Red Velvet Cake

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Dessert

Prep Time: 20

Cook Time: 30

Cooling and then icing: 30

Total Time: 1 20

Servings: people

Calories: 567kcal

Author: Kris Longwell

Nothing is better at the holidays than a stunning Red Velvet Cake. We offer two different types of icing; we love them both! These also make wonderful cupcakes, too! See NOTES for baking time.

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Equipment

2 straight-edge cake pans, with foil strips on the outside (see post and video for explanation)

Ingredients

For Preparing the Pans

unsalted butter for greasing the pan
cake flour for dusting the greased pan

For the Cake

2¼ cups cake flour
2 teaspoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1½ cup sugar
½ cup unsalted butter 1 stick, softened
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 oz red food coloring
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1½ teaspoon vanilla

For Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz cream cheese room temperature
½ cup unsalted butter 1 stick, room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt

For Grandma Summer's Silky Sugar Icing

5 tablespoon flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
¾ cups softened unsalted butter 1½ sticks - room temp
1 cup sugar

Instructions

Make the Cake

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Liberally grease the pans with butter (or shortening), and then dust with flour. Tap the pans to remove excess flour.
unsalted butter, cake flour
In a medium bowl, sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together. Set aside.
2¼ cups cake flour, 2 teaspoon cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt
In a large mixing bowl, cream (beating on medium) the sugar with the butter until fluffy and a pale yellow, about 3 to 5 minutes.
1½ cup sugar, ½ cup unsalted butter
Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
2 large eggs
Add ⅓ of the flour mixture. Mix until combined. Next, add ½ of the buttermilk, then another ⅓ of the flour mixture. Next, add the other half of the buttermilk, and then the rest of the flour mixture.
1 cup buttermilk
Beat in the food coloring and vinegar, then add the vanilla
2 oz red food coloring, 1 teaspoon white vinegar, 1½ teaspoon vanilla
Spread the batter into the prepared pans.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool on a baking rack for 10 minutes. Use a sharp knife to loosen the edges of the cake from the sides of the pan. Invert the pans and tap on them with the end of a knife or fork to help release the cakes. Carefully remove the pans. Let cool completely on the rack before icing.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Beat cream cheese and butter in a large bowl until smooth.
8 oz cream cheese, ½ cup unsalted butter
Beat in powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt. Continue beating for about 2 to 3 minutes, until smooth and creamy.
3 cups powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ¼ teaspoon salt

Grandma Summer's Silky Sugar Icing

Mix flour, milk, and vanilla in a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat until thick, stirring often.
5 tablespoon flour, 1 cup milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla
Remove from heat, and cool completely in the refrigerator.
While the mixture is cooling, in a stand mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat 1 ½ sticks of softened butter and sugar.
¾ cups softened unsalted butter, 1 cup sugar
Add the cooled flour/milk mixture to the creamed butter-sugar mixture.
Beat until fluffy. Cool in the refrigerator until ready to frost the cake.

Video

Notes

If you don't have cake flour, use 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, minus two tablespoons. And then to this add 2 tablespoons of cornstarch.

Don't overly pack the flour when measuring out. Sift the measured flour together with the cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl.

Make the foil baking strips by placing a wet strip of paper towels in a piece of foil that is approx. 2-feet long. Fold the edges in lengthwise to form a belt-like strip. Secure around the sides of the pan and fold the edges over each other. Tuck the bottom of the foil strips under the pan. See video for visual reference.

If you like an extra layer of icing on your cake (we do), then increase the cream cheese recipe by 50%, and double the silky sugar icing. Measurements for the cream cheese would be:

12 ounces cream cheese (1 & ½ bars)
12 tablespoon softened butter (1 & ½ sticks)
4 ½ cups powdered sugar (aka: confectioner's sugar)
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt

The cake can be made up to 2 days before serving. We recommend storing the cake in an air-tight cake holder or stand with a cover.

To make red velvet cupcakes, follow the recipe as is, but pour batter into cupcake tins lined with paper and bake for 17 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Nutrition