I absolutely love this cake recipe! Best tasting red velvet cake I've ever had!!! And I made it! I didn't use the icing recipe. I used my own buttercream recipe that I always use. 3 cups confection sugar....1 stick of butter...1 tsp pure vanilla extract and some french vanilla coffee cream to make it creamy.
I made this cake yesterday for my husband's birthday and it was amazing! I did modify the recipe as suggested by other reviewers, adding an extra 1-2 tablespoons of cocoa powder, substituting 1 cup of vegetable oil for the shortening, and adding 1/4 cup more sugar to the oil/sugar/egg/flour mixture. The result was a light, super moist cake with great, not too sweet flavor. And the frosting? This is the first time I've made this type of frosting and it's also a winner!! Everyone loved this cake!!
Ugh!!!! After 30 minutes, the edges were hard but the middles sank down and were raw inside. Cake was dry, too. What a waste of time and ingredients. :-(
Sorry, after reading reviews I chose not to try this cake. However, I used this frosting recipe. The frosting was EXCELLENT!! I used white granulated sugar and did not change a thing. I beat for approx. 10 min. for consistency and it is worth it!! I did refrigerate for a few short min before frosting. I then frosted the bottom layer and put cake in fridge for approx. 30 min to set so that the top would not slide. Then finished frosting cake and put in fridge for about an hour to set. After cake was set it was ok to be left out of fridge. Did take extra steps but was well worth it! Thanks for this recipe. For those interested I used RV cake recipe from pinchmysalt.com and it was so very moist, flavorful, colorful and awesome!
follow the recipe and the instructions and the results were terrible. dont know what went wrong, but this recipes is noooo goood, just a waste of time!
Beautiful cake and the frosting was unbelievably good. The cake, though was somewhat dry and not quite chocolate-y enough for me. Glad I read the reviews on the frosting - or I wouldn't have known to heat the flour/milk mixture till the consistency of mashed potatoes. I used almond milk instead of milk in the frosting. Next time I make it, I will increase the cocoa, maybe add more buttermilk to make it moister (?)
I followed the other suggestions of 2 cups of sugar, 1 cup of oil, and putting the food coloring (1 bottle) in the buttermilk and doubling the cocoa powder. I used 2 8 inch heart shaped pans and baked for 30 minutes. My cakes were perfect--moist and oh so yummy! I frosted it with cream cheese frosting (1 pkg cream cheese, 1.5 cups powdered sugar, 2 tbsp milk and 1 tsp vanilla). I split the two cakes and made a four layer. The frosting was just enough for a thin coat between each layer and to frost. This is a KEEPER! YUM!
use 1 cup veg oil instead of shortening, and 2 cups sugar. also it should be on TBSP not one TSP vinegar. when you make the red and cocoa paste, use 1 oz coloring and add 1 tbsp buttermilk to keep the cake from marbling. beat the frosting to death and itll be perfect.
I tried this cake last night for my aunts b-day, red velvet is her favorite cake, but this frosting is do darn frustrating to make, I tried it 2x and it still didnt turn out, so I am having to find a different recipe for the frosting, I can see why this gets bad reviews now.. I am disappointed..
The only reason I gave this recipe 4 stars instead of 1 or 2 is because my guests ate up the whole cake and my husband loved it. If I went according to my taste though it would not be so good. I really hated it and that's with the changes the others suggested. I will be searching for a different Red Velvet recipe
Everything about this cake is exceptional. I made it with the adjustments suggested by the previous reviewers. I just love, love, love the not too sweet icing also! Thank you for submitting this recipe! It will be an outstanding Thanksgiving dessert!
this is basically the same red velvet recipe my mother gave me to make for my father's birthday. only differences is she uses 3 tablespoons of cocoa, 2 1/4 cups of flour, and 1 tsp of baking soda. the icing i use is different, however. [ 1 cup Crisco 1 c sugar 3 Tbsp flour 1 tsp vanilla 2/3 cup milk ; start out real slow then beat on high for 12 minutes with electric mixer or until smooth and creamy. ] overall, it's a great recipe :D
I, too am glad this recipe is more traditional and doesn't use the cream cheese in the frosting! PEOPLE, True red velvet cake does NOT have cream cheese frosting!!!!
the no bake chocolate oatmeal cookies i've been using this recipe for years i got it from my grandmother and she made them when i was a little girl i'm now 45 years old
I made it tonight and it was ok. Seemed a little dry, and slightly bland. I think I was missing the cream cheese icing which I prefer.
Amazing. I inherited this recipe from my husband's family, and like many others, found it really dry and a bit bland. I was happy to find others with the same opinion and simple solutions. I re-made the cake a week later with this recipe and all loved it. I think we're just not accustomed to the flavor of Crisco (which my original recipe called for instead of the vegetable oil; I used canola oil) in a cake. I liked it with more cocoa (2-3 tbsp) and less red color. Great tweaks to a lovely recipe! Still very puttery but worth it in the end.
This cake was great, I did follow the other reviewers recommendations about the oil substitute, less sugar and extra cocoa powder. The icing was delicious and I now use it with many other recipes.
The cake was AMAZING! My first time baking a cake, and this one turned out wonderfully. I used other reviewers' suggestions to increase the sugar to 2 cups, make the cocoa's measurement's heaping and substitute shortening for 1 cup oil. However, I completely messed up the icing by using granulated sugar rather than confectioner's, taking the "white" as to mean normal. I also did not know how thick the milk-flour mixture was meant to be thickened, so when I got frustrated I stopped. I ended up using the canned cream cheese frosting that we had on-hand. All-in-all, the cake was devoured by my class-mates!
GREAT!!! i know i*** it up, but still great. i didnt even hav2 put over 1oz of food colouring. just 1/4 (approx) of the Clubhouse food colouring is fine. ill make it again.... hopefully, it wont take 2 hours again... :P im SLOWWWW in cooking. ;)
used previous suggestions - more cocoa, oil instead of shortening, used a cream cheese frosting (even if it isn't traditional, people love cream cheese frosting) - and this turned out spectacular!
Made this cake using the suggestions by other reviewer to use 1c oil, 2c sugar and 4T cocoa. Used a 9X13 pan and baked it for 50 min. Was perfect, light and moist, with great flavor. The frosting is the perfect finish. Took it to a New Orleans night at chuch and it disappeared. I got great reviews!!
I made this with the other reviewers suggestions (3 tbsp cocoa and no vinegar) and was very pleased with how it turned out. I had some trouble with the icing though - it tastes delicious but seems runny (despite my thickening the milk-flour mixture and beating it for a long time) and is a yellow color. I did use Mexican vanilla, and wonder if that made a difference. Any suggestions?
I am 13 and I made this cake for an auction, and it sold for $45. I made the original recipe and everyone loved it! I can't wait to make it the way other people have recommended and make it even better!!!
Pretty good. I added 2 EXTRA tablespoons of cocoa for extra flavor. I also added a little extra food coloring to make sure the cocoa didn't turn it too brown. Very dense cake, like red velvet should be, but a little denser than I like it. I also added 1 extra tsp. vanilla. Made 22 cupcakes baked for 18 minutes. I might make it again. Slightly dry and a little too dense, but that may have been my fault.
Cake: Made these as cupcakes for my daughter's birthday today. Followed recipe to the T except adding another tblsp cocoa powder and 1 1/2oz of coloring as that was the whole bottle. Was shocked when I had to use the whole bottle of the red coloring.....didn't realize 2oz is quite a lot. The cake was soft and moist even though I didn't use oil as other reviewers recommended. My kids loved them. Topping: Instead of cooling the flour mixture I just put it in the mixer until it cools down to room temperature and add the rest of the ingredients. It definitely taste like whipping cream. My only problem was it was overwhelmingly sweet. So to save the cream and cut down the sweetness, I used a package of cream cheese and 1/2c shortening. Beat the cheese and shortening in the mixer till lumps are gone and quite fluffy and add about 3/4 of the original topping and beat again till fluffy.
This recipe was a big hit! It tasted great and everyone loved it. Do follow the advice of other reviewers and replace the shortening with oil and add more cocoa. For the icing, it is a good idea to refridgerate flour mixture before adding the other ingredients. I highly recommend this recipe!
Very very dry and not much taste. I made the cake with the original recipe. Maybe I should have tried it with oil, but didn't and won't. I will just continue to get these types of cake from a bakery.
I just got finish making this cake for my boyfriends bday and it looks amazing!!! The icing is super yummy! This was a really simple recipe that tastes awesome and looks great. The only thing I changed was 1 ounce of food coloring instead of 2.
oh my, this cake was VERY DRY.....also not very tasty. Has anyone else had this result?
Was amazing, with the suggested alterations from other users. The icing was also lovely, not overpoweringly sweet. Will make this cake again!
This is the red velvet cake I grew up with - perfect in every way. Do note though - the frosting is very picky. It does not like heat or humidity. The milk/flour mix must be totally cool before adding to the butter/sugar mixture. Then beat them together like crazy - and I mean CRAZY - I usually beat 8-10 minutes using my Kitchenaid. Be sure to keep the cake in the fridge until serving. YUMMO!
This was an ok cake. Not very moist, not too sweet. Not sure I would try this again.
Very disappointed - cake not only fell - but the taste was not good - I used the alterations that were suggested - cake was so heavy and greasy - it was thrown away.
I have made this cake twice already and it comes out great. The only change I make is I substitute oil for shortening. The icing is great also. I was weary of putting flour in icing instead of using confectionary sugar but it came out so smooth and not gritty.
I was doing a bake sale and needed a Red Velvet Cake recipe. After reading all the reviews, I was a bit nervous but went ahead and made the cake. It was a hit~! But I did do the changes the other reviewers recommended: 4 tablespoons of unsweetened coco 1 cup of oil instead of shortening 2 cups of sugar And for the frosting I used the Cream cheese frosting II recipe. I was scared to use the flour one and everyone seemed to be use to the cream cheese frosting. I had no problems with the recipe and very happy with it. Just know that it is a VERY heavy cake so using a mixer is key to make it moist. The batter is really thick and would be really hard to mix by hand.
loved by all that came within smelling distance but I had to take the advice of more experienced Allrecipes cooks and make these modifications (hence the 4 star rating) -4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder instead of only 2 -1 cup of oil instead of the shortening -OMITTED THE VINEGAR ALL TOGETHER -used and entire tube of red food gel. Made for a beautiful deep garnet color! -I made cupcakes so I only baked for 22 min @ 350. Absolute perfection with these modifications, and passed the firefighter taste test, so you know they have to be awesome:)
This was a great recipe. I actually followed the directions to the letter and the cake turned out very good, moist and not try at all. i also used this cake with fondant to create an Assassin's Creed cake, using the buttercream fondant and frosting recipes on this website. Not the standard frosting, i know, but it tasted great! It was very easy to make, too, and i had not made a cake from scratch in 15 plus years or from a box in at least 10, so that made me pretty happy. My husband, whose birthday it was, loved it.
Now this is a winner !!
Don't know if I did something wrong but I didn't care for the taste or the texture of this cake.
This recipe is very close to one I have used for 35 years. The only difference in them is I add 3tsp.cherry flavoring and 1/2tsp.almond flavoring and use a white cooked icing. It is always a hit and these two extra flavorings just give it an extra punch.
I made this for my husband's birthday last night using the suggestions of other reviewers and it turned out fantastic. I used a different frosting recipe though that I got off of a taste of home cake recipe. I mixed two 8 ounce packages of cream cheese with 1/4 cup of butter and then added 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar and 1 tsp vanilla. Then I stirred in some coconut and spread it on the cake. I also covered the cake with more coconut. The frosting was really rich and complimented the cake nicely.
This recipe is almost exactly like my recipe that I got from my mom, and have been baking for years for everyone's birthday, christmas and any other time that calls for a special cake. Over baking will make a dry cake. Also my recipe calls for 1 ounce of red food coloring, gets plenty red. My icing is the cooked white icing made with shortening instead of butter. My family and friends will not eat this cake with cream cheese icing. I have friends who rarely eat cake but will not pass this cake up.
Interesting cake: I used 2c sugar and 1c oil as suggested. For buttermilk used 1c. milk and 1T w.vinegar. The cake took a little longer than alloted time. I thought the butter cream icing went very well with it. Actually, I made this for a Christmas get together and had to throw it together last minute. Everyone loved it and the taste was fantastic! Thanks
I am making this for a shower that I am going to this weekend, and it has turned out quite well. I followed the advice to use 2 cups of sugar and 1 cup of oil, which worked well. I also used gel food colouring, which requires much less than the recipe calls for. I mixed it with the cocoa (added 1 extra Tbsp) and a bit of the buttermilk. The paste looked well mixed, but I too have some swirls in my cake. I haven't been able to taste it as I am wheat free, but it sure smells delicious!
I followed this recipe to the letter. I thought it came out moist and wonderful. The icicng was also wonderful. I did not have trouble with it but when it says "cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy" I actually did that. I creamed it until it was light and fluffy and then followed the rest of the directions. I did not need to beat it for 15 minutes as someone suggested. It was a wonderful, light, whipped icing that beautifully complimented the cake. Canned or even homemade cream cheese icing would have been too much for this rich moist cake. I took it to my sister-in-law's house for thanksgiving and everyone raved!
I wouldn't make this recipe again. First of all you don't need two ounces of food colouring, that's a waste. I did not care for the icing, it was too liquidy.
I have been making this cake for almost five years now (since the first piece of Red Velvet cake I tried from Marita's Sweet Potato Pie Co in San Leandro CA). Each time I modify the recipe slightly. So my rating is based on several cakes and taste tests. I do not use shortening but instead oil and increase amount slightly for added moisture. I do the same with the buttermilk (probably 1 1/4 c) and I free hand the red food coloring until I have the rich red color that I want. I have tried the traditional butter cream frosting however, we have found that it is not as rich nor tasty as the cream cheese frosting we were introduced to. My boyfriend is not a fan of the traditional frosting (I tried it out once) and asked that I never use it again! I use a combination of cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and milk. It makes for a nice consistency that my entire family loves!
This was very good!! I have tried so many different recipes for this cake, trying to find just the right one. Often it tends to come out dry. I'm starting to believe it is in the exact amount of flour and chocolate used. I didn't have 2 round pans, had left one at my dads, so used a 9 by 13 and it came out fine. This is a keeper. I did increase sugar to 2c and vinegar to 1 tab.as recommended by others. I agree, better without the cream cheese type frosting.
Excellent cake. Tasted great and texture was good. I didn't use the recomended 2 ounces of food coloring I used only 1 ounce and it still came out a nice red color. I also didn't use the frosting in the receipe, I used my own.
This cake is lovely as is - mine was not dry at all. I did see a possible error in the recipe that may account for the issue: other red velvet cake recipes call for SIFTED flour rather than flour, sifted. Sifting "fluffs" up the flour so that it measures differently. If you are measuring 2.5 cups flour and THEN sifting, you are probably using too much flour. Sift the flour first, then gently measure out 2.5 cups. Also, for those of you who like cream cheese icing, I found this same icing recipe on the back of my cake flour box with a note that you could use 2 sticks (1c) butter OR 1 stick (1/2c) butter + 8oz cream cheese. I haven't tried it, but it might be a nice compromise between the "traditional" and the cream cheese frostings. I personally prefer the one included in this recipe - it is so light and fluffy and delicious.
Ever since having this cake at Magnolia Bakery in NY, I have wanted to try to make it. This was the first recipe I tried, and I thought it was excellent, ESPECIALLY the icing. The cake can have a bit of a metallic aftertaste, but that may have been a baking soda issue - I will certainly make this again.
First of all, red velvet cake isn't my favorite, and that's mainly why it's only 4. But it's a great recipe for a friend's bday if they like red velvet. The red food coloring took me forever to find (two boxes of McCormick's) and cost $5. I'm going to buy this online for next time. I also didn't do a good enough job of mixing the cocoa paste in, and the coloring was uneven. The directions were confusing, but use a brown glass bowl to mix the baking soda and vinegar so it can react before you add it in. (obvious now). Finally, the frosting took 2 tries, but turned out perfect. The key was to use a hand mixer to cream for you otherwise it may not get creamy enough. Then add the gravy like milk in four equal portions, mixing thoroughly between potions. The picture shows strawberries with it. Must try next time.
It is VERY light and fluffy, it turned out great. I followed the recipe exactly, except I didn't have any food coloring and I used butter instead of shortening. I am a beginner baker and still managed to make it turn out great. The frosting turned out strange, but I'm positive I did something wrong. The frosting was still delicious even though it looked weird. Wonderful recipe, I recommend it to everybody!
This is the real thing! I make this every Christmas, from a recipe my grandmother gave me many years ago. I was looking for a recipe that was EXACTLY like my grandmother's. Now I have one at my finger tips. But, I can't imagine Red Velvet Cake without cream cheese frosting. Maybe one day I will try it that way. Until then, I use Cream Cheese Frosting II. Note: This is an old-style cake. It wasn't meant to be all that sweet (the vinegar in the ingredients may warn you), and is very sensitive to over baking (can you say dry). When you get it right it is fabulous.
I don't know much about red velevet cake and was never overly fond of it but my kids love it so I decided to make one for Valentines Day. There are so many versions!! So I did some research and found that red velvet cake can range from vanilla to chocolate to almond there is no 'right' way only personal preference. As I thought it was a southern dish I decided to check Paula Deens recipe - which is about the same but has only 1 tsp of cocoa and 1 1/2 c oil. Best tip on here is do not substitute ingredients, they are designed to work together. Concerned about complaints of dryness, I followed Paula's 1 1/2 c of oil - which is preferable for this cake over butter according to my research. I used 2 tsp of cocoa powder cuz I don't love chocolate cake. The resulting cake was fabulous - the kids LOVED it! Next time I will try the 1 C of oil and 2 TBs of cocoa....but the frosting is what gets the 5 stars - very delicious.
I was really happy I found this recipe and even more happy when the cake went over extremely well with my future in-laws. My fiance` loved it! I followed the modification directions of other reviewers: 4 tablespoons cocoa, 1 ounce food coloring, 1.5 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 cup oil, 2 cups sugar, and 1 tablespoon vinegar. I used the Cream Cheese Frosting II from this site to frost the cake. It was delicious!!!
Unfortunately, I didn't read some of the suggestions posters made and I followed the recipe exactly. The cake was gorgeous and everyone oohed and aahed, but it was incredibly dry and the second everyone took a bite, they reached for their drinks. I was so embarrassed! I will definitely try it with oil, the extra sugar and cocoa as has been suggested. Red velvet cake is one of my favorites, and I won't give up until I get a good recipe!
This is a recipe you must follow the directions to a T. I like to have pleanty of frosting so next time i will double the recipe on the frosting
I made it twice and the bottom line is this cake does not have any taste and the slight tast it does have is not good.
A little hard to make, but tasty and nice shade of red!
I tweaked the recipe a little and it was very simple and delicious. Thank you for sharing
This was very easy to make. I followed the advice of a previous review and substituted 1 cup of oil for the shortening, used 2 cups of sugar, and 4 tablespoons of cocoa powder. I only used 1 oz of red coloring and my cake was nice and red. I thought 2 was excessive. The cake was moist and a hit with my dinner party. I paired it with a cream cheese frosting so I can't comment on the frosting provided with the recipe. I will definitely be making this again.
I made this cake with the modifications suggested (oil, more sugar, more cocoa). I found it to be very dry and somewhat bland. Confession 1 - although I'm from the south where Red Velvet Cake rules - I had never actually eaten it before. I made it for my brother because he says it is his favorite. I thought the flavor was OK but not great. He said it was good "but". It seemed a little off but I'm really not sure what it SHOULD taste like. Confession 2 - He is diabetic so I substituted Splenda for sugar. I increased the Splenda to 2 cups as suggested for the sugar. I think I'll try it again at 1 1/2 cups to see if that makes a difference. Sometimes Splenda, in large doses, can leave a chemical flavor/aftertaste. I know it shouldn't in baking but I'll try anyway. The cake was also very flat and dense. I'm an experienced baker so I'm wondering if it had to do with the Splenda. This was my first try at a Splenda cake so I'm not sure. The icing was really good and it worked great using Splenda.
Absolutely to die for. A little dense... but I think I preferred it that way! I use a cream cheese icing and oh my. Absolutely heaven. Reminded me of Cheesecake Factory's Red Velvet Cheesecake . YUM!!!!
I only used the icing recipe off this recipe. It was excellent! My family loves red velvet cake and that specific icing. They know if I use a "fake" icing! I did use a box mix. They didn't care because the icing was SO good! % stars for the icing!
I am making a wedding cake for a friend. This is the best recipe I have found so far. I do have a question though...can I also male this with a sugar substitute such as splenda?
This Cake is perfect!!It turned out great and it was nice and moist. I think the way you made it is perfect, I go to alot of functions and partys and I always get request for this cake, and It turns out perfectly ever time, Nice and moist and the color is so pretty. However I have not tried to make the frosting all though I am sure it is great. I useually just do a cream cheese frosting, which every one loves on it!!With the Strawberrys. I think you should keep this recipe to the tee!!
This is the best red velvet recipe iv found. I make it all the time and everyone iv made it for loves it. Don't use the frosting recipe given its terrible I don't even understand why someone would make frosting this way! Very moist, works well as cupcakes and as a cake even better when its eaten cold. Be careful not to over bake, very good recipe all around.
Made this for a Christmas party. It was a huge success. It was a beautiful cake to look at and a fabulously delicious cake to eat. I'm going to make it again for our Christmas dinner celebration. I might even make it for Valentine's Day using heart shaped pans!
I rarely ever make a recipe exactly as written, I did this time and it was amazing!
Really good! Fluffy and light texture, which I really liked. (Last RV cake I made was really dense, which I didn't care for.) I did take the suggestions of the other reviewers and used 1 cup oil and 2 cups of sugar. It was just the right amount of sweetness and was moist. Also, I used 1/3 cup of cocoa, which gave a nice hint of chocolateyness, not overwhelming. I tried to do the 1 cup milk/1 Tbsp. vinegar trick, but 1 Tbsp. didn't seem to be enough, so had to use at least 2. Not sure why. Like some others, I ended up with brown streaks, perhaps because I should have used my mixer to mix the baking soda mixture into the batter, rather than just folding it in according to the directions. Baked mini-cupcakes at 325 degrees for 15 minutes. The icing is good! A little stiffer than "Poor Man's Frosting" on this site. I think I'll stick with PMF, since the measurements for the icing for this recipe made it hard for me to frost the cupcakes. But I made my co-workers very happy! Everyone says they're delicious. Thanks to everyone for the suggestions.
Not sure what I did wrong - I followed the recipe to a "T" - I made the food color paste and the color of the cake was not red at all but a chocolaty / maroon color - more reddish in the middle, dark on the edges. Also, it didn't rise all that much - unlike most cakes that have a bit of a rounded top, this one was flat, which I didn't like at all. The taste was bland too - I was not sure what I tasted - a bit chocolaty but just a hint. Certainly no other taste came through, other than what a typical white cake taste has. The crumb was dense and a bit tough (and no, I didn't over mix or beat the batter). The edges were quite hard / crispy too. Boo - I won't use this recipe again and I'll continue on my pursuit!
This cake comes out delicious and moist. I'm not sure why you have to mix all the ingredients seperately, but I followed the instructions exactly and it turned out excellent. Paired with a Cream Cheese Frosting and decorated to look like a Coffin, this cake was all the rave at my companies Halloween party.
This recipe as is, was a disappointment to me, I made it for a work picnic that my sister was attending and i thought it was too dry, however her co-workers loved it. So i decided to try it again, only this time i made a few changes and it is so moist and flavourful.............. I increased the cocoa to three (3) heaping tablespoons, used one and a quarter (1 1/4) cups of buttermilk, used one quarter (1/4) cup of butter and one quarter (1/4) shortening, decreased the sugar to one (1) cup, reduced the flour to two (2) cups, (using one (1) cup all-purpose flour and one (1) cup cake flour Additions:- one (1) tsp instant coffee and one quarter (1/4) tsp cayenne pepper (I know it seems weird but it really works) which i added to the cocoa paste. Follow original directions usong these changes and u will have the moistest, most delicious cake that will have your friends begging you for more, I know I do. I frost the cake with cream cheese icing, sometimes adding crushed pecans or walnuts (or whatever nuts you prefer) between the layers and top and sides of cake. Although not the best cake, it was a great base recipe, which with a few tweaks was excellent.
Cake was very good, however the frosting did not come out correctly and I don't know why. Maybe I should have cooked it longer?
I've never heard of vinegar in a red velvet cake but it was pretty good, I love red velvet cake and I made a few adjustments. I used soy creamer, applesauce, and agave instead of the animal products and then skipped out on the frosting and used a vegan frosting. YUM! This is a keeper.
The first time I made this, I did double the chocolate as others had suggested. The red dye that I used was a gel and unfortunately this did not blend well and there were swirls in the cake. Aside from the dryness it tasted delicious. The second time I made it for Christmas Eve, I used a liquid red dye (2 oz)- no swirls and replaced the shortening with the 1 cup of oil that other reviewers had suggested. Beautiful. It was moist and delicious. The icing was a knockout both times. This is a keeper. Thanks for the recipe!
The cake was fine, only used one bottle of food coloring and that was enough. I didn't care for this icing, however. I tried it because one reviewer said it was 'authentic'. It did not hold up well and had to be refrigerated at all times, even spreading it on the cake made it 'disintegrate'. Had a very odd texture and it didn't quite make enough to cover the cake. The flavor is okay, but was just to difficult to work with and the texture to weird to give it more than 2 stars.
The icing isn't worth it. It came out very drippy no matter what I did, and it looked clumpy and gross. Next time I'lluse Best White Icing Ever or Bakery Shop Icing instead.
Followed a few of the suggestions. Loved the frosting. Much better than cream cheese frosting
this cake was super delicious! i like many of the reviews i read added more cocoa and used the 1 cup oil instead of the shortening. i guess if i didn't make those modification i would have given it 5 stars! the frosting was SOOOOOOO good!!!! i doubled it because i frosted and decorated it. i did have some leftover...i migth try just doing it 1 1/2 times next time. it was a super hit! thanks so much for sharing!
This cake is wonderful. Very moist & the icing is perfect, better than the traditional cream cheese icing.
I made this cake substituting 1 cup oil and four tbsp on cocoa and thought it was fabulous, I've never had a traditional red velvet cake before only from cake mixes and with cream cheese frosting this is so much better it kind of has an old fashioned taste which is excellant. I also used cake flour (still used the 2 1/2 cups). Great recipe, worth the extra work!
I made this cake twice with the extra sugar/cocoa and oil instead of shortening and it was so moist - I was really pleased with it - but, each time I made the cake, it hardly raised at all and once it was cool it had sunk a lot. It tasted great but it looks pathetic!
This recipe would be 5-star if not for the inexplicable decision to use a milk/butter/flour frosting instead a traditional cream cheese frosting. For most people who like Red Velvet Cake, the cream cheese frosting is the most important part. I wish Eleanor would tell me what's up with that, lol. Great recipe, though -- I've used it many times coupled with either the Bourbon Cream cheese frosting or the frosting listed in Red Velvet Cake II.
Very puzzled as to why this cake did not turn out well, but it was a bust. The cake was very dense and lacked flavor, and the frosting was way too buttery.
The flavor of this cake was pretty good. However, the cake was too dry. I don't think the baking soda and vinegar was necessary. I used a different recipe for the frosting.
This is a really good cake but it tastes nothing like the red velvet cakes I had when I was a kid in the south. Also, I am used to cream cheese frosting. I thought the frosting was OK but my husband loved it.
I made this w/ the substitutions (including cake flour)and made it "Blue Velvet Cake" for my son's birthday. The cake was delicious, moist, and tasty. I didn't get the lumps out of the milk/flour mixture for the icing so it did not work out. It was not, however, runny, as some suggested. I cooked it long enough to make it mashed potato consistency, or more like oatmeal. I also cooled it plenty in fridge and it was not runny at all (the finished product) but had inedible little flour beads. Question: when this recipe calls for food coloring, does it mean liquid or paste? I think the color in my cake was swirly on top because of the cocoa paste situtaion and the buttermilk idea sounds better. I used 3T cocoa, about .15 oz. liquid food color and about .5 oz. paste. It was very blue but brown/black in two corners. My paste was too thick.
AWESOME! I added more coco and a little more sugar but it rocks!!! Great for the holidays!!! Thanks friend!
This was the first time I made red velvet from scratch and it was delicious. I didn't have as much food coloring as required probably a little less that half and I was worried but it turned out wonderful. and not a problem at all. You do not need 2 ounces. The taste of chocolate is a little too subtle, so I will add some more next time. The frosting is delicious. I accidentally added 2 cups of sugar, but it still tasted really good. and easy to make
Very tasty cake. I did have some trouble with the icing being too runny. I added additional amounts of icing sugar to thicken it.
Just got done making the cake and it turned out perfectly.This was the first red velvet cake i have ever made and it came out great.Very moist,not dry at all,the cake has a perfect consistence.I did make some changes and used the one cup of oil instead of shortening,2 cups of sugar instead of 1 1/2, i used 2 teaspoons vanilla essence and 1 teaspoon vanilla powder,But NO Cocoa powder.I used almond essence to give some more taste to it.i am not missing the chocolate at all.Other than that i did not make the frosting myself,i used Betty Crocker cream cheese icing. I am German and our ways of baking and traditional cakes differ a lot from the American baking culture,i really have to find my way into it,but this was a good start:)Thanks!
I followed the recipe exactly and family loved it on Valentines Day. I think next time I will cut back on the food coloring and add more cocoa though as others have suggested. Kinda time consuming but I thought it was well worth it!
