BEST Red Velvet Cake Recipe (Very Soft, Moist & So EASY!)

Give this red velvet cake a try if you are looking for the BEST one ever! It is incredibly moist, soft, tender, and not overly sweet. And the bonus is, it's so easy to make! The cake batter can be made in 5 - 10 minutes by just whisking the simple ingredients. With the perfectly tangy & fluffy cream cheese frosting, it makes the most delicious classic red velvet cake.

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📌 Why You'll Love This Red Velvet Cake

📌 What Is Red Velvet Cake?

📌 Tips For The Ingredients

📌 How To Bake Red Velvet Cake

📌 Make Cream Cheese Frosting

📌 How To Decorate Red Velvet Cake

📌 The Video Tutorial

📌 Tips For Storing Red Velvet Cake

📌 FAQ

📌 More Classic Cake Recipes

📌 Printable Recipe

Best Red Velvet Cake

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📌 Why You'll Love This Red Velvet Cake

So soft & tender! This is the softest red velvet cake I've ever had. It's fluffy, silky, and has a perfect amount of richness.
Perfectly moist. It's carefully tested to add the maximum amount of liquids without making it feel dense and mussy after a day in the fridge.
Very easy to make! I won't sacrifice the taste for making cakes quickly, but thankfully, this cake is so easy to make yet tastes just perfect. You'll only need to continue whisking the ingredients in a bowl, and the cake batter will be ready in 5 - 10 minutes. No need to whip eggs or butter. Just keep adding them!
Not overly sweet. This cake is perfectly sweetened, which makes me feel like wanting more.
No buttermilk is needed. This might not even be a pro for some people, but for people like me who don't usually use buttermilk, it's nice to be able to make this classic cake without it. I use milk and vinegar as the buttermilk substitute. You'll be surprised how they work so perfectly!

When I first saw a red velvet cake at a grocery store, I was a little bit intimidated by the look - with the bright red color! But after a while, I had one at a bakery, and I was pleasantly surprised by how delicious it was!

I'd received many requests for a red velvet cake in the past few years, but I kept them waiting this long because I wanted it to be A Perfection. And I think I finally nailed it! - After multiple tests, I made the softest and moistest red velvet cake I've ever had.

My husband and I are hooked on this red velvet cake. He loves it even though he is not a big fan of it. I always end up eating 1 big slice of it when I intend to have an extra few bites.

📌 What Is Red Velvet Cake?

Red velvet cake is a classic layer cake frosted with tangy cream cheese frosting.

The characteristics of the cake are:

Slightly chocolatey due to the small amount of cocoa powder inside. It's like a blend of vanilla and chocolate cake!
So tender and velvety - as the name implies!
Perfectly tangy - The cake itself has subtle tanginess due to the vinegar inside, and the cream cheese icing completes the amazing taste!
The vibrant red color and white frosting are the iconic look of this cake. Originally, the cake was not dyed with red food coloring, but rather, it was slightly red due to the chemical reaction of cocoa powder and vinegar.

It is one of the most beloved layer cakes in the States, as well as carrot cake, chocolate cake, and vanilla cake.

📌 Tips For The Ingredients

Cake Batter

All-purpose flour: Use regular all-purpose flour.
Baking soda: Baking soda reacts to acid (cocoa powder and vinegar for this cake) and helps to create a fluffier cake with more volume.
Baking powder: Baking powder reacts to moisture and heat and helps to create a fluffier texture as well. It creates a slightly more cakey texture than baking soda.
Salt: The subtle saltiness goes well with the tangy cream cheese icing.
Cocoa powder: Use any of your favorite cocoa powder. My favorites are Valrohna's, Cacao Barry's, and Hershey's Special Dark.
Granulated sugar: It helps to add a moist & soft texture to the cake. Use white sugar to make the cake light.
Egg: It helps the cake to rise in the oven and create a soft texture.
Oil: I used olive oil as a healthier option. You can use any regular oil, such as canola and vegetable oil.
Milk: Use regular whole milk. Milk and vinegar do a perfect job of replacing buttermilk for this recipe, which is often used to make red velvet cake.
White vinegar: The acid reacts with baking soda and helps create a fluffier cake with more volume.
Vanilla extract: You can omit it if you like.
Gel paste red food coloring: AmeriColor red food coloring is my favorite.
Milk (hot): Oftentimes, I like to add hot liquid to oil-based cake batter, especially when it contains chocolate. I feel the texture of the cake gets a bit finer, the cake gets cooked slightly more evenly, and overall, it tastes a little bit better.
Unsalted butter (melted): It gives a richer texture. I decided not to add it too much to keep the texture lighter after chilling.

Can I make red velvet cake without buttermilk?

Yes. You can make it by alternating it with whole milk and vinegar. To make homemade buttermilk, I normally mix them together and let them sit for some time to curdle them, but for this recipe, you can add them separately to the cake batter, and you can still create an amazing cake texture.

I understand some people's concerns about making it without buttermilk since it is a classic ingredient used to make red velvet cake, but I think you'll be surprised by how it works perfectly after tasting the cake!

What type of food coloring is best for red velvet cupcakes?

I recommend gel food coloring instead of liquid food coloring to create a much brighter color without adding too much and changing the texture.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Unsalted butter (soften): It's important to use room temperature butter so it blends well with other ingredients easily.
Powder sugar: Sift it ahead if it looks very lumpy.
Salt: It adds more depth in flavor.
Cream cheese (cold): Use cold cream cheese. Leave it at room temperature for 15 - 30 minutes to soften it a bit. Using cold cream cheese is the key to making a stiffer frosting. I am a big fan of Philadelphia cream cheese. I use it for all the other cream cheese desserts, such as New York cheesecake and no-bake strawberry cheesecake, simply because I haven't had better cream cheese than it!
Vanilla extract (Optional): I did not add it this time.

📌 How To Bake Red Velvet Cake

Preparations

Coat a thin layer of softened butter on the bottoms of the 2 8-inch pans and attach parchment paper as a cake liner. Preheat the oven to 330ºF (165ºC)

Whisk the dry ingredients.

In the bowl, add all the dry ingredients: all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cocoa powder, and granulated sugar. Whisk them together until well combined. Set it aside.

Whisk the wet ingredients.

In a separate bowl, add wet ingredients (except hot milk and melted butter): eggs, oil, whole milk, white vinegar, vanilla extract, and red food coloring. Whisk them all together until well combined.

Tip💡: Apply a little bit of oil all over the teaspoon when you measure the red food coloring so that it comes off easily.

Add in the dry ingredients.

Mix until very smooth.

Add in hot milk and melted butter.

Heat milk and butter in the small saucepan at medium heat until the milk starts simmering very gently. Pay close attention to it to prevent the milk from over-floating. Mix it sometimes to make the temperature even.

Add ⅓ to half of the hot liquid into the cake batter and mix until well combined.

Add the remaining liquid and mix again. At the end, scrape off the side and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula to ensure everything is evenly incorporated.

Bake!

Divide the cake batter into the 2 prepared pans (about 695 g / each) and bake at 330ºF (165ºC) for 35 - 40 minutes until the top bounces back gently and a toothpick comes off clean with a few crumbs when inserting it in the very center. Adjust the bake time accordingly.

Set it aside until it cools down completely. Once cooled, detach the side using a small cake spatula. Flip and take off the pan.

📌 Make Cream Cheese Frosting

Use the double batch of my cream cheese frosting recipe to frost the one 8-inch cake.

Whip soft butter, powdered sugar, and salt at medium to medium-high speed until very fluffy for about 5 minutes.

Add cold cream cheese left at room temperature for about 15 minutes. Whip it at high speed until evenly combined. Whip even more to make fluffier frosting - I whipped it for another few minutes this time.

Tip💡: If you want even stiffer cream cheese frosting, simply double the amount of butter. I am sharing more about it in the original cream cheese frosting post, comparing the two frostings. Check it out if you are interested!

📌 How To Decorate Red Velvet Cake

Cake crumbs (Optional)

As an option, trim the surface of the cake to make it more even.

I'm using the crumbs to decorate the cakes this time. Bake (Preheated) it at 300ºF (149ºC) for about 15 minutes until it gets dried. Take it out one or two times on the way and mix to ensure it's evenly cooked. Crush them into smaller pieces each time.

Crumb coat

Drop a big scoop of the cream cheese frosting and spread it to make it flat using an offset spatula. Place the second layer on top. Drop another big scoop of frosting and spread it over the top.

Coat the sides of the cake. This is the crumb coat, so it doesn't have to be thick. You just want to seal all the cake and the crumbs so that they are not going to come out while you are doing the final coat.

Tip💡: If you feel the frosting is getting a little bit too soft to finish the final coat, chill it in the fridge for some time to make it firmer.

Final coat

Spread the frosting just like how I did with the crumb coat, but thicker this time.

You can finish the final coat and the decoration in any way you like. Today, I made a little bit of a rustic look using a cake spatula. It's a decoration you can create quickly without a piping bag and a tip.

I recommend chilling the cake in the fridge for some time before you decorate the top of the cake to prevent the frosting on the corner from getting squished with the pressure.

And it is complete! Enjoy it on special occasions, such as Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Holidays, Birthdays, and more!

To check the movements in more detail, check out the video tutorial below this section.

📌 The Video Tutorial

Watch the video tutorial to learn how to make the red velvet cake visually and have a deeper understanding of each step!

Don't forget to subscribe if you liked it 😉

📌 Tips For Storing Red Velvet Cake

Wrap the surface and store it in the fridge for 4 - 5 days. I recommend consuming it within a few days for the best taste!

This cake stays soft and moist even when it's chilled in the fridge, but I feel it's slightly softer and fluffier at room temperature. I recommend leaving the cake at room temperature for some time if you want to enjoy the texture!

📌 FAQ

Can I use this recipe for red velvet cupcakes?

Yes! Check out the red velvet cupcake recipe for the cupcake version. It is the recipe, but the quantities are adjusted to make a dozen cupcakes.

Can I bake it with 9-inch cake pans instead of 8-inch pans?

Yes, you can! Just know that the layer gets a bit thinner with 2 9-inch pans. The baking time should be a little bit shorter, too. Check them earlier to avoid overbaking them.

How much of this recipe should I make for a 6-inch cake?

A half batch of this is enough to make a 6-inch cake. It takes a shorter time to bake them, so check them earlier!

Why don't you use cake flour for this red velvet cake?

I love using cake flour to make sponge cakes, such as vanilla sponge cake, chocolate sponge cake, and vanilla roll cake, to create the lightest, fluffiest textures.
But I find all-purpose flour oftentimes creates a better texture for cakes that contain A LOT of liquids, such as this red velvet cake, classic chocolate cake, and chocolate banana cake. Whenever I use cake flour for very moist and rich cakes like them, I find the textures get a little bit too crumbly and mushy, which does not feel so pleasant sometimes.

Can I make this recipe with a stand mixer?

Yes, you can use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment instead of a bowl with a whisk.

Do all the ingredients need to be at room temperature?

Not really! I usually use cold eggs and milk (except hot milk) straight out of the fridge, storing everything else at room temperature.

Can this red velvet cake recipe be made without food coloring?

Yes, It's certainly possible to make it without it. The flavor stays the same.

What frosting goes best with red velvet cake?

Cream cheese frosting is the most popular and classic frosting for red velvet cake I recommend pairing it with. An old-fashioned ermine frosting (A.K.A. boiled milk frosting) is also popular. But there is no rule here; try it with other frostings and go bold if you like!

How can I prevent my red velvet cake from sinking in the middle?

There are 2 main causes for this:
It happens most often when the cake is under-baked. Ensure the cake is cooked in the center by touching the surface and inserting a toothpick; it should come off clean with a few crumbs attached.
This also happens when the oven door is opened frequently or for too long in the middle of the baking process. Try not to open it until the very end to prevent the heat from going down drastically.

What are some creative ways to decorate red velvet cupcakes?

You can frost red velvet cake using a cake spatula or any of your favorite piping tips. Check out 30 ways to pipe with a star tip and 32 piping techniques to pipe with round tips to find your favorite designs!