Red Velvet Dream Cake

Are you as excited as me?? Finally! A Red Velvet Dream Cake! So many of you have emailed me asking for one…and I just couldn’t get the recipe right. The cake was either too dry or didn’t have the right amount of flavoring.

I kept promising a recipe was coming, but I didn’t want to give you a recipe that wasn’t perfect. I just kept working at it and we ate a lot of almost right Red Velvet Cakes.

That’s right, I ate cake after cake for all of you. I plan on sending the bill for my new jeans to each of you.

This is a classic red velvet cake recipe. It has a little chocolate, buttermilk, a bunch of red food coloring and distilled white vinegar.

Then it’s all slathered in a traditional cream cheese frosting. And it’s perfect — at least in my opinion. 😉 It’s full of red velvet flavor and has a wonderful moist crumb. (Yes, I said moist.)

If you are looking for a 4th of July dessert, add some blue sprinkles to the top and you are ready to celebrate! Hope you enjoy!!

Red Velvet Dream Cake

Print Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 ½ cups cake flour
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 ½ cups vegetable oil
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon red food coloring
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons white distilled vinegar

 

• 8 ounces (1 block) cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 8 inch cake pans (or spray with Baker’s Joy), set aside.
2. In a bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa powder, and salt.
3. In stand mixer, beat eggs, oil, buttermilk, food coloring, vanilla, and vinegar in a large bowl until well combined. Add dry ingredients and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes.
4. Divide batter evenly among prepared pans. Bake until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Let cakes cool completely before frosting.
5. Frosting: Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla together in stand mixer until combined. Add sugar and beat until frosting is light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes.
6. To assemble cake: Level the two cake layers for even stacking. I level my cake with a serrated knife and cut off the minimum amount. You can see instructions on how to do it here. Crumble the extra cake you cut off and set aside for decoration later.
7. Assemble the 2 layers with a thick layer of frosting in between the layers. Then apply a thin crumb coat on the top and sides (instructions on what a crumb coat is and how to apply it here). Pop the cake into the freezer to harden the crumb coat for about 10 minutes.
8. Apply one final thick and even layer around the outside of the cake. Then top with the crumbled up leftover cake for decoration.
9. Store in the fridge if not serving within the next couple of hours. Let cake warm up a little before serving (let cake sit on counter for about 20 minutes before serving to warm up!).