Red Velvet Cake!
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A delicious & light and moreish red velvet cake smothered in cream cheese frosting – hello cake heaven!
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Red Velvet
Red velvet cake is one of those ‘in things’ that all coffee shops will sell at some point, and the recipe that everyone wants to have and use, but its one of the most inconsistent cakes to make at home that I have come across! I use this as a base for all things red velvet – red velvet NYC cookies, red velvet brownies, red velvet loaf cake and red velvet cupcakes… the list goes on!
After trying out a few recipes from other websites and such I decided that developing my own was best – as some recipes were so unreliable I just didn’t feel comfortable! It really is science when it comes to red velvet, and whilst the classic was really a beetroot cake, this is my more modern version of a red velvet cake.
Food colouring
I would definitely say the key to the recipe is good quality food colouring – using the little liquid bottles you can buy from the supermarket, will NOT work! You will end up having to use about 5 bottle to make it work, and it’ll just taste nasty.
I use Sugarflair food colouring for all of my baking, and this is no different! I use the Sugarflair Red Extra food colouring which you can buy, which comes in at about £5/£6 a pot, but it lasts for sooooo long that this doesn’t matter! Also, the key of using the buttermilk, bicarbonate of soda, and vinegar means that the red colouring will be brought out even more, and you will get the classic velvet cake texture!
I find the reason that peoples red velvet cakes can fail is because of using lower quality food colouring, not mixing it with the cocoa powder (which is the ingredient that makes the colouring not work sometimes!!) and then not taking their time with the making of the cake. Gradually adding in all of the ingredients in the order specified makes a deliciously moist cake, that comes out super super SUPER bright red!
Frosting
The cake has a delicious mix of the flavours of chocolate and vanilla, which is utter heaven to me!! The cream cheese frosting on top is sweet, delicious, and marries with the cake perfectly – but cream cheese frosting can always be a liiiittle bit runny in comparison to others, thats its nature, however – as long as you don’t over beat it too much – it’ll be lovely and delicious!
I love this cake so so so much, so I really hope you guys do too! For the cream cheese frosting, you have to make sure that your cream cheese has no extra excess liquid, and try not to over mix the mixture. Also, room temperature butter is important so there is no lumps. Take a look at this blog post for a whole post dedicated to cream cheese frosting.
Red Velvet Cake!
Ingredients
Cake
- 125 g unsalted butter
- 300 g caster sugar
- 3 medium eggs
- 30 g cocoa powder
- 1 heaped tsp Sugarflair Red Extra food colouring
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 250 ml buttermilk
- 300 g plain flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 2 tsp white wine vinegar
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 150 g unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 150 g icing sugar
- 300 g full fat cream cheese
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat your oven to 170ºC/150ºC fan and line/grease two 8" cake tins - leave to the side for now.
- Beat together the unsalted butter and caster sugar in a stand mixer until smooth and fluffy like you would a normal cake, and then gradually beat in the egg so that it doesn't curdle (if it doesn't curdle, beat in a little flour to bring it back)
- In a small bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, Sugarflair red extra food colouring, and vanilla extract to a thick dark paste (if it is struggling to become a paste, then add in a little milk to make it runnier and mix better - it needs to be smooth!) - it may take a couple of minutes but this will make it easier to add to the rest of the mixture if you do it this way - and the sponge will be more red!
- Add this mixture to the unsalted butter and caster sugar mixture and beat until combined and evenly coloured.
- Turn the speed down to slow, and pour in half of the buttermilk.
- Add in half of the plain flour and beat again, and then the other half of the buttermilk & beat, and then the other half of the flour & beat (I realise this is faffy, but it works!).
- Beat in the bicarbonate of soda and white wine vinegar.
- Beat again for a couple of minutes until everything is smooth and incorporated well.
- Separate into the two tins and bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes until the middle of the cake comes out clean when poked with a skewer!
- Once the cakes are baked, leave to cool fully on a wire rack.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Make sure your unsalted butter is at room temperature. I leave mine out overnight when it's cold weather, but in the hotter months this can take as little as 30 minutes!
- Beat your butter on it's own for a few minutes to loosen it.
- Add in the icing sugar, and beat again - I beat this for about 5 minutes, to make it really smooth.
- Make sure your cream cheese doesn't have any excess water - I find it best to add it to a bowl first just to make sure.
- Add in the cream cheese, vanilla and beat. At first, it may look a little weird, but just keep on beating.
- I end up beating it for a few minutes - it can go through a lumpy stage first, but eventually the lumps beat out and it's smooth and thick!
- Once beaten - it should be lovely and thick.
- Pipe/spread 1/2 of the frosting onto the top of one sponge.
- Add the other sponge on top, then pipe/spread the other half of the frosting onto the top and decorate with sponge crumbs if you fancy!
Notes
- I really really really recommend in investing in good quality Sugarflair Red Extra food colouring for a red velvet cake - I use Sugarflair paste colours which you can buy online, or in cake decorating shops etc - but they don't have a funny taste to them, you use far less to make them work, and they last so much longer!!
- This cake will last in the fridge for up to 3 days, covered, or you can freeze it for up to 3 months!
- I use these 8" Cake Tins
- I use this red food colouring
- I use this Vanilla extract
- I use these piping bags
- I use this Medium 2D Closed Star Piping Tip
- If you would like the original cream cheese frosting recipe it is:
- 125g room temperature unsalted butter, 280g full fat cream cheese, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 400-600g icing sugar.
- Beat the butter and cream cheese together until smooth, and add the vanilla extract.
- Gradually add the icing sugar until thick and delicious.
ENJOY!
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J x
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Hi Jane, please can you let me know ingredient measurements for just a buttercream frosting, my boyfriend doesn’t like cream cheese! Thanks :).
Hiya! Use 200g unsalted butter and 400g icing sugar. Hope this helps! x
I’ve made this cake loads before and never had a problem, but recently I’ve been taking them out of the oven and they’ve shrunk back and become quite dense! I’ve done eveything the same and can’t figure out what’s happening
Hiya! I’m not too sure – it may be worth double checking your oven temp and all of your ingredients just incase! Hope this helps x
Hi Jane
I need to use this recipe to make a 12” heart shaped cake and a 10” heart shaped cake – both 2 layers. How would I multiply your recipe for these size/shape cakes???
Hi Jane, if I wanted to make this a blue velvet cake, would I remove the cocoa powder and swap the red sugarflair for blue??
Hi Jane. Would love to make this for my little girls birthday, do you think it would be ok to cover in fondant or is the cake too delicate? Thanks
It would be fine if you use buttercream! X
Hi Jane! How would I adapt this recipe to make enough for a 6” 3 layer tall cake? Thank you x
Hi Jane, just wondered is there a reason this recipe doesn’t say unsalted butter/stork for the cake ingredients? Could stork be used? Thank-you!xx
I really would like to know that too please Jane ?
Yes it can – either is fine! Hope this helps! x
Hi Jane,
I made my niece your red velvet cake for her 1st birthday and have now been asked to make it again on a larger scale for her mummy and daddy’s wedding next weekend because they loved it so much.
How much mixture would I need for 3 10 inch round tins and how long should I bake it for please?
Book is amazing…..congratulations! Thank you xx
Hi Jane,
I’m looking to make this cake for abput 36 people – 2 layer, 1 tier. Can you tell me what size cake tins I should use please?
Thanks,
Emma
I’m so excited to try this recipe! If I wanted to create a 12” cake could I just double this recipe?
This is the only recipe Iv tried that didn’t work for me! Still a nice cake but just turned out too chocolate-ey and the food colouring didn’t show up at all even after I added extra! Will have to try again using less coco powder x
What brand of food colouring did you use?
Hi Jane simply superb and the moistest red velvet I’ve ever had!! Also it tastes soo goodddd!
I’ve made it twice now and have had a bit of an issue getting the cake out of the tin, it tears/ breaks off because it’s so beautifully soft! Any tips on this not happening? So second time I tried to bake it slightly longer even cos I thought maybe first time round it may have been tad underbaked hence that issue, but if anything it was worse second time round :,(
what do you suggest I do next time to ensure it comes out whole without breaking?
Hi I’m lactose intolerant so can’t use pure butter. I use Arla butter but it’s very soft is there any thing else l can use. It’s for the top tear of our wedding cake.
Hi, my daughter wants a purple cake, could I use purple food colouring instead of red?
Yes its worth a go – you need a really high quality purple though just like the red to make sure it stays purple! x
Hi Jane,
My first time making this cake and I know my family will love it. My question is, how much should I increase the mixture by for two 23cm (9”) tins please?
Thank you,
Rosey
Normally by 1/3! x
I’ve made the cake and the cream cheese frosting today but the frosting was really runny and I had to add a lot more icing sugar than the recipe states. I made sure there was no excess water in my cream cheese, what could I have done wrong? X
Hey! What butter did you use? xx
What quantities would I need for a 2 layer 8 inch square cake please?
You would need to add another third of the recipe – and the baking times may change slightly!
Best cake I’ve made to date thanks to this recipe! Split between 3 6 inch cake tins and turned it into a 6 layer stacked cake. So tasty, thank you!
Aw this is so lovely, you are very welcome I am so glad you enjoyed!x
Hi Jane,
I’m obsessed with all your bakes I’ve made a few now!
What quantity’s would I need for a 3 layer 8” cake
Many thanks 😊x
Hiya, Aww thanks so much! 1.5 time x the recipe x