Red Velvet Cake

4.60 from 65 votes

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting - this super moist and tender red velvet cake makes for a divine and dramatic cake topped with an easy cream cheese frosting.

Prep Time30

Cook Time35

Total Time1 5

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: cake recipes, red velvet cake

Servings:

Calories: 721kcal

Author: Joanna Cismaru

Ingredients

Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar granulated
1 tablespoon cocoa powder unsweetened
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup coconut oil
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup coffee hot
1 tablespoon red gel food coloring

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 1/2 cups whipping cream
16 ounce cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups icing sugar same as powdered sugar or confectioner's sugar

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 F degrees.
Prepare the baking pans: Prepare 2 8 inch cake pans. Cut out 2 parchment paper circles that will fit inside each pan and spray them with some cooking spray. Make sure to spray some cooking spray up the sides of the pans too.
Make the cake batter: In the bowl of your mixer, add the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, baking soda and using the paddle attachment mix everything together until well combined, on low speed.
In a large bowl mix together the buttermilk, coconut oil, eggs, and vanilla extract. Whisk in the coffee and food coloring.
Add the wet ingredients to the mixer bowl and mix everything over medium speed for about 2 minutes, until everything is well combined. Scrape the bottom of the bowl with a spatula and mix as needed. Add more red food coloring as needed to get to the desired color. Pour the batter into the 2 prepared pans, equally.
Bake: Place the cake pans in the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes. To test if the cake is done, insert a toothpick in the middle of the cake and if it comes out clean, it's done. Let the cake cool in the pans for about 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack or a cutting board and cool completely.
Prepare the cream cheese frosting: In the bowl of your mixer whip the whipping cream until soft peaks form. Remove from mixer bowl and refrigerate until ready to use.
In the bowl of your mixer, beat the cream cheese together with the vanilla extract and icing sugar, until smooth. Fold in the whipping cream gradually until well combined.
Assemble the cake: Cut the top part of the cake first and crumbled it up in a bowl, we'll use this for decoration after.
Cut each cake into 2 pieces. Start by placing 1 cake layer onto your serving cake platter, then spread some of the cream cheese frosting, about 1/4, evenly over the cake layer. Repeat with remaining cake layers. Using a spatula, spread the cream cheese frosting evenly over the top of the cake and up the sides. Decorate the cake with the remaining cake crumbs if desired.
Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Video

Notes

I don't have buttermilk, can I use milk instead: You can actually make your own buttermilk by adding a tbsp of lemon juice. You will notice it start to curdle, so you can use this instead, however, I recommend using buttermilk for best results.

Why are you adding coffee to the cake and will it taste like coffee: Coffee is added to enhance the flavor of the chocolate and no, you will not taste the coffee in the cake at all.

Can I use liquid food coloring instead of gel: I strongly recommend using red gel food coloring. You need a lot less gel to get the desired color, plus I always find when using liquid food color that it gives the cakes a weird taste.

This cake can be made as a 3 layer cake or 4 layer cake. If making a 3 layer cake as seen in some of the pictures, it's easier to use 3 cake pans for baking the cakes, this way there's no need to cut each cake in half.

Nutrition: Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.

Nutrition