour, Eggs, Sugar, Salt – cake-baking basics that give structure to the crumb
• Red Gel Food Coloring – I use Americolor super red 120 and recommend using a gel instead of liquid since gel is more concentrated

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients

Follow our Cream Cheese Frosting recipe to make the best cream cheese frosting or use a premade frosting in a pinch. I promise you, the homemade frosting is so simple that you will never go back to store-bought frosting again. It’s the same one we use on our Carrot Cake. You will need:

• Cream Cheese – block style, softened and cubed for the classic cream cheese frosting flavor
• Butter – unsalted and softened
• Powdered Sugar, Vanilla, Salt – for flavor

How to Make Red Velvet Cake

• Prepare – Preheat oven to 350°F, grease two 9-inch round cake pans with butter, and dust with flour, tapping out the excess.
• Dry Ingredients – Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
• Wet Ingredients – With a hand mixer or using a standing mixer, cream together softened butter and sugar for a few minutes. Mix in eggs, adding them one at a time and mixing well to incorporate between each addition. Beat in vanilla extract until blended. Gradually add oil and mix on medium speed. In a small bowl, gently whisk together vinegar and buttermilk and then mix it into the batter on medium speed until incorporated.
• Combine – Add the flour mixture to the liquid ingredients all at once and mix on medium speed just until well blended, scraping down the bowl as needed.
• Tint – Add 1/2 teaspoon of red gel food coloring and mix just until blended.
• Divide and Bake – Pour batter evenly between prepared pans and bake at 350°F for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let rest in cake pans for 20 minutes then invert onto a wire cooling rack and let cool completely to room temp before frosting. This batter rises very evenly but if for some reason your layers are not flat, use a serrated knife to gently trim off the excess so that your layers will be level when you stack them.

• Decorate – Make Cream Cheese Frosting and decorate. I added red sprinkles and red icing sugar.

Can I use Dutch-processed cocoa?

We do not recommend Dutch-processed cocoa because it is an alkalized cocoa powder and won’t react with baking soda. Stick with an acidic natural unsweetened cocoa powder like Hershey’s or Nestle (not Special Dark). Natural cocoa turns a dark brick red when it reacts with buttermilk and vinegar. Adding red food coloring makes the cake a more vibrant red.

Can I omit the food coloring?

If you choose not to use it, your cake will still taste exactly the same, but the color will be brown with a reddish hue, rather than bright red. You can use natural elements such as beetroot powder to tint your cake batter – start with 5 Tbs and mix, add one tablespoon at a time until you get your desired red color.

Can I make cupcakes with this recipe?

You could make Red Velvet Cupcakes if you adjust the baking time since they bake faster. Check for doneness around 17-20 minutes. You could also make Red Velvet cake pops.

This bakery-quality Red Velvet Cake recipe is a show-stopper, and it’s surprisingly easy to master right at home. It is the perfect choice for Valentine’s Day, birthdays, rehearsal dinners, weddings, 4th of July, and Christmas (or any occasion because it’s delicious!). Plus, you’ll fall in love with the Cream Cheese Frosting and want to use it on all of your cakes and cupcakes!

More Cake Recipes

If you love this Red Velvet Cake recipe, then you won’t want to miss these top-rated cake recipes:

• Tiramisu
• Almond Cake
• Pumpkin Cheesecake
• Tres Leches Cake
• Classic Cheesecake
• Easy Strawberry Cake
• Raspberry Swiss Roll Cake
• Banana Bundt Cake
• Himmelstorte – Heaven Cake