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.
My Cookbook
Stores that sell my book listed by country:
http://bit.ly/ARcookbook
All recipe quantities in the book are in grams, ounces and cups.
we respect your email privacy
My cupcakes turned out a bit …. bubbly? I’m not sure how to describe it. I need some help here, did I under fold the egg whites or did I not bake them for long enough? Also the baking time was very different for me it was almost soupy after 11 mins haha
Hi Ann, I have yet to make this recipe but I had a question I was hoping you might be able to answer. For the life of me I can’t find sour cherries in my city. Do you know if cranberry juice would work as an acceptable substitute?
Just wondering can this be made as a cake also ? What would the quantities be for an 8inch round and how long would you bake for . Thankyou
These turned out okay. It was my first time whipping and folding egg whites which I think I did okay at! I might’ve overdone or underdone it though, as they sunk down a little bit and didn’t quite rise. I used a local montomorency cherry juice, which is in abundance in my state, instead of morello cherry juice, which i couldn’t find…….. So perhaps my flavor turned out slightly different. Perhaps it was indeed my baking skill, but I think of red velvet as being moist and super rich and creamy, paired inseparably with a cream cheese frosting. I’ll try it again another time!
Hi Ann,
I actually made this from your cookbook, my first ever attempt at red velvet cupcakes (really my first attempt at cupcakes not in a box) and they turned out fantastic my fellow nurses and the doctors on the ward demolished them.
I have two questions, the ingredient list stated vanilla for the cream cheese icing (which I used) but the instructions/method said lemon juice. Are they interchangeable, do you use the same quantities. Second question is their any recipe in your book that you recommend as better than others to make with young children (6 and 4)?
Thanks
Wendy