I have been a quest to figure out how to make the Perfect Red Velvet Cake. I have to admit that I have made A LOT of red velvet cakes in the process. All of the recipes were good but I was looking for an out-of-this-world recipe. I am picky about my cakes and am determined to create a recipe that will be the only red velvet cake I make in my future.
THIS is the reason I can't fit into my jeans.
There's always January 1st...
I have always been a red velvet cake fan but there are some that are just better than others. I was looking for a deep, rich flavor and a tender, moist crumb with a sweet creamy cream cheese frosting. This Red Velvet Cake recipe is by far the BEST red velvet cake I have ever tried. Now it is time to share it with you!
Since Christmas is one week away (I can't even believe it how quickly it snuck up on us), this is such a beautiful cake to serve on Christmas Eve or Christmas day. The red and white colors are so vibrant and perfectly represent the season.
I am sharing my tips, tricks, and baking advice with you below so you can make the best red velvet cake ever. When making cakes, there is a rhyme and reason to even the order of adding the ingredients. After much testing, this creates the best tasting red velvet cake.
Tips and tricks for making perfect Red Velvet Cake:
- Use a combination of sweet cream Butter and Oil. This is when you get the best of both worlds. Both butter and oil will provide a moist texture to the cake but butter brings the flavor where oil elevates the texture. I have tried using just one of them and found that the best cake is when both butter and oil are used together.
- Use Buttermilk. Buttermilk is one of my favorite ingredients to use in baked goods. It is such a game changer and makes such a difference in the texture of the cake. It is worth it to buy buttermilk (you can use the remaining in my buttermilk pancakes or ricotta pancakes).
- Use Cake Flour. Cake flour has less gluten than all-purpose flour which creates a more tender crumb. You can find cake flour in all grocery stores. I buy it in bulk in grocery stores that sell items in bins (Winco, Sprouts, etc).
- Use a combination of Butter and Cream Cheese in Frosting. A smooth, creamy, and sweet cream cheese frosting is unlike anything else. I love to use a mix of butter and cream cheese as butter brings some richness and the cream cheese adds a subtle tang. Adding powdered sugar is the finishing touch!
- I love to use the USA 8-inch cake pans because the cake comes out beautifully from the pans. You can also find a link to 9-inch pans below. I also use an angled spatula to frost my cakes.
Red Velvet Cake
Ingredients
- 3 cups Cake Flour
- 1 ¾ cups Sugar
- 3 Tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ½ cup Butter cut into cubes
- 3 Eggs
- 1 cup Buttermilk
- ¾ cup Canola Oil
- 1 - 2 Tablespoons Red Food Coloring may do less depending on preference
- 1 Tablespoon Pure Vanilla Extract
- Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 2 - 8- ounce pkgs. Cream Cheese room temperature and softened
- 12 Tablespoons Butter ¾ cup, softened
- 4 ½ cups Powdered Sugar
- 1 Vanilla Bean or 2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a standing mixer, stir together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Beat the butter into the flour mixture, one cube at a time. Continue to beat until it resembles coarse crumbs.
- In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, buttermilk, oil, red food coloring, and vanilla.
- Add the buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and beat the batter until thoroughly mixed.
- Take a spatula and scrape the sides of the bowl.
- Spread into two greased 8 or 9-inch cake pans and smooth tops with a spatula.
- Bake for 16-22 minutes, depending on the depth of pans. If the cake layers are thin, they will cook for less time than the thicker layers.
- Let cakes cool. Run a knife around edge of cake pan and flip over. Frost with cream cheese frosting.
- To make frosting:
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together softened cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. If using a Kitchenaid mixer, use the whisk attachment.
- Add powdered sugar and mix until creamy.
- If using a vanilla bean, split vanilla bean in half and use the tip of the knife to scrape the vanilla bean paste from each side of the vanilla bean pod.
- If using vanilla extract, add to frosting and stir until combined.
- Spread on cooled red velvet cake. Cover tightly.
Video
Here are some of my favorite classic cakes on Modern Honey:
Love at First Sight Chocolate Cake -- a moist, rich chocolate cake with chocolate fudge frosting. A 5-star rated cake!
Yellow Birthday Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting -- this cake recipe has a secret ingredient to make the cake light and fluffy with a killer chocolate frosting.
Here are my favorite cake pans to use for this red velvet cake recipe -- USA 9-inch Cake Pans. I couldn't frost a cake without my angled spatula. It is such a huge help and smooths out the frosting.
Happy Baking, my friends! xo
LeAnn
I am excited to make this cake. I was wondering do you ever bake by weight and have you found that it give you a better product in the end? I have started weighing when I am baking but it can get difficult because there are so many conversion charts. I am getting married and making my own wedding cake so doing so much research it makes my head hurt at time. Just thought I would see what your thoughts were on this. Thank you for sharing some great recipe ideas. Once I do try these, I will definitely share. Again, thank you.
Elizabeth massine
Can you tell me if this cake is stiff enough to be a layer cake? Like for a birthday?
Smita
Hi, Can you please tell me how many inches pans should i use if i want to halve this recipe and what would be the baking time?
Kyle
Hi, would there be any other substitutions other than red food coloring to make this a blue velvet cake? Making it for a twin gender reveal this weekend!
Modern Honey
Awww so fun!! I love the idea! I think the only thing would be to add a little extra blue food coloring since the cake batter is a tad dark because of the cocoa powder. Good luck!!
Kyle
Thank you! We love Levain and all of your recipes!! I also ordered the cake pans and spatula yesterday. Thanks for all the great tips!
Aubriana Foster
I made this cake for my friend's birthday and it turned out amazing! Thank you!
Oyu
Hello,
I was wondering if I can cover the cake with fondant? Would be ok with the frosting you have used?
Thank you
Oyu
Marcia Haworth
This is my first Red Velvet cake other than a mix and I have to say ... What a difference. My nephew asked for it for his birthday cake and he loved it. I used a 9x13 which maybe I shouldn't have because of the longer baking time. It caused the bottom to be a little overdone but other than that, it was really fine. Oh, and I should have cut the frosting in half but I will just keep the excess because I'm sure to be asked to make this again.
Dallas
Can I use self rising flour in place of cake flour?
Marlys Stellingwerf
How did you make the red crumbs that you used to decorate the icing? That gives the cake a finished look! Thanks
Balendra Singh
Baker is one of the professions that is related to bake things in multiple varieties and prepare dishes using sophisticated techniques only.
Tiffy
I made this red velvet cake for Valentine Day. I just love the way the cake came out moist and rich ! Thank you for the best ever red velvet cake recipe !
Trish
This IS the best red velvet recipe!! I made it into cupcakes, baked at 350 for 18 minutes. This made about 27 cupcakes. I did lower the vanilla from 1 TBL to 2 TSP, and I used two 1 ounce bottles of red food coloring because I wanted a deep dark red color, it was the perfect amount. I used unsalted butter and therefore used 1 tsp salt instead of 1/4 tsp. I felt like the frosting could have used a little more powdered sugar, but this depends on your taste (I have a big sweet tooth!) next time I’ll use 6 cups powdered sugar for the frosting. The use of butter and oil is brilliant, you get the buttery richness and a perfectly moist cake. This will be my go to recipe for red velvet for sure. The cupcakes tasted even better the next day! Wish there was a way to attach pics! Thank you for this amazing recipe 🙂
Carol
I did love the recipe and that you use butter and oil for moistness. My concern was that in using 8” pans it took a very long time to cook in the middle and I was concerned that the edges may be getting too cooked. Can you comment how this may happen. My oven was pre-heated appropriately. Oven tends to cook a little bit quicker. Is there something I could have done incorrectly? Also in baking recipes they normally call for unsalted butter. Since u didn’t specify I assumed to use unsalted and didn’t read the reviews to increase the amounts of salt. I actually haven’t tasted the cake yet so hope it is still fine. Thank you.
Kristen
Hands down one of my favorite red velvet cakes I have ever had. I used pastry flour instead of cake flour and a bundt pan to save some time for a party with my family. They all said it was the best they have had as well. Perfecting this recipe paid off for sure, and the icing I added a couple teaspoons of milk... sooo good!
Dianne
I used you recipe for the Red Velvet Cake. It was so moist. Everyone in my family that ate it, loved it.
Kristen
Hello ,
Could I use pastry flour instead of cake flour?
Thanks!
Addie
It is true, an excellent recipe! I made a 3 layer cake.
Dee
Hi, Thanks for this recipe! The cake came out perfect! I made it for Thanksgiving and made another one for Christmas. As an experienced baker, I’ve been looking for the perfect red velvet cake recipe for a long time and I’m so glad I found this one. It’s such a beautiful cake and tastes wonderful!
Lisa Cloud
Looks beautiful. I plan to make it soon. How did you do the pretty red crumbles on top?
Lizzy
What would be the best way to store this once iced? In the refrigerator because of the cream cheese frosting?
Janice
Hi Melissa . I stopped making red velvet cakes years ago because I was doing something wrong . My layers were always flat and the edges were pretty hard . I have been searching for the perfect rvc cake. I'm going to try this one for Christmas . Like you, I love baking my cakes from scratch. One thing though , I've never used cake flour before . My stand mixer stopped working on me thanksgiving in the middle of making my cream cheese icing, so I'll have to use my hand mixer. All the questions I was gonna ask have been answered except one: some recipes say butter some say margarine. Sometimes it'll say butter and I assume it's pure butter whereas some people consider margarine as butter and vice versa . Question, in some cases does it really matter if you use margarine instead of pure butter. In my frosting I just use plain ole margarine , but if a cake says butter I mostly use pure butter. Do you have a recipe for a key lime cake? Also, are those cake crumbs on top? Neat!!