4 Videos | Photo: Red Velvet Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Cake:
- 3 3/4 cups AP Flour
- 3 tablespoons Dutch processed cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 3/4 cups vegetable oil
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon red food coloring
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk, at room temperature
- Frosting, recipe follows
For the cake:
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour 2 (9-inch) cake pans and line each pan with a round of parchment paper.
Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl
Cream the butter, sugar and oil in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl and beat until incorporated. Beat in the vanilla, vinegar and food coloring.
Add the flour mixture to the batter in 3 batches alternating with the buttermilk, mixing well after each addition. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans and bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool on a baking rack for 15 minutes before removing the cake from the pans. Let cool completely before frosting. Slice each cake into 2 layers and frost.
Frosting:
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
- 7 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups superfine sugar
Combine the cream, milk, vanilla bean and seeds in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Remove the vanilla bean and discard. Add the flour and cook, whisking constantly, until thickened to a paste, about 2 minutes. Scrape into a bowl, cover and refrigerate until very cold, at least 2 hours.
Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat until the mixture is very fluffy and the sugar is totally dissolved, about 6 minutes. Add the cold paste, a few tablespoons at a time to the butter mixture and whip until light and fluffy.
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By fetch five
Philadelphia
on May 07, 2013
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I made this cake four different times but in stead of AP flour I used Swans cake flour. For my great nephews birthday the other day I didn't have enough cake flour so I used AP flour. The cake turn out good as well and taste good too but I will stick with Swans cake flour it makes the cake moister.this recipe is great and the cake turns out great as well.
By kcooyar
Pleasant Hill, CA
on December 28, 2012
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I made the cake only and used a different website's cream cheese and marscapone icing. The cake was tasty. It does take a lot of red coloring to get a nice red color. I would probably add a touch more cocoa, even though I realize this recipe has more cocoa than most. Be careful when baking. It turns very quickly from the wooden pick coming out gooey to completely dry. As always, I highly recommend using an oven thermometer to make sure the temp is on track. It is an easy recipe and looks beautiful when done.
By jkhordyk_12500613
Grand Haven, 62
on December 22, 2012
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So I made this cake for a family party tonight....my only substitution was cake flour for the AP, as other reviewers had done. It baked up beautifully....but then when I cut the layers in half, they literally fell apart on me. My Butter Roux frosting (made from another reviewer's comments in the Paula Dean version of this cake never thickened up, so at the end of the day I had an absolute mess on my hands and no time to make a replacement! Ended up chopping everything into large chunks,covering it with my frosting-sauce, dumping it into a trifle bowl, and topping it with fresh strawberries. I called it "Velvet Hammer Trifle!" : It actually tasted fantastic, but if I ever dared make this cake again I would either use a 9x13 or make it in three pans instead of trying to split the layers. The flavor and texture were wonderful - just hazardous to build. That's the only reason I give it 4 stars instead of 5.
Read all 157 reviews