Red velvet cakes are more than just their eye-catching and fiery red color. They provide a rich culinary experience, especially when you get a slice of the best.
These cakes bring together great flavors. You get the buttermilk tang, hints of rich cocoa, and buttery vanilla goodness.
The flavor combination and complexity gave red velvet cakes their own identity. The bright red color is just a trademark.
You can have a taste of the best red velvet cakes right at your home. I’ve compiled the best recipes for you to try in the comforts of your kitchen and oven.
1. Sally’s Baking Recipes Red Velvet Cake
This red velvet cake recipe has all the flavors. It has tang, cocoa, vanilla, butter, and rich cream cheese frosting.
What I like about it is that the author gave many tips. These help make the cake amazingly good.
For instance, they recommend whipping the egg whites before adding them to the cake batter. It gives the cake a more light, heavenly texture.
They also suggest using gel food coloring for more concentrated and bright hues. But, if you want something natural, use beet powder.
However, if you don’t have gel or beet powder, liquid food coloring will do.
2. Preppy Kitchen’s Red Velvet Cake
Preppy Kitchen’s recipe for red velvet cake is one of the most popular. We can see why as it leads to a perfect and elegant dessert with picturesque cake layers.
It’s also relatively simple. You’d need common pantry ingredients like baking soda, buttermilk, eggs, natural cocoa powder, vinegar, and more.
This one also uses all-purpose flour instead of cake flour. This leads to texture differences that may suit your preferences better.
Like the previous recipe, this one also has a cream cheese frosting. You’ll make it from scratch using vanilla, butter, salt, powdered sugar, and, of course, cream cheese.
3. House of Nash Eats’ Best Red Velvet Cake
This dessert is a crumbly cake that melts deliciously in your mouth.
What’s unique about this is its emphasis on the cocoa flavors. Most recipes try to undermine the chocolate heritage of red velvet.
However, this one has more cocoa than usual to bring out the taste. However, this does not make it just a chocolate cake with red color.
The complex flavors of acid, sweet, and cocoa are still in harmony. The cake is a beautiful red shade, courtesy of liquid food coloring.
You can pair it with other frostings besides cream cheese, like vanilla buttercream or rainbow chip.
4. Southern Red Velvet Cake
The south played crucial roles in shaping red velvet cake as we know it today. For one, it contributed to the cake’s distinctive buttermilk tang and bright red food coloring.
Thus, no red velvet cake recipes list is complete without a southern version. Interestingly, this one has plain, hot coffee in its ingredients list.
The hot coffee elevates the taste by adding complexity. It also complements the chocolate flavors.
Besides the coffee, you’d also need unsweetened cocoa powder, vegetable oil, buttermilk, distilled vinegar, and other ingredients.
After you let the cake layers cool completely, cover them with cream cheese frosting.
5. Taste of Home’s Best Red Velvet Cake
We’ve already had several red velvet cakes coated with sweet cream cheese frosting. While that’s good, it’s time to diversify and look into other frostings.
This recipe stands out for having a simple, snow-like frosting. It contains cold water, cornstarch, butter, vanilla, and confectioner’s sugar.
While that may seem unusual, many have shared that this is their classic red velvet cake. The kind that their grandmas love to make.
So we could feel a bit of grandma love, let’s try out this recipe.
It’s really simple. You can do it in less than an hour, minus the cooling time.
6. Red Velvet Cake with Ermine Frosting
Many say that although cream cheese is more popular, ermine frosting is the classic pair to a red velvet cake.
Ermine frosting is not that sweet, but it’s creamy and balanced. Thus, this recipe is perfect if you want something that isn’t too rich or creamy.
You may also know it as butter roux, flour, or boiled milk icing. The ingredients for the ermine frosting are granulated sugar, flour, salt, milk, butter, and vanilla.
The red velvet cake is standard, with ingredients like unsweetened natural cocoa powder. But it stands out with its hints of cinnamon.
7. Red Velvet Cake with Buttercream
Another frosting alternative is American-style buttercream. The creaminess complements the red velvet cake’s crumbly texture and sweet taste.
Each bite of this dessert is heaven. The frosting is light and fluffy, and the cake cuts well into that.
Some ingredients you’ll need are butter, buttermilk, and food coloring for the cake.
To make the buttercream, you’d need caster sugar, milk, flour, salt, vanilla, and butter. You can top your cooled cake with a generous amount of this frosting.
Make sure to serve your buttercream-topped desserts immediately. Otherwise, they may melt and won’t look (or taste) as elegant as they should.
8. Red Velvet Cake with Italian Meringue
This recipe makes gorgeous red velvet layer cakes with an Italian meringue filling and frosting.
There are many meringue variations, such as French and Swiss. The most stable among them is the Italian meringue.
A bit of technique and multi-tasking goes into making Italian meringue. You’ll need water, sugar, corn syrup, and egg whites.
You have to make a syrup mixture and beat egg whites simultaneously. The goal is to achieve characteristic stiff peaks.
Fill every cake layer with this meringue. The remaining frosting will then be used to cover the rest of the red velvet cake.
9. Red Velvet Cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream
One of the famous members of the meringue family is the swiss meringue. This recipe has a cream cheese swiss meringue, which complements the red velvet cake.
The red velvet cake recipe is like the southern version. You’ll need unsalted butter, cocoa powder, and hot coffee.
It’s good for two 9-inch cake pans. But if you want gorgeous layers, use three 6-inch pans.
For the buttercream, you’ll need cream cheese, milk, butter, vanilla, and icing sugar. It’s pretty easy to make.
While the swiss meringue buttercream isn’t too sweet, it’s pretty rich. Thus, make sure to use just enough.
10. Red Velvet Cake Without Buttermilk
Nearly all red velvet recipes call for buttermilk. It provides the acidic tang that adds complexity to the experience.
However, if you don’t have buttermilk at home or can’t find one, don’t worry. You can still make a delicious red velvet cake.
To substitute for the buttermilk, use milk and vinegar. If you don’t have or like vinegar, you can also use lemon juice.
The other ingredients are pretty standard after that. You just need to combine them, pour them into prepared cake pans, bake, and then cool.
By the way, you will need a stand mixer to make the frosting.
11. Paula Deen’s Red Velvet Cake
I’ve noticed this recipe from Paula Deen to be quite popular. She calls it “Grandmother Paul’s Red Velvet Cake.”
The flavors in this cake are more complex than others. For one, it has shredded coconut and chopped pecans added to the icing.
It also uses melted marshmallows and cream cheese to make the icing. These, with the coconut and pecans, provide exciting textures and flavors.
The actual cake is pretty standard. It’s easy to make and doesn’t require complex procedures.
After baking, you can frost and serve the red velvet cake on a cake stand. Garnish with some chopped pecans.
12. Naked Red Velvet Cake
I’ve had a naked red velvet cake, and it’s simply elegant. Because you don’t put the icing on too thick, it’s not too rich and is well-balanced.
But even without much of the icing, you won’t have to worry about the cake being dry. This recipe makes sure that it’s still delicious and moist.
The secret ingredient is kefir. It’s fermented milk and ensures that the red velvet cake stays moist, even without a lot of icing.
Also, while most recipes recommend natural cocoa powder, this one uses the Dutch-processed kind. The author says it provides more intense chocolate flavors.
13. Red Velvet Cupcakes
Prepare your cupcake liners because you are making moist and fluffy red velvet cupcakes.
Sometimes, a slice of cake can be too large. But you won’t have that problem with cupcakes – they’re just the right size.
To make red velvet cupcakes, you’d need the usual ingredients, such as eggs, flour, and natural unsweetened cocoa powder. Unsalted butter, oil, sugar, vanilla, and food coloring are also needed.
You can use an easy cream cheese frosting recipe or buy it ready-made. Pipe into elegant swirls or thick, cute gloops.
You can use the recipe for both regular-sized and mini cupcakes.
13 Amazing Red Velvet Cake Recipes
Make yourself an amazing red velvet cake using these recipes!
Ingredients
Sally’s Baking Recipes Red Velvet Cake
Preppy Kitchen’s Red Velvet Cake
House of Nash Eats’ Best Red Velvet Cake
Southern Red Velvet Cake
Taste of Home’s Best Red Velvet Cake
Red Velvet Cake with Ermine Frosting
Red Velvet Cake with Buttercream
Red Velvet Cake with Italian Meringue
Red Velvet Cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Red Velvet Cake Without Buttermilk
Paula Deen’s Red Velvet Cake
Naked Red Velvet Cake
Red Velvet Cupcakes
Directions
- Select your favorite recipe.
- Organize all the required ingredients.
- Prep a red velvet cake in 30 minutes or less!