Okay I am SO EXCITED to finally be sharing my red velvet cake recipe! This red velvet cake is so incredibly soft, full of flavor and is topped with the most delicious cream cheese buttercream. It has a super velvety texture and slightly tart, yet sweet and creamy frosting – making it the best red velvet cake recipe I’ve tried!
What exactly is a red velvet cake?!
A red velvet cake is a combination of a vanilla and chocolate cake, with a distinct tangy taste. This is due to the buttermilk and vinegar (which are common ingredients in a red velvet cake).
Traditionally, red velvet cakes didn’t have any red food coloring, and were a more brownish, reddy colour. This natural red colour was due to the chemical reaction between non-dutched cocoa powder and the acidic ingredients (white vinegar and buttermilk).
Red velvet cake is often paired with cream cheese frosting (which I have done for this cake) or ermine frosting.
How to make red velvet cake
This cake comes together really easily! Just be sure to follow the steps exactly as stated.
Begin by preheating your oven to 160°C fan forced, and grease and/or line two 8 inch cake pans (I like to use my homemade cake release). If your oven doesn’t have a fan option, then you will need to increase the baking temperature to 175°C/350°F.
For the cake batter, start off by sifting together flour, cornstarch, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. By premixing our dry ingredients, it helps ensure that everything is mixed well, preventing us from overmixing our batter when we come to combining our wet ingredients with the dry, later on in the recipe.
Set your dry ingredients aside and in another bowl cream together butter, oil and sugar with a hand mixer (or stand mixer) for 2-3 minutes on a medium-high speed. This is going to incorporate air into our batter, which will give us a fluffier cake!
Next add in eggs one by one, mixing well in between each addition. Eggs add structure and moisture to our cake.
Next add in vanilla extract or essence, white vinegar and red liquid food coloring and mix until well combined.
Now the last step is to fold in our dry ingredients while alternating with 3/4s of a cup buttermilk. So to do this, add in half of your flour mixture and fold it into the wet mixture until just combined. Then add in your buttermilk, and fold that through until just combined. Lastly, add in your remaining dry ingredients and fold through until just combined.
It’s important to do this step by hand as this will prevent us from overmixing our batter and developing too much gluten. Gluten is what gives bread great structure, and although we want SOME structure for cakes, we don’t want too much otherwise it’ll make our cake tough and dense.
Once the batter is done, evenly distribute it into the two 8 inch cake tins and cook for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool in the cake tins for 20 minutes, before turning them out onto a cooling rack. Allow to completely cool before frosting.
How to decorate your cake
There’s no particular way to decorate a red velvet cake, but here’s how I did mine using my cream cheese frosting recipe 🙂
Now usually I would trim (or torte) the tops of my cake layers with a serrated knife to make them flat, but these red velvet layers bake up really nice and flat so no trimming was required. So I went ahead and added a generous amount of frosting to my first cake layer and smoothed it out with my offset spatula. I then placed the next cake layer on top.
I then placed some frosting on my top cake layer and spread it out with my offset spatula. I then used the excess frosting on the sides to cover the entire cake. I only did a thin layer of frosting and didn’t worry about a crumb coat because I was piping rosettes all around the cake. If you also want to pipe rosettes, then you will need to make 1.5x my cream cheese frosting recipe to ensure you have enough frosting.
I then used a 1M piping tip to pipe rosettes all around the cake! If you’re new to piping check out my beginner’s piping tutorial or 1M piping tip tutorial.
Once your cake is decorated, pop it into the fridge to allow everything to firm up. This will make it easier to cut. We don’t want cold cake though, so bring it out of the fridge about an hour or so before it’s going to be cut. If it’s still cold when you cut through it, then let it come to room temperature before eating. Trust me, it is worth the wait 😀
Commonly Asked Questions
Can I use gel food coloring instead of liquid color for this recipe?
Yes, you can use gel food coloring in replacement of liquid coloring, however you will need to dilute the gel colour with just under 3 1/2 tablespoons of water or milk to make up for the liquid lost when using gel colors. This recipe requires 3 1/2 tablespoons of liquid colour, however if using gel colours you won’t need that much as gel colours are concentrated. Additional liquid helps to thin out the batter and results in a fluffier, more velvety texture in your final cake.
Can I use this recipe to make red velvet cupcakes?
For a cupcake version of this cake, check out my red velvet cupcake recipe. It’s basically a smaller quantity of this recipe – just enough to make 12 cupcakes!
Can I use a buttermilk substitute?
A buttermilk substitute will work fine for this recipe. Check out how to make your own buttermilk substitute here.
Soft Red Velvet Cake
Print Pin VideoIMPORTANT: For accuracy, I would recommend using the gram measurements provided, as those are the exact quantities I use. Cup measurements are given as estimates (based on US cup measurements) to make it easier for those who do not have a scale.
Ingredients
Red Velvet Cake
- 2¼ cups (275 g) flour - regular all purpose (see note 3 if you want to use cake flour)
- 3 tbsp (18 g) cornflour - also known as cornstarch
- 3 tbsp (14 g) cocoa powder - unsweetened
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt - omit if using salted butter
- 6 tbsp (86 g) unsalted butter - room temperature
- ¾ cup (141 g) unflavoured vegetable oil - I use canola
- 1¾ cups (344 g) white granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs - room temperature
- 1 tbsp (12 g) vanilla essence/extract
- 1½ tsp white vinegar
- 3½ tbsp (38 g) red liquid food colouring
- ¾ cup (158 g) buttermilk - room temperature
Cream Cheese Buttercream
- 1 batch of my cream cheese buttercream frosting recipe - see note 4 if piping rosettes around the cake like I have
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 160 °C (320°F) with the fan on (see note 7 if you don't have a fan function) and grease and/or line two 8 inch cake tins (I use my homemade cake release).
- In a bowl, sift together your flour, cornflour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Using a whisk or fork, mix until well combined. Set aside.
- In another bowl, add in your butter, vegetable oil and sugar. Using an electric mixer (hand or stand mixer are both fine - see note 6), cream together for 2-3 minutes until light and creamy.
- Add in eggs one by one, mixing well in between each addition (about 10-15 seconds between eggs).
- Add in your vanilla, vinegar and red liquid food colour, and mix until well combined. Now set your mixer aside as the remainder of the batter will be finished by hand.
- Finish off by adding in half of your premixed dry ingredients to your wet mixture, and gently fold it in with a spatula until just combined. Then add in all of your buttermilk, and fold it in until just combined. Lastly, add in the remaining dry ingredients and gently fold it into the mixture until just combined. Do not overmix (see note 1).
- Distribute the batter evenly into the two 8 inch cake tins, and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Be careful not to open the oven door too early otherwise this can cause the cake layers to sink (see note 2). Also avoid overbaking the cake layers otherwise they will dry out.
- Once baked, allow them to cool in the cake tins for about 15-20 minutes, and then turn them out onto a wire rack to completely cool before frosting with my cream cheese buttercream frosting. For tips on how to frost your cake, check out the blog post above where I walk you through how I decorated mine with pictures, or watch my YouTube video below 🙂
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information are estimates only as they are automatically calculated by a third party application. Actual values may differ based on brands and types of products used.
558 Comments
Best recipe ever.
Deserves a medal. Mk really nailed on this one. I have made this cake twice now without a fail.
Awesome! Thanks so much so happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe 🙂
Hi there
I tried this recipe today and found that my final batter seemed a little dry. I ended up having to add 50ml boiling water just to loosen it up slightly 🙈.
I followed the grams exactly.. what could it be ?
I love watching you bake 😁
Hi Larissa! 🙂 Hmmm if you followed the gram measurements then I’m not too sure why the batter would end up on the drier side sorry! Perhaps you may have missed one of the ingredients? Adding the buttermilk in at the end should loosen up the batter sufficiently :). So happy to hear you’re enjoying the videos 😀
Hye😊 why when i mix butter sugar and oil it stay liquidy? I had checked weight and temperature but still after third trial it still liquidy😢
Hi Intan! 🙂 Hmmm my first thought would be that the butter is too soft. Check out this video for creaming butter oil and sugar, hopefully there will be some tips in there to help solve the problem 🙂 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVgfSV437kI
Hi Mariam! I want to make red velvet muffins. Is it possible to use this batter for muffins? If so, what should be the oven temperature.
Many thanks
Kavita
Hi Kavita! 🙂 I have an almost identical red velvet cupcake recipe – it’s just a smaller quantity with a few minor adjustments. You can find the recipe here: https://cakesbymk.com/recipe/soft-red-velvet-cupcakes/
Thanks Mariam
Just wondering, if I were to lightly brush the cake layers with a milk soak, what would happen? Thank you!
Hi Nedya! 🙂 That should be fine, it’ll just keep the cakes moister for longer – just make sure not to put too much as you don’t want the cakes to be soggy. Hope that helps!
Hey I’m wanting to use 3 6 inch cake tins would I need to double or triple the ingredients?
Hi Darryl-lee! So one batch of this recipe will make four 6 inch cake tins, so you could either make the one batch and have 3 thicker 6 inch cake layers, or use any extra batter to make some cupcakes on the side 🙂 hope that helps!
I want to use 2 nine inch cake pans. Will I need to make a recipe and a half (1 1/2) in order to have enough batter. I noticed you used 8 inch cake pans.
Hi Shay! You can make 1.5x the recipe if you like, or use the original amount but your cake layers will be slightly thinner and you’ll need to reduce the cooking time slightly 🙂
Hi wanted to make a 10inch 3 layer cake do I triple the ingredients and how much frosting would I need for this size cake
Hi Rachel! For a 10 inch 3 layer cake you would probably need to triple the recipe, so just times each ingredient by 3, and I would recommend using the gram measurements for accuracy :). In terms of the frosting, it depends on how you’re frosting the cake, but I would probably just triple the frosting recipe too and go from there 🙂
Hi I would like to make a 10 inch 3 layer red velvet cake but I don’t know how much ingredients or how to triple and also how much frosting would I need thanks
Hi Rachel! For a 10 inch 3 layer cake you would probably need to triple the recipe, so just times each ingredient by 3, and I would recommend using the gram measurements for accuracy :). In terms of the frosting, it depends on how you’re frosting the cake, but I would probably just triple the frosting recipe too and go from there 🙂
Please could you recommend food colouring brands to use? The ones I’ve tried gave me pink-magenta regardless of the quantity. Kindly assist
Hi Ann! The only liquid food colouring I’ve tried is the Queen Pillar Box red liquid food colour and that works great for me 🙂