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 made the red velvet cake for my friend’s birthday party and everyone loved it ♥️😋
Yay awesome! So so happy to hear everyone enjoyed the cake Mawada 😀
Hi NK, love you recipe so much I’ve tried the valina sponge a few times and everyone loved the cake so much. I was wondering for this red velvet version can I use red colour pasteabd some how mix it in with rhe wet ingredients instead ?
Thanks
Hi there! 😀 So so happy to hear you enjoyed the vanilla cake 🙂 You can use red gel colour but you would need to add additional liquid to it so that you have the same amount of tablespoons as required in this recipe 🙂 then just add in as stated in the recipe 🙂 hope that helps!
I tried this recipe and this has got to be the best red velvet cake I have tested. It has been trialed and it was a SUCCESS. It so moist, light and all round beautiful. Like most red velvet recipes the prep is longer than most basic cakes but this one I use for any red velvet cakes requested. So glad I found this!!
Yay! So so happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe Lou 😀
Tried this recipe for my girl’s birthday and it was a huge hit! The knife glided through the cake when cutting and all my guests appreciated the cake a lot. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! Will be trying out your other recipes as well! Sending you lots of gratitude from Singapore ❣️
So so happy to hear you and your guests enjoyed the cake Sofia 😀 much love from NZ to Singapore 🙂
Your recipe is such a game charger. Love the taste and texture. The cake turned out so light. I have seen some commercial cakes with such texture and taste and always wondered how one gets such texture.
Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge and skill.
Thanks so much for the feedback Rachna! So so happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe 😀
Out of oven now
But attempted a Vegan version.
Using flax, vegan butter, vegan sugar and …
Smells divine
I should have sifted my icing sugar and softened plant based cream cheese just a teensy bit
Will take pics 📸 later
Awesome! Would love to hear how the cake turned out with the vegan substitutes Tersha 😀
I don’t have a convection oven, so no fan to use. Same temp of 320F ?
Hi Elizabeth! If you don’t have a fan function on your oven, then as a rule of thumb, increase the temperature by about 15-20 degrees celsius 🙂 with 180c being the general max temp for baking cakes (unless the recipe states otherwise). Hope that helps 🙂
Thank you and congratulations in working for a very good new take on a vanilla cake. I have made it and am happy with such a delicious result.
So happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe Pipa 😀
Oh my God MK you are a blessing to me. This is the red velvet cake recipe I have been looking for. I tried it and it was an instant hit with my family. I am going to try out the vanilla cake today and I know it will be a success. Thank you for sharing such wonderful recipes on your page. May you succeed in all you do. God bless you 😍
Hi Mandy! So so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe and that your family loved it too 😀 hope you enjoyed the vanilla cake just as much 🙂
Hi Mk I love your recipe I just wanted to know if I use cakeflour how much cornflour must I use in your recipe our country doesn’t sell allpurpose flour I’m from South Africa
Hi Noeleen! So happy to hear you’re enjoying the recipes 🙂 if using cake flour then simply replace both the all purpose flour and cornflour with cake flour. Hope that helps 🙂
Hi,
I tried this recipe, it tastes amazing..
But i am facing an issue..
Everytime the centre sinks ..
I have triedwith reduced temp woth fan forced
New baking powder/soda
Different pans..
not oppening oven door..
but in all cases it sinks..
Please let me know what could be wrong i am doing..
Thank you
Hi Rabia! Glad you enjoyed the recipe but sorry to hear it keeps sinking! I would recommend keeping the temperature at 160c fan forced, and just double check to make sure the cake tins are 8 inches. The last thing I can think of is that the cake batter is undermixed, so not enough of the structure has been formed for it hold, hence why it’s sinking. Try mixing your cake batter a little more before placing it into the cake tins to bake 🙂 hope that helps!
If I wanted to make 1.5x the recipe (for a 3 layer cake), do you think it would be fine to use 1 extra egg, instead of 1.5?
Hi Nicole! Hmmm I don’t imagine it being too much of a problem if you’re using large eggs, although I can’t say for sure as I haven’t tried it myself 🙂