Red Velvet Cake Recipe
Red velvet cake was the best selling cupcake at every store I visited recently in New York City. But finding the perfect red velvet cake recipe is no easy task as there are so many variations. Some I tried in NY were simply red-coloured vanilla cake with buttercream (which left me wondering what all the fuss was about) but others had a beautiful, unique flavour with rich cream cheese frosting.
If you’ve been searching for a good red velvet cake recipe then you’ll have read about the Waldorf Astoria recipe which has buttermilk and vinegar. I tried that recipe too and it just didn’t have that New York taste (you can read my self guided sweet-tooth tour of NYC here). Finally, after many experiments I discovered that morello sour cherry juice gave the flavour I was after. Here’s my recipe.
Red Velvet Cake Recipe
1 cup minus 2 Tbsp or 150g (5.29 ounces) plain flour
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
3/4 cup or 164g (5.78 ounces) sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp gelatine powder
1/4 cup or 60millilitres (2.03 fluid ounces) oil
4 egg yolks or 60g (2.12 ounces)
1/2 cup or 125millilitres (4.23 fluid ounces) concentrated morello cherry juice (made from 1 cup of juice boiled down)
1 Tbsp or 15ml red food colouring
4 egg whites or 128g (4.52 ounces)
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
Red Velvet Cake Directions
Preheat the oven to 338°F (170°C)
Boil and concentrate the morello cherry juice form 1 cup down to 1/2 cup and set aside to cool.
Place the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, gelatine, salt and baking powder into a bowl and whisk together.
Make a well in the centre and add the egg yolks, oil, juice and red colouring but do not stir.
Whip the egg whites with the cream of tar tar until soft peaks form.
Using the same beaters mix the egg yolk and flour mixture on low speed until just combined.
Fold in the egg whites into the cake batter in three batches.
Use a soup ladle to fill each cupcake case to 3/4 full
Bake for 11 minutes or until they spring back when lightly touched. Cool completely.
Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe can be found here
Pipe cream cheese frosting onto the top of each cupcake and enjoy.
Makes about 12 cupcakes.
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Hi Anna..great job… i wonder if i can use white vinegar insted of cream of tar tar..would it work the same?
Hi Ann. Tried this and they tasted really good. But the cupcakes have wet and sticky top after cooled down eventhough they are fully cooked. How should I fix this?
HI, I have just made this recipe twice in a row, the first time the cupcakes looked perfect when I got them out of the oven and then rapidly shrunk and flopped and looked terrible by the time they cooled. I thought I had overmixed the batter so tried again and have had the same thing happen. Do you know what could cause this?
Hi Ann,
I was wondering if you could use this recipe in a cake tin instead of cup cakes and if so what size and apro how long to bake
hi ann, ur recipe worked out just perfect..my friends enjoyed them.im sharing the picture with you.keep up the great work n we love you for what you do.
do i need to use the gelatin and cream of tartar? thanks. greetings from melbourne
Hi Ann ! im just wondering where do you normally shop for your ingredients ? thanks
Hi Ann, love your website and video clips!! I have been eyeing this recipe for a while, will be trying it tomorrow. But just got a question regarding morello syrup, does it need to be reduced down or can I measure and use straight from the jar?? Thanks in advance 🙂
Hi Thao you can use it straight from the jar but the flavour will not be as strong
Hi ann, I’ve been watching your videos frenetically for a couple of months now and finally got to try a recipe out. I chose this one but I’m so sad mine didn’t turn out well, at all 🙁 I don’t know what happened. they are pink and not red (because of the egg whites maybe? or my food coloring wasn’t as intense as yours..) and i think they were not yet quiet ready when I got them out of the oven.
Anyway i’ll keep on trying. and thank you so much for the weekly videos. I absolutely LOVE them. great, original ideas and they always turn out amazing (on the videos anyway 😉
greetings from Belgium!
Hi Elisa, yes the redness depends on your colouring. Ig you use gel colours they are a lot more intense or concentrated that liquid colour. To check it they are done insert a skewer in the top and putt it out if it comes out clean they are done.
HEY ann, im a ten year old girl who likes to bake what if you cant have coco powder or gelatin please answer my request because im planning on making the recipe for my sisters 16 bday lol she loves red and absolutely loves red velvet
Hi Ayanna, you can leave both out, the cocoa powder will effect the flavor and colour slightly, the gelatin will mean the texture is not quite as good but it will still work.
I made this the other to experiment – took them to work (my co-workers are my guinea pigs 😉 ) and they absolutely loved it.
The cream cheese frosting didn’t thick, but that was due to the low power of my mixer probably. Still tasted beautifully 😀 Thanks for the recipe!!
Yumm they look good carla
hi ann, i just want to ask if maraschino cherries would also work on this recipe, cause i already went to look for it in the big grocery and malls in our place and i really cannot find any morello cherries. if the taste will differ, how will it likely taste (like sweeter, etc.) . thank you in advance and i hope you can respond to this cause am planning to do this tommorrow and i do not want to waste my other ingredients since baking ingredients from where i am is kinda expensive. again thank you ann .
i found the morello cherries had the best real red velvet flavour
hei Ann, i just watched ur video tutorial…
actually I really love them all, but in the mid of this video, did u still use food colouring? then, if you did, why should you use cherry juice too ? i just a bit confused… Thankyou !
the cherry is to get the real red velvet flavour … unfortunately many bakeries just add lots of red colouring and call it red velvet.
Hi Ann, can I use your red velvet cup cake recipe to make a normal 8″ size cake or do you have another recipe I could use. Many thanks, Petra
Hi ann, can i refrigerate the excess creamcheese? How 4long will it last?
yes, around 1 week
Hi Ann,
Thank you so much, for posting this recipe. My daughter requested a Red Velvet cake for her 20th Birthday next week. I have just had a practice run at it making full quantity but used half of the mix as cup cakes and half in a small round tin, to see which she prefers. Both have turned out perfectly even using vegetarian gelatin. I have decorated the cup cakes but have the round cake sitting in the fridge with its crumb coat on and tomorrow will have a go at icing it with roses.
Thank you again,
Julie
beautiful Julie great job
hello 🙂 is it possible to replace the cherry uice concentrate by rapsberry juice ? thank you 🙂 🙂
yes it is because I have tried it and it tastes so good
I noticed that you use gelatin in your cake recipes. Is there a reason for that. Also, when creating a recipe how much to you use. For example, would it be 3/4 tsp. for ach measured cup of flour? Thank you !
hi derek i used it as an emulsifier in this recipe to give a softer cake
Hi Ann, I wonder, why mine sink after I take them out of the oven. I tried it three times by now, but it happens everytime. Do you have any idea how to avoid it?
Hi Anna, it sounds like they were not yet done all the way through.
Hi Ann, WOW you are amazing….. Can I use this recipe to make a 9 inch round cake?? How long should I bake it for and should I let it cool upside down as was done with the Victoria sponge.. The Victoria sponge was just FANTASTIC… Thank you for sharing..
hi Mary, yes you can use it for a round cake and it is heavier than the sponge so I would not cool upside down.
hi ann.. could u tell me approximately red velvet cupcakes would this quantity of batter yield?
hi ann,
ur recipe worked out just perfect…my friends enjoyed them..im sharing the picture with you..ur doing a fabulous job and we all love you for what you are…