Red Velvet Cake Recipe
Red velvet cake is known for its color, from bright red to a reddish-brown, its flavor being halfway between chocolate and vanilla. Red velvet cake was a signature dish of the Waldorf-Astoria back in the 20’s.
When making a red velvet cake you might want to use 2 9” round cake pans or 3-4 8” ones, as is traditional with this style of cake.
White frosting or cream cheese frosting tend to go very on with red velvet cake, see my pages on white frosting and cream cheese frosting for great recipes.
This red velvet cake recipe is a standard one with very few adjustments, this recipe also calls for cake flour, I know many people don’t have cake flour so you can substitute in all-purpose, but it’s not a 1-to-1 ratio, 1 c. sifted cake flour translates to 1 c. minus 2 Tbsp. of AP flour.
Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 c. sifted cake flour (or 2 c. minus 5 Tbsp. AP flour)
- 2 Tbsp. quality cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 c. sugar
- 1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
- 2 large eggs
- 1 c. buttermilk
- 2 tsp. red food coloring
- 1 tsp. white vinegar
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. salt
Procedure:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, grease and flour any pans you will be using.
- Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream sugar and butter then beat in eggs one at a time.
- Alternate between beating in the flour mixture and the buttermilk.
- Beat in vinegar food coloring then the vanilla.
- Pour evenly into your greased and floured cake pans.
- Bake 20-30 minutes for 8” pans or 25-35 minutes for 9” pans, cake is fully cooked when toothpick is inserted into middle and comes out clean.
- Allow to cool in pans for a few minutes before placing on wire racks to finish cooling.
- Spread prepared frosting between layers and around edge of cake.
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