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
Hey, will it be okay to make the mixture up the day before and store it in the fridge overnight before cooking? Thanks!
Hi Abbie! 🙂 Due to the chemical reactions that take place in the batter, I would not recommend making the batter ahead of time. You want to get the cakes into the oven as soon as possible for best results. Alternatively, you can make the cake layers earlier and either store them in an airtight container, or if it’s going to be more than a day until they’re used then you can wrap them well in clingwrap, place into an airtight container and freeze them until you’re ready to use them 🙂
Hope that helps and hope you enjoy the recipe!
Hi Maryam, this looks so so good! I’ve tried your eggless chocolate cake and it came out perfect! Do you have an eggless recipe for the red velvet cake yet? Thanks 😊
Thanks so much! So glad you enjoyed the eggless chocolate cake 🙂
I don’t have an eggless red velvet cake just yet sorry, but it is on my to-do list so hopefully will get around to it sometime soon 😀
This recipe is incredible! For eggless, I used non-fat Greek yogurt as a substitute. 1/4 cup yogurt (57 grams) for each egg and it came out perfectly. Thanks MK.
Awesome! So glad you loved the recipe and that the non-fat Greek yoghurt worked great as an egg substitute! I just came out with an eggless red velvet cake recently which also uses yoghurt 🙂
Made this cake for my husband’s birthday (along with frosting) and it was perfect! I’ve always struggled with layer cakes but this recipe was easy to follow and came out exactly like the pictures. I substituted the buttermilk with milk and lemon with no issues. Thank you for this recipe!!!
Awesome! So so happy to hear you loved the recipe and found it easy to follow 😀
Really appreciate the wonderful feedback and happy birthday to your husband 🙂
Could I use a bundt cake pan instead?
Hi Melody! 🙂 I haven’t tried this recipe in a bundt pan myself so I am not too sure sorry! The cake layers are quite soft so I am not sure if they would rise as well in a bundt pan. Hope to share some bundt pan recipes soon 🙂
hi Melody! I’ve tried this recipe with silicone bundt mould! It works and the batter of the cake rise beautifully as well! You should give it a try!
Now I just don’t get red velvet cake, but a lot of my friends like it and ask me to bake it for them. I made this for the first time recently as a gift for my friend’s birthday and although I didn’t taste it, everyone was raving about how delicious it was.
What I can say about it, is that it baked up so tall, flat and soft. I didn’t even need to level the top off. It will now be my go to red velvet cake recipe.
Thank you for sharing it with us.
Hi Marilyn! 🙂 Haha I know many people who don’t quite understand red velvet cake too so you are not alone 🙂
So glad to hear everyone loved the recipe! Sounds like you did an incredible job with it.
Really appreciate the wonderful feedback 🙂
I made this recipe many times! I’m starting to bake using your recipes! Thank you for sharing!
Yay! So glad you’re loving the red velvet cake April and that my recipes are bringing out the baker in you!! 😀
I finally tried this red velvet cake recipe, and I’m so happy with how it turned out! The cake layers were soft and moist, and the cream cheese frosting had just the right amount of tang. I didn’t need to trim the layers, which was a nice bonus. This recipe is definitely going into my regular rotation!
Yay! So glad you enjoyed the red velvet cake David 😀
Really appreciate the wonderful feedback 🙂
This recipe is perfect. Thank you. Can I ask please does it freeze well? Many thanks
Awesome! So glad you loved the recipe Caroline 😀
I haven’t tried freezing this cake myself, but I think if the cake layers are wrapped well in cling wrap and placed into an airtight container before freezing it should be fine 🙂
Hi, I would like to try this recipe soon.
May I know what can I substitute with the cream cheese buttercream with other recipes besides cream cheese? I found some in your frosting recipes and I have no idea which to choose.
Hi there! 🙂 For the same recipe with a different frosting, I would recommend checking out this blog post: https://cakesbymk.com/recipe/traditional-red-velvet-cake-with-ermine-frosting/
It uses a traditional ermine frosting which works great with red velvet cake and doesn’t have any cream cheese in it 🙂
Alternatively, for a simple vanilla buttercream, I would recommend this recipe: https://cakesbymk.com/recipe/silky-smooth-buttercream-frosting/
Hope that helps!
Hello MK. I’d like to bake this recipe in 3 x 7″ pans. Wold I do 1.5 times the recipe?
Thanks
Megan
Hi Megan! 🙂 For three 7 inch pans, yes you may want to make 1.5x the recipe (ideally 1.25x the recipe but that may make the calculations a bit difficult). With 1.5x the recipe, the cake layers may be slightly thicker so might require a slightly longer cook time. Hope that helps and hope you enjoy the recipe 😀