Red Velvet Cake

Light red sponge with a hint of cocoa, with thick cream cheese frosting

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword Cake

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 40

Total Time 1 10

Servings

Calories 746kcal

Author thebakingexplorer

Ingredients

For the cake sponge

300 g Butter or baking spread unsalted, softened
300 g Caster sugar
4 Eggs large
2 tsp Vanilla extract
3 tbsp Cocoa powder
2 tsp Red food colouring I use Pro Gel
330 g Self raising flour
1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
170 ml Buttermilk

For the cream cheese frosting

225 g Butter unsalted, softened
225 g Icing sugar
450 g Full fat cream cheese I use Philadelphia
1 tsp Vanilla extract

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Pre-heat your oven to 160C Fan/180C/350F/Gas Mark 4, and grease and line two 8" cake tins (that are at least 2" deep)
Mix the butter and sugar together until fluffy, ideally with an electric mixer, or you can mix in a bowl with a wooden or silicone spoon
Add the eggs and vanilla extract, and whisk until fully incorporated
Add the cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda, red food colouring, buttermilk and self raising flour, and whisk in gently until fully combined
Divide the mixture between the tins, use scales for accuracy
Bake them for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Leave them to fully cool either in the tins or on cooling racks
If the cakes have domed on top, level them off with a cake leveller or a serrated knife - you can use some of the crumbs from doing this for decoration
To make the cream cheese frosting, use an electric mixer to beat the butter until smooth. Then mix in the icing sugar until the mixture is smooth
Next, add the cream cheese and the vanilla extract and mix in until the frosting is thick and smooth. Be careful not to over mix as this can make the frosting sloppy, and you won't be able to get it thick again
Put one of the sponges on your plate or cake stand, and pipe or spread a layer of the frosting over it
And the second sponge on top, pipe larger rosettes of buttercream all around the edge and smaller ones in the centre
Decorate with cake crumbs or sprinkles
Serve immediately, store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge and eat within 3 days

Video

Notes

Make sure all your ingredients (particularly the butter, buttermilk and eggs) are at room temperature before you start baking.
I used unsalted butter for the buttercream, for the cake I used a baking spread.
You will need to use a professional grade food colouring to get the same shade of red that you can see in my photos. Brands I recommend are Pro Gel and Sugarflair. I have also heard good things about Colour Mill and Americolor.
I prefer to use Philadelphia full fat cream cheese for the buttercream as it gives me the best results.
Although I provide cup measurements, I highly recommend weighing your ingredients out using digital kitchen scales. It is the most accurate way to measure ingredients and will ensure the best results. Digital scales are very low cost and can be purchased for around £12 ($16.50) .
For teaspoon (tsp) and tablespoon (tbsp) measurements, please use measuring spoons and not the type of spoons you eat with. Again this will ensure accuracy and provide the best results.

Nutrition