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.
566 Comments
I haven’t tried this recipe yet, but I will be making it for a birthday next month. Do I need to alter the recipe for 9” round pans?
Hi Tanis! 🙂 For 9 inch pans, I would recommend making 1.5x the recipe 🙂
Hope that helps and hope you enjoy the recipe!
Hi Maryam and thank you for all your videos which I have been watching and re-watching. Hard to decide what to make as everything looks so good! I would like to make this Red Velvet cake but have a question which kind of applies to a lot of your recipes. My oven isn’t wide enough to fit two 8cm tins on the middle shelf of the oven (oven has a fan option). Would it work if I bake them on different levels? I am worried they won’t bake evenly. Or is there a way to make the cake in one tin – is it too fragile to cut in half? The cakes I make and cut in half are a bit denser. Hoping to find a way as am wanting to dive in and get baking! Thanks for your advice.
Hi Paula! So happy to hear you’ve been enjoying the videos 😀
If you have a fan option, then you could bake both trays at the same time (the fan option bakes more evenly), just try and keep them as close to the middle of the oven as possible. If you can see through the oven door, then just keep an eye on the top one to make sure it isn’t over browning (just be careful not to open the oven door too early as this can cause the cakes to sink – you want to let atleast 3/4s of the cooking time pass). The cake is quite soft so I wouldn’t recommend baking one taller cake as it may not rise well and will be harder to torte 🙂
You could make one larger 10 inch cake with 1x the recipe, but it would be a single layer cake.
Hope that helps and hope you enjoy the recipe Paula 🙂
Hello! Can this be made into cupcakes? If so, do you know how many it yields? Is the bake temperature the same? And what about time?
Thank you so much!
Hi Marcus! 🙂 Yes you can totally turn this recipe into cupcakes – I have a red velvet cupcake recipe (based off this recipe) that you can find here: https://cakesbymk.com/recipe/soft-red-velvet-cupcakes/
Hope you enjoy the recipe 😀
Maryam, Steffi here again 🙂 Remember I said I wanted to make this cake for my birthday?
Unfortunately this cake was kinda mixed results for me :(. Let me explain, cause I can sense your heart sinking a bit. It’s not your fault though!
The red velvet sponge cake was good. I’ve become so used to your process that when it came out of the oven, I lightly pressed the cake layers and it felt pretty soft.
The problem is the cream cheese frosting. 1) I probably did not let my butter come to room temp enough, 2) did not beat the butter and icing sugar enough til super super fluffy, and 3) I wish I read earlier comments about the cream cheese, cause I now know you suggested to beat the cream cheese with the stand mixer first before the butter + icing sugar. Flavour wise, it was quite nice, the lemon brought a good tartness to it, though a pity due to my under mixing, we could taste the sugar grains.
Also I don’t have piping experience, and I didn’t have a 1M tip. Not to mention I cut the opening for my piping bag a bit too big -facepalm-. So yea series of mistakes LOL. In the end, I went for a normal plain frosting, tried to get smooth edges, so I think I improved this for sure! Frosting was smoother and cleaner edges. Though I became too nitpicky and kept trying to smooth out every single crease -facepalm again-. Next time I’ll try not to be so perfectionist over my frosting skills (which are almost non-existent, like I’ve only frosted about less than 5 cakes in my life).
So in the end, I did not use this cake for my family gathering. I got another cake just to elevate my stress and anxiety. However, husband and I are enjoying slices of this red velvet cake everyday. So that’s a silver lining I feel!
I will definitely need to make more layered frosted cakes to build up more experience. I know if I nailed that frosting, this cake would have been perfect.
Thanks for the recipe as always :).
Next cake I’m thinking of making is the strawberry cake. Tbh I was thinking to make it for my daughter’s first birthday end of this month! But I don’t think I want to stress myself again with such a big momentous event, so I will still make this cake, but more of a leisurely practice. With less stress, less perfectionist demands, more casual practice, I know I can make decent looking cakes in future <3.
Hi Steffi! 🙂 Aww I am so sorry to hear you had a bit of a challenging experience with the frosting! Yes if you find the frosting is a bit lumpy, it means that the paddle wasn’t able to properly mix the cream cheese. In a pickle, you can switch to the whisk attachment to smooth it out, but ideally you don’t want to overmix the frosting after the cream cheese has been added in.
I used to do a lot of cake decorating tutorials when I first started my YouTube channel, I’ll link some videos below that may help 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtE1623OMNc&t=1s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWQb3F9Ymx8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SmdFuKpDHE&t=337s
I am sure with practice you’ll be a pro in no time Steffi 😀
Really appreciate you taking the time to provide your feedback 🙂 I’ll be sure to update recipes that use the cream cheese frosting to add the extra tips when using a paddle instead of a hand mixer 🙂
The cake looks great, would like to try next weekend 🙂
There may be a coeliac eating it if I can go gluten-free. What gluten-free flour substitution would you recommend?
Thanks Colin! 🙂
I haven’t tried a gluten-free flour with this recipe myself so I can’t say for sure how well it would work, but usually any gluten free flour that is meant to act as a 1:1 substitute with regular flour in baking tends to work well with my recipes 🙂
Hope you enjoy the recipe Colin!
I’ve made this cake before. However, I would like to know if I can use all oil instead of the butter? (Using for an ice cream cake) Thanks in advance
Heya! 🙂 Unfortunately the butter cannot be substituted for oil in this recipe as the mixing method relies on the creaming process where air is whipped into the butter. These air bubbles then expand while baking which gives you a nice fluffy texture. Unfortunately oil is unable to hold air so you may end up with a dense cake if you use all oil. Hope that helps 🙂
hi! if i want to store this cake already frosted, should it be in the fridge or room temp? will the frosting go bad over night at room temp because of the cream cheese?
Hi Alejandra! 🙂 If the cake is completely covered in frosting, then it’s best to store in the fridge (just let it come to room temp for a couple of hours before serving). Because the cream cheese frosting has a lot of sugar, it’s okay to leave at room temp for a day, but any longer then it is best to refrigerate. Overnight, I would store it in the fridge 🙂
Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Can you bake this using a 9×13 pan?
Hi Janet 🙂 Yes you can! You may just need to reduce the cook time slightly 🙂
Hope you enjoy the recipe!
This is the best red velvet cake hands down, have made it countless times and always a crowd pleaser.
I’m looking to use 10” cake pans this time but not sure how much to increase the recipe by. Do I double it x2 or x1/2?
Thanks
Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback Jo! 😀 So glad you’re loving the recipe 🙂
For two 10 inch cake pans, I would double the recipe (2x) 🙂
Hi Maryam
Can I substitute beets for food coloring and how much?
Hi Michelle! 🙂 You could use beetroot as a natual red color, though I wouldn’t add it in just like that (to ensure none of the flavor comes through). I have done a video on how to make natural food color which you can check out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcYXoFq0qFc
Hope that helps Michelle 🙂