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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.
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Red Velvet Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 cups Cake Flour
- 1 3/4 cups Sugar
- 3 Tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1/4 teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 cup Butter cut into cubes
- 3 Eggs
- 1 cup Buttermilk
- 3/4 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 3/4 cup, softened
- 4 1/2 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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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
I cannot wait to make this for my son’s July 4th birthday. I don’t have a stand mixer, can I use a hand mixer? Thank you!
Did you use a hand mixer? How did it work out?
Hi Amy! I apologize for the delay in getting back to you. You absolutely can use a hand mixer with this recipe. I hope your son had a great birthday! —Melissa
Do you use unsalted butter for cake and icing???
Looking forward to making this week ????
Hi Karli! I always have salted butter on hand because it is so versatile so I recipe tested this cake with salted butter. If you want to use unsalted butter, you will want to add a pinch of salt to the frosting to offset the sweetness and add 1/4 teaspoon more salt to the cake. Great question! I will add it to the recipe to help others as well. Thank you! — Melissa
Do you use unsalted butter in both the cake recipe & the frosting & filling recipe? I was taught that unsalted butter is always used in baking
Thank You
Therese
Hi Therese! I recipe tested this cake with salted butter so if you want to use unsalted butter, you will want to add a pinch of salt to the frosting to offset the sweetness and add 1/4 teaspoon more salt to the cake. Great question! I will add it to the recipe to help others as well. Thank you! — Melissa
Hi do you have a recipe scaled for 1/2 sheet pan for sheet cake? Thank you ????
Hi Morgan! I haven’t made it in a 1/2 sheet pan yet. If you want to try it, just adjust the baking time. It is much thinner so it will cook quickly. I hope that helps! — Melissa
I just made this for a 1/2 sheet pan 12”x18”.
You have to triple the recipe to get a 16 cup yield.
Thanks, Tina, for letting us know and sharing. I appreciate it!
Hi there
I am new to baking!
Pls what is cake flour? It’s different from the plain flour and self raising flour??
Regarda
Hi Sera! Cake flour is a finely ground flour that is low in gluten — around 8% instead of about 11%. It helps to create a beautiful texture in cakes. If you don’t have it, you can use all-purpose flour. It will change the texture slightly but still taste amazing.
You can mimic cake flour by replacing one tablespoon of all purpose flour with one tablespoon of corn starch for every cup of all purpose flour. This increases the percentage of starch and thus decreases the percentage of gluten.
Is the cubed butter cold or room temperature when adding to the dry ingredients? I’m making this for my daughter’s birthday and she’s is very excited. ????
Always best to use at room temperature for cakes x
If wish I had read this comment before making this. I’ve been baking for a long time and was confused by the ratio of butter to flour mixture and your comment that it would resemble coarse crumbs. In my experience this is achieved by cold butter cut into flour. But this ratio would be too heavy on dry ingredients to achieve the crumbs with only 1/2 of butter. And so I was confused by your wording here. I did not achieve coarse crumbs but went ahead and made it anyway.
Hi Elizabeth! You can use slightly softened butter (not melted butter) in the cake batter. I hope that helps! — Melissa
Since it did not indicate softened butter for the batter, I used cold thinking there was some reason for it. This should definitely be noted on the Ingredient list as no place on the recipe does it say room temperature. Only for the frosting. Also I had to bake for 36 mins. This probably happened because I had to mix for quite a while due to the cold butter. I’ll report back once we try it later today.
I was wondering why you don’t add vinegar to this recipe? Did you try it an not like it or find it wasn’t essential?
Thanks!
Hi Sharon. That’s a great question! The reason that I didn’t use vinegar is that I used buttermilk instead. The acidity from the buttermilk helps to activate the leavening agents to help the cake to rise. Since this recipe calls for buttermilk, you don’t need the vinegar. If you were to use milk instead of buttermilk, you would need to add some vinegar. I hope that helps! 🙂
Thanks!
I made it for my son’s birthday and it came out great. It tasted even better the next day and the day after and that was awesome too! Thanks!
I love to hear that, Sharon! Thank you for taking the time to let me know how it turned out. I appreciate it! — Melissa
Can this recipe be used for cupcakes?
Hi Deborah! Absolutely. I haven’t recipe tested it for cupcakes yet but the one thing you will need to change is the baking time. Since cupcakes are smaller, they cook faster. I would suggest setting the timer for 14-15 minutes and to keep checking for doneness. Hope that helps!
Hi there! Are there any changes that would need to be made if I were to test this cake out in cupcake form?
Hi Halle! I haven’t tested it out but I am sure it would make amazing cupcakes. You would want to just reduce the baking time. I would suggest setting the timer for about 14-15 minutes and keep checking. Thanks for the great question.
Beautiful Cake and looks divine! Being red & white it’s just perfect for Christmas or anytime for that matter!
Thank you so much, Deb! You are so right….it’s perfect for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, or whenever you get a craving. 🙂 Have a great day!