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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Hey Ann, I am always looking forward to your giveaways and I never get it. Can you still get giveaways when you live in Oregon in America?I’m nine years old and I don’t bake bu your videos inspire me to start baking. What should I do to convince my mom? Can you replay to me quickly? Thanks.
Hi Kim, Ann has more than two million subscribers and only a few of those who enter can win prizes that might be on offer. If a prize is only available to a limited area, Ann always makes that clear in the announcement and it will be listed in the terms and conditions.
Can you please tell me how many cupcakes I can have with this amount of ingredients?i wanna bake it for walentimes day i just need 12 tnx
Hi Hanieh, This recipe will make at least 12.
can i bake this batter in a 9inch round cake pan? would i need to double the recipie? thanks!
Hi Sana, this batter should make one 8 inch cake.
Hi Ann I would really love to try the recipe but I can’t seem to find cherry juice any where can I use Oregon dark cherry in heavy syrup it’s a 15oz can thanks
Hi Jessica, you could use it but it will make the cake extremely sweet. Try adjusting the amount of sugar in the cake mix to balance it out.
Hey Ann, I am a huge fan of your creations and I have recreated some of your desserts. I have a question. What is the substitue for cream of tartar? it is not available here in Pakistan. And is the cherry juice important?
Hi Hamna , Cream of Tartar or tartaric acid (potassium hydrogen tartrate), does seem to be available online in your area. If you can’t get it you can substitute lemon juice or vinegar as an alternative but you may need to use up to 3 times the amount of tartaric acid specified to get the same result. The cherry juice provides flavour and moisture.
Those red velvet cupcake are so delicious
Hi Ann,look forward to your email every Friday and thank you for all your hard work. I have never commented before but i too have been looking and baking red velvet cakes as my son wants one for his wedding next May. I have two questions if I may. In the ingredients you state to take out 1 tablespoon of p/flour but in the video you say to take out two tablespoons of p/flour. My second question is could you just make 4 amounts of this batter to make a 14ins cake. Thank you Happy New Year!
Hi Mars Wood, I have updated the recipe to match the video. a tablespoon of flour in a recipe this size wont make a lot of difference. It is difficult to estimate how many much batter you will need for that size cake and it will depend on the height you are after to determine the volume of batter you need. Whatever you are aiming for it will need to be cooked in layers. And it likely you will need around a double later of batter per layer.
Hi Ann, does this recipe work at high altitude? I live at about 9000 feet, so Im not sure if these will turn out. Any advice?
Hi Kalee, because Ann doesn’t live at high alttude she can’t test the recipe in the way you need. However there are some good guidelines available that you could apply to any recipe: http://dish.allrecipes.com/high-altitude-cake-baking/
These are delicious! They take awhile, but are worth it! Made them for my family, and they thought they were very impressive for a child! Xx
That’s it! I think I have found THE red velvet recipe that I’ve been searching for for years! Can you please tell me where can I find the Morello cherry jar from? I live in Sydney too.
Hi Angie, You can usually get Morello Cherries in a tin or jar from australian supermarkets like woolworths or coles.
Great, thank you so much!
if we wanna use that red velvet batter to make a cake, what size mold should we use for the amount of ingredients written above? can it make two layers?
Hi Maliha, This quantity should make 2 x 20cm round cakes, that you could layer.
hi ann, i just wondering if i replace the sour cherry juice to lemon juice will the cupcakes turn out fine? thanks
Hi Farah, This would change the flavour of the cake.
hi ann, i just wonder, if i replace the sour cherry juices to lemon juices will the cake turn out to be okay?
Hi Ann,
I tried this recipe today and it was really moist and light and super airy but I was just wondering about that flavor. Is it suppose to be a chocolatey cupcake and the after taste being really tangy and different? I didn’t have it with cream cheese frosting by the way.
Hi Olympia, Ann discusses this in the blog post as many Red velvet cakes have little or no flavour. Usually this cake has a subtle cherry flavor. It sounds like yours was similar.
Hi Ann, just wondered what brand of food colour you use? Mine completely overpowers the flavour of the cake to get a proper red colour
Hi Emily, Ann recommends just trying a different brand. She has also noticed that some colours do have an odd taste. As brands vary from place to place, you will just need to try a few local ones to see what works best.
Hi Ann,
Is it possible to skip food colour in this recipe?
Thank you very much, the taste is amazing.
Hi Alice, Yes you can but the cake colour may look a little insipid without the colouring.
Thank you very much ?.
How long would it take if I bake this on a cake pan and would the temperature change? Thank yo
Hi Nadine, If you are cooking it on a tray, the temperature would stay the same. You will need to check it to see if it is ready but usually a tray will takne around 20mins.
I want to make a cake, so how would it take to bake? Thank you!
I am a huge fan of your cakes. I spend most of the time watching your videos. I am trying to make your red velvet cake. But the cherry juice is hard to find. Can we use any type of cherry juice?massive thanks
Hi Rau, If you can find a tin of cherries in the supermarket in juice rather than syrup, use that juice to make your recipe.
Hi ann first i would like to thank u for such wonderfull videos i run a mini buisness pf cakes and when i tried ur recipe of sponge cake everyone loved it more. Now i want to try ur red velvet but unfortunatly its really hard to find that cherry juice can we make it at home with freah cherries or can substitute with anything plz waiting for ur reply i know u r very busy person but hope to see some suggestion from u and lastly u r a lovely person hope u have a wonderful life,the best path and wonderful carrier ameen
hi ann,
just wondering what oil do you use in this recipe?. I will be ‘attempting’ to make the spongebob cake for my daughters 3rd birthday and I love the idea of using red velvet for the actual cake. thanks in advance