USA · Dessert · Medium
Red Velvet Cake
Rome's most famous pasta. Silky egg and Pecorino sauce clinging to every strand, studded with crisp guanciale. No cream, ever.
The whole recipe in 60 seconds
Red Velvet Cake, in 5 ideas
- Gel coloring beats liquid. More intense red with less liquid, so it does not throw off the batter. Two tablespoons of gel equals drama.
- Room temperature everything. Cold cream cheese makes lumpy frosting. Set it all out an hour before you start.
- Level the layers. A serrated knife across the domed tops gives you flat, professional stacking.
- Crumb coat first. A thin layer of frosting, chilled 15 minutes, traps the crumbs. Then the real coat goes on clean.
- The red fades in sunlight. Store the frosted cake away from windows or the color dulls.
What you need
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 tbsp red food coloring
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
How to make it
Directions
- Heat the oven to 350F. Grease and flour two 9 inch round pans, lining the bottoms with parchment.
- Whisk the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
- In another bowl, whisk the eggs, oil, buttermilk, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla until smooth and vividly red.
- Pour the wet into the dry and mix just until no streaks remain. Do not overmix.
- Divide between the pans and bake 28 to 32 minutes, until a tester comes out with a few moist crumbs.
- Cool 10 minutes in the pans, then turn out onto racks to cool completely. The cake must be fully cool before frosting.
- Beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar gradually, then the vanilla. Beat until smooth.
- Frost the first layer, stack the second, and cover the whole cake. Chill 30 minutes before slicing for clean cuts.
The vinegar is not optional. It reacts with the baking soda and buttermilk for the ultra tender crumb that defines red velvet. Skip it and you just have red chocolate cake.