Red Velour Cake

This Red Velour Cake takes your classic Red Velvet Cake and brings it to the next level of elegance and deliciousness. Moist and full of the soft velvet texture we’re all familiar with and love, this cake also has a velour exterior that’s beautiful and sophisticated.

I have been waiting with bated breath to share this fabulous cake recipe with you. This cake is absolutely visually stunning and delectable to boot. If you love the rich flavor and texture of the classic red velvet cake, you’re going to be crazy for Red Velour. It’s stacked high with cream cheese icing and brilliantly red fluffy cake.

What Is Velour Cake?

I came across it in the holiday edition of the Ricardo magazine and as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to try it. Are you familiar with red velvet cake, the rich chocolate cake that’s beautifully red with layers of cream cheese icing? Well this cake is essentially the same just with a fine red crumb over the exterior to give it a lovely matte finish.

Isn’t Red Velvet Just Chocolate Cake Dyed Red?

A lot of people think red velvet is just chocolate cake with coloring but that’s not quite true. There’s less cocoa and the addition of buttermilk and vinegar make it tangier and give it the “velvet” texture. So this cake is all about texture and flavor, combined with a visually stunning finish.

Ingredients

Keep scrolling down to the recipe card for a list of FULL ingredient amounts and instructions or click the “Jump to Recipe” button at the top of the page!

Cake

• Dry ingredients – All purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
• Wet ingredients – Vinegar (white or apple cider vinegar), vanilla extract, cocoa powder, and red gel food coloring.
• Butter – Unsalted and softened to room temperature.
• Sugar – Just plain white sugar is all we need for this red velour cake.
• Eggs – The binding agent for our batter recipe.
• Buttermilk – Buttermilk will add tenderness to our cake recipe. You can substitute 1 cup of regular milk with 1 tablespoon vinegar for every cup of buttermilk.

Frosting

• Butter – Unsalted again as we want to control our sodium in this recipe.
• Flour – All purpose flour is all we need.
• Milk – I used 3% as we are looking for something high fat in our frosting.
• Vanilla – Vanilla extract is our secret weapon flavor booster.
• Salt – All baked goods and the frosting that tops them needs a little salt. My printable recipe card gives details on the exact amount needed below.
• Cream cheese – Softened to room temperature this is the rich base of our velour cake.
• Sugar – We need icing sugar for this part of the recipe as it will ensure our frosting is sweet and non grainy.

How To Make Red Velour Cake

Cake

1. Preheat the oven: To 350 F degrees. Prepare 3 separate 8 inch cake pans. Cut out 3 parchment paper circles that will fit inside each pan and spray them with some cooking spray, underneath and over the paper. Make sure to spray some cooking spray up the sides of the pans too.
2. Combine dry ingredients: Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt to a medium sized bowl and whisk until combined.
3. Mix wet ingredients: In a smaller bowl add the cocoa powder, vinegar, vanilla extract and red gel food coloring and whisk until well combined.
4. Combine your batter: In the bowl of your mixer add the butter, sugar and the cocoa powder mixture. Beat until well incorporated. Add the eggs and continue whisking until smooth. Add about half of the flour mixture and with the mixer on low continue mixing until well incorporated, then add half the buttermilk and mix until smooth. Mix in the remaining flour mixture, then the buttermilk and mix until smooth.
5. Bake the red velour cake: Divide the batter equally between the 3 prepared pans and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean. Cool in the pans for about 5 minutes or until cool enough to handle, then unmould the cakes from the pans and finish cooling completely on a wire rack.
6. Prepare the velour crumb: Cut off the dome of each cake using a serrated knife and finely crumble them onto a baking sheet. Spread the crumbs evenly and bake for 15 minutes. Let them cool completely. Add the crumbs to a food processor and pulse for about 30 seconds to a minute or until the crumbs are super fine.

Frosting

1. Form the base: Melt 2 tbsp of the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minute, whisking constantly, to get rid of the flour taste. Add the milk, vanilla, salt and whisk constantly for another minute. The mixture should resemble a thick paste. Place it in a small bowl and cover it with plastic wrap directly on the surface of the paste. Let it cool completely.
2. Finish the frosting: When the mixture is cool, add it to a larger bowl, add the rest of the butter, cream cheese and beat until smooth. Add the icing sugar and continue mixing until smooth and creamy.

Assembly

1. Assemble the cake base: Place 4 square pieces, about 6 inches by 6 inches of parchment paper on the bottom of a cake platter then place a cake directly in the center of the platter, over the parchment paper. This will make it a lot easier to clean the cake platter after we’re done assembling it.
2. Frost the cake: Spread about 3/4 of a cup of frosting onto the bottom cake, evenly over the surface. Add another cake and spread another 3/4 cup of the frosting. Place the last cake top side up, makes for a smoother top and easier to spread the frosting. Add the rest of the frosting and evenly spread it over the entire surface of the cake including the sides.
3. Finish the velour cake: Sprinkle about half a cup of the fine red velvet crumbs over the top of the cake and lightly press them into the frosting. Repeat with the side of the cake, using your hands to smooth out the crumbs. You may use a cake spatula to finish smoothing the crumbs into the frosting. Slowly pull out the parchment paper pieces from under the cake and clean off any leftover crumbs on the platter around the cake. Slice and serve.

What Color Should My Batter Be?

Your batter should be bright bright red as the over all tone will dull as the cake bakes. If it looks too vividly red, then you have it right! We want something that is still nice and impactful when cut open. If you’re rather not use coloring it won’t affect the flavor or structure of the cake, it’ll just keep it brown.

Why Gel Food Coloring

Gel food coloring works best for this recipe as it allows us to achieve a truly vibrant and consistent red that lasts long after baking. Regular red food dye will also work just fine if that’s what you have on hand as will beet root powder if you’re looking for a natural alternative.

What Kind Of Frosting Works With Red Velour Cake?

Cream cheese icing is perfect for the buttermilk and vinegar tang but some people just don’t like it, in that case you can use any type of thick frosting you like. Whether it be buttercream, chocolate icing, your favorite out of a can. Regardless of the kind you use just ensure that it is thick enough to stand up to the multiple layers we have going on with this cake and won’t get squished.

Tips and Tricks

1. Prepare your frosting while your cake is baking to make the process nice and efficient.
2. Cool the frosting paste completely, I put mine in the fridge to ensure this.
3. I strongly recommend using red gel food coloring because I find that you get a much more intense red color and there’s no bitter taste after.
4. You can skip step 1 under assembly, if you have a large cake lifter. You can assemble the cake on a large cutting board, then use the cake lifter to transfer the cake onto a cake plate.
5. If you substitute buttermilk for milk with vinegar added then be sure to let the mixture stand for 5 minutes before adding to the batter.
6. You can also substitute buttermilk with 3/4 cup plain yogurt mixed with 1/4 cup regular milk.
7. While Ricardo takes it even a step further by pressing these crumbs through a sieve to get even finer crumbs, I felt that the crumbs were fine enough. Totally up to you though.

Leftovers

In the fridge this red velvet cake will last up to 5 days, just be sure it’s stored in an airtight container. This recipe can also be frozen! In the freezer it’ll keep for up to a year also stored properly in an airtight container. Wrap the cake securely with plastic wrap before placing in the airtight container to protect your cake and allow it to thaw fully at room temperature before serving.

More Incredible Cake Recipes To Try:

• Tiramisu Tres Leche
• Zebra Cake
• Cream Cheese Filled Banana Cake
• Apple Pie Cake
• Banana Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake
• Red Velvet Cheesecake Cake
• Chocolate Swiss Roll Cake
• Coconut Cake