Red Velvet Cake Recipe
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This decadent Red Velvet Cake is a signature deep red layer cake with rich buttery, vanilla, and cocoa flavors, with a hint of a buttermilk tang! Topped with old-fashioned Heritage frosting or thick cream cheese frosting, this classic family recipe makes the best Red Velvet Cake!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Classic Red Velvet Cake. This recipe makes the iconic cake everyone loves for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and other special occasions like birthdays! (It was the delicious cake my mama always made for my birthday.)
Easy. It is an easy cake recipe that yields an impressive, gorgeous cake! You’ll love that it is made from scratch, yet easy as can be!
Flavor. Red Velvet Cake combines butter, vanilla, and cocoa with the tangy buttermilk flavor and sweetness from the creamy frosting.
How to Make Red Velvet Cake
Red Velvet Cake is certainly an impressive cake! Standing tall and topped with either Heritage Frosting (cooked frosting) or Cream Cheese Frosting, it’s a favorite for Christmas and other holidays, birthdays, and special occasions. While it’s simple to make from scratch, it’s much more than just a red-colored layer cake. The flavor of this cake is unique and scrumptious, and the texture is velvety delicious!
Ingredients for Red Velvet Cake
Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full listing of ingredients, instructions, notes, and estimated nutritional information.
To make this cake, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- shortening – Shortening yields a tender, moist cake. I use an organic shortening, but you can use your favorite brand.
- sugar – Granulated sugar is used in this cake recipe.
- eggs – Use room temperature eggs for better mixing into the cake batter
- red food coloring – Use your favorite red food coloring in this recipe. You can find natural and organic red food coloring options, but red may fade during baking.
- cocoa powder – You’ll use a little cocoa powder in this recipe. Not enough to make the cake a chocolate cake, but enough to lend a bit of flavor.
- flour – You can use all-purpose or cake flour in this recipe. [How to Make Cake Flour]
- salt – Just a little salt helps to flavor the cake and balance the sweetness.
- Vanilla Extract – I love to use my homemade vanilla extract for its incredible flavor, but use your favorite pure vanilla extract. I don’t recommend using imitation vanilla flavoring.
- baking soda – The baking soda reacts with the acid in the buttermilk and white vinegar in this cake recipe.
- buttermilk – Not only does the buttermilk work with baking soda to help the cake rise, but it also adds flavor and tenderness to this cake.
- distilled white vinegar – This vinegar works with the buttermilk and baking soda to help the cake rise. It also adds to the tenderness of the cake.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Cream together the shortening and sugar. Then, add the eggs one at a time.
Mix the cocoa powder and red food coloring in a small bowl.
Combine. Add the cocoa powder mixture to the shortening and sugar mixture and mix well. Sift together the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Stir together the vanilla extract and buttermilk in a measuring cup.
Alternately, mix flour mixture and buttermilk mixture into shortening/sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour.
Distribute the cake batter between the three prepared cake pans. Bake the cake layers for 25-30 minutes until the cake layers are baked throughout. You can follow my tips for how to tell when your cake is done.
Remove the cake pans from the oven and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
Make frosting. While cooling, prepare the frosting you’ll be using – either heritage frosting or my easy cream cheese frosting recipe. Once the cake layers have cooled, spread the frosting on top of each layer as you assemble the cake. Then, spread the outside of the cake with frosting.
How to Store Red Velvet Cake
To store. Due to the frosting used, you’ll need to keep this cake in the refrigerator. The cake will store well for up to 5 days.
To freeze. Wrap each cooled cake layer with plastic wrap and store in the freezer for up to 3 months. To serve, thaw and frost the cake and serve as normal.
Much More than a Holiday Cake
Don’t save this special cake for once a year at Christmas! It’s delicious and makes a memorable cake for someone’s special day. My Mama made this cake for the Christmas holidays, but seeing this velvety red cake piled high with fluffy white frosting for my birthday was always a special treat. When Sam was little, he loved it for his birthdays, too!
More Favorite Cake Recipes
Looking for more cake recipes?
I think you’ll love my chocolate cake recipe, white cake recipe, and Mother’s cream cheese pound cake. Southern Caramel Cake is another special one everyone enjoys! They are all delicious and easy!
If you are a Red Velvet cake fan, try my Red Velvet Cookies or Chocolate Velvet Cake.
Here’s my Mama’s Red Velvet Cake recipe. I know you’ll love it!
Red Velvet Cake Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ cup (92 g) shortening
- 1 ½ cups (297 g) sugar
- 2 large (100 g) eggs, room temperature
- 2 ounces (56.7 g) red food coloring
- 2 tablespoons (10.5 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 ¼ cups (270 g) flour, all-purpose or cake flour
- 1 scant teaspoon (2.8 g) kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon (4.7 g) vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon (6 g) baking soda
- 1 cup (227 g) buttermilk
- 1 tablespoon (14.37 g) distilled white vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º F. Prepare three (8-inch) cake pans by brushing with homemade cake pan release (cake goop), spraying with nonstick baking spray, or by thoroughly greasing and flouring. Set aside.
- Cream vegetable shortening and sugar together until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Add eggs one at a time, completely incorporating after each addition.
- Make a paste of food coloring and cocoa powder and add to the mixture.
- Sift together flour and salt in a separate medium bowl, set aside. Pour buttermilk and vanilla into a measuring cup, set aside.
- Alternately, mix flour mixture and buttermilk mixture into shortening/sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Scrape down sides of mixing bowl to ensure all ingredients are well incorporated.
- Reduce speed of mixer and stir in baking soda, making sure incorporated into batter. Then, stir in the vinegar, taking care not to beat hard or over mix.
- Evenly distribute into cake pans and bake 25-30 minutes, until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool cake thoroughly before frosting.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This cake will be a favorite on your holiday dessert buffet, next birthday celebration, or family dinner.
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
This recipe was originally published on November 7, 2010.
Hi! Can you give the break down if I wanted to use this for cupcakes? I love all of your recipes and swear by them. This weekend however, I went rouge because I needed to make RV cupcakes and they turned out more like RV brownies with not a ton of flavor. Thanks!
How long should I mix the cake? I forgot bake-even strips and remembered them about halfway through. The sides were crispy at 25 min and the cake was dense. Trying to figure out what I did wrong. I made your chocolate cake and it was so moist! The batter on this one was thicker and I’m wondering if that’s why it was dryer. Suggestions?
They ask me for this cake every week…
..do you have dessert recipes without sugar? …thank you
Hi Maria, I have some desserts here on my site that do not have added sugar. You can search “sugar free” in my Recipe Index under Cooking to find those on my site. Thanks so much!
Hi Robyn, I am really looking forward to making this recipe this weekend. I’ve tried some of your other cakes – and they are the best on the web. Thanks so much for sharing. Just wondering, does this cake work well if frozen, or am I best to just make it the day before? Thanks a million.
Can I use butter in place of shortening in this recipe.
I was thinking the same thing. I prefer using butter but I don’t know how much to use in place of the shortening.
Normally you can swap equal amounts. I want to try it first using her grandmother’s original recipe before I change anything up but may once I get the full experience…
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I hope you enjoy it, KBon! It’s amazing! Thanks!
I made the delicious chocolate cake and today I amgoing to bake the Red Velvet cake .
HOW WOULD IT TURN OUT IF YOU PUT BOILING WATER IN THE RECIPE?
Would this recipe work just as well for cupcakes? How many cupcakes do you think it would yield? Thanks in advance!
Hi, thank you for the recipe. May i ask how much heritage frosting is required to fill and decorate the red velvet cake? I would love to make this for my husbands birthday on valentines day. Thank you
Hi Robyn, I’m from Brazil and I’m always looking different recipes and I happened to find your website.
I already made your White cake, Chocolate Cake, and the white and chocolate frostings.
The white cake recipe I divided and put some food coloring to do also a red velvet cake and it was delicious!
Now I took the Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe and The Red Velvet Cake Recipe!
But I have a question: this recipe doens’t have baking powder. That’s it? And what’s the vinegar for?
Congratulations! I became your fan ;* kisses
I make a red velvet cake for my daughter every year for her birthday, she just turned 27. I could not find my usual recipe for red velvet cake and when i searched the web found this one. It did not dissappoint anyone. My daughter was thrilled and I will be using this recipe from now on. It is super easy and quick. Thanks for posting.