Red Velvet Cake II

Original Red Velvet cake is, essentially, a lightly flavored chocolate cake. This recipe is missing the two tablespoons of cocoa powder that are suppose to be included in the cake batter.

I made this today to take to hubby's work Xmas party tonight. This was a huge hit! My changes were to add 1 tsp of cocoa and make sure that the buttermilk and eggs were at room temp. I left out the pecans in the frosting. I used cake flour and still sifted all of the dry ingredients. I used two 9 inch rounds that baked in 27 minutes. I topped with strawberries. I will make this again. Thank you.

This is almost the same as my grandmother's recipe, except she uses cake flour, 2 cups of oil and 1 tablespoon of cocoa. We also use 1 cup of pecans in the frosting.

This is TRUELY THE BEST ever!!! i have been using this one for years and when taken to the same table as one that has coco in it, this one wins hands down! If you want devil's food then don't make red velvet!

This cake is definately missing something...not sure where this recipe originated, but I've always heard that a red velvet cake should be more than just red...like it should have the taste of devil's food cake, but have the red colour. I won't be making this again any time soon.

This cake was one of my best cakes, & all my friends thought it had an unusual taste tho' there is nothing unusual in it except the colouring. The frosting, tho' it was just cream cheese frosting tasted so good.....too good.I'd bake this cake over & over again for family & friends.

This is basically the same, fantastic recipe I've been using for 20 years and this is the way Red Velvet is supposed to be done (without cocoa powder - I don't know why people insist on adding it). I use 2 cups of pecans in the icing. THIS RECIPE ABSOLUTELY ROCKS!!!

I made this cake for my son's 14th birthday at his request for a red velvet cake. He's only ever had the chocolate kind before so this was a surprise to him. But he loved it and so did all of his guests. It was a beautiful red color and unbelievably moist. I added an extra teaspoon of vanilla because I didn't think the batter was very tasty; I'm glad I did, it turned out well. I used store-bought vanilla icing (also at his request) and it was fine with the cake. I noticed a very slight bitter taste that I attributed to the HUGE amount of red food coloring in the recipe but no one else said anything about it. I wonder if it would be just as pretty with only 1oz. of food coloring. Thanks for the great recipe.

ABSOULUTELY PERFECT! 5stars! so moist! so fluffy! i live in england and have tried 2 red velevt recipes and failed in the last few days. was gonna give up and saw this-my last try AND IT WORKED! HEAVEN! as we dont use baking soda in England, i used bicab of soda same amount+1.5-2tsp vanilla extract, used cider vinegar and not distilled white vinegar. to get a bright red colour i found the best foodcolor is scarlet not red. depends how bright or deep you want it. i love it bright red so found waitrose sold 28ml little bottles by langdale and the colour is scarlet at 34p and i used 2 of them. i had tried the bottles marked red but it came out too deep a red colour for me so i prefer the scarlet colour. for the frosting- mixer high speed-300gram cream cheese pack which is 1.5 amount recipe asks. increase butter to 3/4 cup as had gone up with the cream cheese+2tsp vanilla extract, reduce sugar in frosting to 13oz icing sugar called confectioner sugar in US. we dont have it as sweet in England as do there. did toy with putting cocoa but didnt. glad i didnt. this cake came out PERFECT! did find i left it in oven 25-30mins. also if you have an electric fan oven do remember to reduce temperature by 20degrees to 160degrees. i used 2 sprinform 9in tins(base and sides greased+lined +lightly floured). Tip-used kenwood mixer beat oil+eggs+caster sugar on highest till very fluffy then add flour b.milk etc on minimum speed. DO NOT BEAT/MIX THEN ON HIGH!! only slowly blend in! XXXXX

ADDED COCOA IT WAS GREAT!!! NICE FLUFFY, MOIST!!! ABSOLUTLY DELISH!!! EASY TO MAKE!!! WILL DEFINATLY MAKE AGAIN

Awesome cake! Just changed a couple things - added some cocoa (sorry i don't measure when I do this lol) and some butter flavoring. Also, I think the frosting recipe is supposed to have 2 pkgs of cream cheese instead of 1. Worked out after I added the second box. :) Cake was a hit! Thanks!

I have searched for a true red velvet recipe that has no cocoa in it. And i have finally found it. i did add a 1/2 cup more oil and a teaspoon of butter flavoring. My family loved it and placed orders for more!

Red velvet cakes can be vanilla cakes as well as chocolate, so it is unfair of reviewers to dock stars based solely on the fact that there is no cocoa present. I tried the cake as written and also with 1Tbs natural cocoa powder and both were delicious. I do prefer it with the light chocolate flavor, though, and 1Tbs made it just right. I had only about 0.5oz coloring, so I added 1.5oz water to keep the liquid ratio the same. Though the batter was not very richly colored, it darkened in the oven to a beautiful, rich red. I've had problems before with red velvets being slightly dry, but this one was so moist and light without being overly delicate. My guests all had multiple pieces. I would recommend this cake extremely highly with no modifications, except the optional bit of cocoa. *UPDATE* I made this again with the listed amount of food coloring, and it was so red that it looked comical. I'm going to permanently reduce the amount of food coloring used.

I hate to break this to all the chocolate lovers but not everyone likes that chocolate in their red velvet cake. That's why different versions of this recipe as with others exist. I personally can't stand red velvet cake with chocolate in it and would never attempt to make one only to blame those who do like it. That's foolishness on my part! Why not just get a chocolate box cake and dye it red. This is the southern favorite I grew up loving! Chocolate lovers keep looking!

I cant wait to make this my new holiday tradition!

I really liked this cake. Everyone at work said it was great. It was ate in about 30 minutes flat. The icing is what makes this cake, it is truely a wonderful cream cheese icing. For me, I would have liked a more moist interior cake. Maybe a TBS of sour cream would have done the trick for me. This cake makes the apperance you really worked all day on it, when actually it is pretty east for a red velevet. I WILL MAKE AGAIN!!

I kept waiting for the cocoa. I wont make it again for sure.

This is the most WONDERFUL cake in the world! I've only tasted red velvet one other time in my life, when I was a child. Thanks to the internet, I have reclaimed this childhood favorite! This is a taste sinsation! My 11 year old son even wants this cake for his birthday, instead of an ice cream cake!

I love the combination of ingredients for red velvet cake. I thought texture of cake came out well. Awesome choice of ingredients for cake frosting, in that some recipes do not included soften butter to its frosting. So far this red velvet cake recipe was better than the last two recipes I used to prepare this cake on thanksgiving of last year. I am glad that cocoa powder was not a main ingredient in your recipe compared to other recipes (I do not think it goes well). Great choice and I will recommended this particular recipe to anybody who want's to learn how to bake this cake.

This cake would have been perfect if it had cocoa in the recipe. It came out a beautiful deep, rich, red color and it was moist. I had to go back and add 2 TBSP of cocoa after I'd poured the batter in the first set of pans, but it made a big difference. The frosting was a little too sweet and stiff though, next time I'll lessen the confectioner's sugar.

YUM! Yum! Yum! A little sugary but delicious.

This was great!! THANK YOU!! I made this cake for my Woman Friend for valentines day. It is her FAV cake. She ENJOYED EVERYBIT OF IT. But i have to say that i have become popular at her job because of this cake. she took some of it to work so that she could brag to her friends, and now they ask her all of the time "can you have your man make that cake again" lol. again THANK YOU!!!!

I made this cake for Christmas and everyone loved it, including my mom who only eats chocolate cakes. I did make a chocolate frosting for it though. This is one of my favorite recipes. :o)

My family loves this recipe with 1 minor modification. Add 1 - 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder to the flour mixture and it enhances this cake so much more!!!! Also if you don't have vegetable oil canola is just fine.

A lot of reviewers are saying this is missing something. Yes, a lot of Red Velvet Cakes call for Cocoa Powder. However, during the Great Depression, Cocoa Powder was hard to come by for some folks, so they omitted it. This cake is absolutely wonderful! Almost the same as my family recipe. I use Cake Flour instead of self rising.

I tried this recipe for my wife's birthday because of all the rave reviews for it. I have been baking since I was a kid and owned my own bakery at one time. This cake was coarse in texture and dry. I suppose it's because of the multitude of chemicals used to raise the thing. The batter was thin and didn't look like it would fill the pan. It rose and the center of each layer fell a little in the middle. The flavor was lacking and it was nothing to write home about. Not one I will try again.

This is similar to the red velvet cake I make. To those who think that a red velvet cake is a chocolate cake with red color, that maybe true for some people but everyone I know enjoys the buttermilk red velvet cake, that just has a teaspoon of cocoa. That is the only difference in this recipe and mine, and an additional half cup of oil. I love this cake!!

Great results! using this recipe for my wedding cupcake tower as one of the flavors for my guests! Thanks for the alterations. Used olive oil in place of vegetable oil and added 2 extra tbsp of cocoa

This is exactly what I was looking for. I have so many customers that love the bright red red velvet cake & they request no cocoa.

I made this cake for my honey for Valentine's day. He loved it! I am kindof wondering about the amount of red food coloring though. If I figured it right, 2ounces works out to 4 tablespoons. I only had 1 1/2 tblsps. and the cake was plenty red enough! All in all a good cake!

i thought that you did a great job and i just wish that i would be able to make something as good as the red velvet cake!!

When I first did this recipe it taste like cake with food coloring. I made this cake 4 more times altering certain ingredients. My 4th try was the best . I added 1/3 cup of cocoa, 2 teaspoon of distelled white vinegar instead of 1 and added 1 extra egg.

it is good but if you dont put self riseing flour in it, it is kinda stiff. but over all is was good ;)

loved by all :)

I have used this recipe since 2003. It has become one of my signatures. But since all the recent 'red-velvet-hype", I wanted you to know there is no better recipe out there. Save yourself time and trust this recipe. Enjoy!

My Mom and I decided to try this one. It was a no brainer. It was moist and tasted so much like the cakes from back in the day! It tasted great, so my crash test dummies cleaned it up in no time!!

Don't be disappointed-see other recipes that use cocoa in cake!!

This was the first cake i have ever made from scratch. It was absolutely delicious, i fell in love with the recipe and the frosting was to die for, mmmmm so good.

This was my 1st Red Velvet cake and I was up against a box cake mix. My cake won the taste test hands down. Moist and colorful. I did add a tsp. of cocoa for a bit of chocolate flavor. Will make this again.

Tastes nothing like red velvet cake, even after adding the cocoa powder. Instead of making a cake I made cupcakes to try out, but I won't be making them again. Although, it makes a good children's cake in general, so if you want to make a simple nice cake then use this recipe. Just don't bother with the colouring. Icing was buttery so I had to add more icing sugar, tasted alright in the end. I wouldn't really suggest using this icing to be honest, I usually make my icing from the Primrose Bakery book, and I'll be sticking to that. An alright cake in general, so I'm giving it 3 stars.

This cake was delicious. It was very moist. I made a few changes. I added cocoa and used only 1 oz food food coloring. It was red but not too bright. I'll try 1.5 ounces next time. I used evaporated milk instead of buttermilk. I used 2 packages of cream cheese for the frosting. Yummy!

OK -- Not Great

Also red velvet cake does not have a cream cheese frosting.

This is a very good recipe, except for the fact that it's missing cocoa powder; I added 1/3 cup of cocoa powder when I made it. The results were quite tasty and the color was a dark, beautiful red after adding the cocoa. Thanks so much for this recipe, definitely worth making with the Whipped Cream Cheese recipe also on this website.

I made this cake for a wedding where the bride's color's were red and white. It was a big hit. Some guests even came back for seconds.

It was ok. My husband said it doesn't compare to his grandmother's. Of course, my teen couldn't stop eating it.

This was a delicious cake! I made it on Christmas Eve and my family loved it. I thought it was going to be hard, but it was easy. I know that I will be making this again. Thanks A Bunch!!!!!!!!

I really struggled with this cake, but I think it's the flour we have in Scotland and the temperature of my oven. When we move, I'm making this cake again. The flavour was still wonderful, and I did salvage it enough to serve it after Christmas dinner. Everyone liked it. But I know what Red Velvet Cake should be, and mine did not turn out right. Will try again, though. I think this is probably a very good recipe!

I wanted to make a red velvet cake for my firefighter husbands birthday, but my sister in law cannot eat cocoa so this was perfect!! For some reason my batter (and cake) ended up a very bright pink (which I think would be helped if I added cocoa powder?), but it was delicous! I read the reviews about the overpowering taste of food clouring, so I added a tablespoon of Vanillla instead of a teaspoon... it was fantastic! Will Definatly be making this again!!!

Good cake and icing. Just didn't seem like the cake had lots of flavor to us. I had never made Red Velvet cake before so maybe this is typical. Was very beautiful and festive though for the holidays.

I liked that there was no cocoa powder in this recipe, as my husband won't eat chocolate cake, and the frosting was awesome!! The color was great too, really red. But the cake came out somewhat dry and oily. I would make it again with butter instead of the oil, and maybe a splash of milk or yogurt to moisten it up.

Really excellent recipe. It was my first time making Red Velvet Cake and there's hardly anything left! Thank you!

loved this cake, it is my moms fav!!!!!

This cake tasted delicious-I added 1 tsp of cocoa powder but would likely add more next time. The only complaint I have is that the red colour wasn't uniform throughout the cake. This could have been my error-maybe I didn't mix it enough. I also used shortening and flour to grease my pan, maybe that's why the outside of the cake was not at all red! My food colouring also turned the cake more of a pink/purple colour.

I make this cake every year using this recipe. It's the only recipe I have found that doesn't use shortening in it. It gets rave reviews from me and all the people who enjoys it!!!!!!!

it so yummy...i dont have colouring so i use my cherry red syrup which i do like marble cake so its not all red but its pattern white and red...my icing i use kidney bean paste in the layer and top with cream cheese frosting....whole cake i cover with butter cream ...yummy...

very sweet and cream cheese icing almost too much. For us anyway.

I was not impressed with this recipe.. it was decent, but nothing to rave about. Maybe its the recipe, maybe its me... I just didn't taste any real flavor from this cake, its was pretty bland with the exception of the frosting.

This is a fantastic cake. I read the reviews and I to added cocoa and the flavour is amazing. Then my 6 year old son wanted a Godzilla birthday, so I made the cake into bright green cupcakes with red icing in honour of Godzilla!! Can't recommend this cake highly enough!

This is a wonderful cake....EASY...LOVE IT

My first cake from scratch. Used canola oil 1 oz. red food color I can't believe it's not butter 2 tbs. cocoa 1/2 slices of strawberry to decorate. We all loved it! :)

I made this cake for the labor day holiday and it all left at my gathering. I thought the cake was pretty good. I gave it four stars because the cake was not as moist as I would have preferred. It was a little dry but the icing was great. I did as some reviewers suggested and the only thing I changed was to add one tbs of cocoa. This recipe is very simple and I will make it again because it was a huge hit!! Thanks for sharing Rhonda

I was very pleased with the recipe, it did exactly what I wanted. I do not have two matching tins, so baked it in one tin for about an hour and then sliced it to make three layers and cut into a heart shape for Valentines day I sandwiched the layers with cream cheese frosting, spread the top with a red coloured white chocolate glaze and added heart shaped chocolates and leaves. My boyfriend loved it and the cake looked very good. I also added 3 tbsp cocoa, will post a photo of the result as it was a beauty

I made this over Christmas, not knowing that Red Velvet usually has cocoa in it. The cake was amazing though! I would have never known the difference.

I didn't have self-rising flour, so used all-purpose and added 1 tsp salt and 4 tsp baking powder (then skipped the tsp of baking soda the recipe called for). It rose well and was perfectly light and moist, which always pairs so nicely with the rich cream cheese icing. I needed way more icing sugar than was called for. I stopped counting after I'd used 8 cups. Make sure you have extra on hand, and just keep adding icing sugar until it's the consistency you like your icing to be. Thanks for a great recipe! I'll definitely make it again.

I added coco, it was amazing!

i used the icing from this recipe great!

I made half of this recipe to celebrate 2015. It was great, super moist, soft, and delicious. I didn't make the frosting because I had a can of Pillsbury's vanilla frosting. Remember to add 2 tbsp of cocoa powder, because red velvet cake is supposed to have a light chocolatey flavor to it. If you do not have buttermilk, add 1 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice to the bottom of the measuring cup, then pour in ROOM TEMPERATURE MILK until it reaches the 1 cup mark, let it sit for 5-10 minutes before use (it should curdle by then). If you also don't have SR flour, mix together 2 1/2 cup minus 5 tsp (1 tbsp plus 2 tsp) of flour with 4 tsp (1 tbsp plus 1 tsp) baking powder and 1 tsp of salt. And 2 oz (1/4 cup!) of red food coloring is toooooo much (that's why I rate this 4 stars. My family was also complaining that the cake was extremely red)! Add about 1-1.5 ounce (2-3 tbsp) or more to your liking. P.S. Wear red so you don't stain your clothes!

this cake was OK but it wasn't spectacular.I used more cocoa the second time and it came out a little better.

The cake is kinda dry, maybe should have added more oil. Used 2 tsp cocoa, should have used more. I watched the video that was with the recipe after I tried the cupcakes. Ingredients were not only different but different amounts. I will probably try it one more time according to the video. If that doesn't work, I won't try it again. Definitely lacking something.

This was an easy recipe to follow but the taste was not what I was expecting. Although, the frosting was great so for that I gave it a 3 star. Thanks anyway.

I did not care for this recipe.

This recipe is great and wonderful!!!! I really like it, and have made it serveral times, it taste good and very moist, my family really loves this cake!!! Thank you! CW

This was a great cake, my husband loved it. I made it for his birthday. The only reason I gave it 4 stars was because I added cocoa to it so the recipe was altered a little bit

This is not red velvet cake. I made this for valentines day and it was terrible! I don't know if it was the white distilled vinegar in the recipe or what but the cake had a very different taste that I couldn't put my finger on and it was very oily. I can't rate the frosting as I used another recipe.

So good and moist. I added a small amount of peppermint. Cause I don't care for chocolate

great cake - easy to make

It turned of beautiful!!! My all time favorite holiday cake!!!

A real crowd pleaser. I used only 1 oz of food coloring and it had a pretty color. Also, I used an extra 8 oz of cream cheese. I'll definitely use this recipe again.

I used the exact ingredients in the same amounts to make a single cake in a 10-inch pan. The result was a huge and rather tall cake,with amazing fluffiness and moistness!Despite being oversized,soon only crumbs of it were left. Will definitely make this again!

Very good and moist but I added 3 tbs if cocoa Oh cream cheese frosting was to die for

Pretty good cake. It was so moist I was worried but it turned out prefect. If u seeking chocolate flavor add the cocoa. I made it exactly as directions no issues. I may alter the recipe next time,just to see how it comes out. Overall great start and I think anyone can make it their own.

This is a 5 star recipe! I made this for our son's 24th birthday and he said it was the most awesome cake. Everyone that night loved it! Red velvet is one of my favorite cakes anyway. I extended the ingredients to make a 3 layer for everybody to have a big piece. My only change was I added 5 tablespoons of cocoa for that chocolate taste. For the 2 layers, you would just add 2 to 3 tablespoons cocoa. I also made a white chocolate cream cheese frosting for it and it was the bomb!!

This is similar to my red velvet cake recipe. I add 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder because it is a traditional chocolate cake. Delicious and moist

I made this cake but used the cream frosting from the Red Velvet Cake II. Everyone thought it was great. I wish it would have raised a little more but all in all it was a great cake. I will make it again.

I read other recipes, so addeded 1/3 cocoa powder; i changed 1 C Oil to 1/2 c butter + 1/2 C shortening, and perhaps because i was using cake flour, i needed to add 1 egg (for 3 total), because batter was so stiff. I was disappointed cake was not very moist, and sort of "bland" as other reviewers said. I'll try other Red Velvets til I find a better tasting one... and don't use cake flour., it does not "rise" as much.

Added 2-3 tbspns cocoa powder. Cake was moist and had good flavor.

just a red cake with cream cheese icing. cake was bland not red velvet. Then icing was great.

Is the best red velvet cake recipe on the planet. Will not exchange for any other recipe.

This is the best red velvet cake I have ever had I did make a few changes only after reading a lot of the reviews. I added 2 Tablespoons sifted coco powder, half a cup sour cream and 1 teaspoon butter extract to the batter. It turned out very moist and a beautiful color . I did add more vanilla to the frosting and it too turned out wonderful. This will go on my favorite recipe list and I will be making it again. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe.

Too this recipe I added a teaspoon of coco powder to give it that light chocolate flavor. I brought this to a family birthday party and everyone said that they hated red velvet cake but they loved this cake. I made 2 nine inch rounds and put my homemade whipped cream frosting on it. This cake was amazing!!!!!

it was alright but a little dry (possibly my own error as i used two 9 inch pans and baked for around 28 min) and not very flavorful

I recently made this cake for my son's 2nd Birthday party and it is simply wonderful! I made a Spiderman cake, red velvet cake with a blue cream cheese outside and webbing of course. I have tried other red velvet recipes in the past and was very disappointed with how dry they were and how much they lacked in color. This recipe however is the complete opposite! Very moist and a very VERY bright and beautiful red. The only thing I did different was add 2 Tablespoons of cocoa. Definitely making this one again....and again! Love it and it was a huge hit at the party.

Cake was ok, but nothing special.

Make this for my family’s November birthday Feast-tastrophy. Result was well received by birthday people and the rest of the family. Cake texture was exceptional, cook time was almost perfect. Modifications 1 I was short on red food color, only used one ounce because that was all I had, color was fine. 2 removed 2 Tbs flour & replaced with cocoa powder. 3 added another half block of cream cheese , a capful of milk and a quarter tsp cream of tarter to the frosting. From a nine inch round two layer, we only had 2pieces left. I believe that speaks for itself. Brava!

Hi I used this recipe well the frosting part for a birthday cake. I am a skilled baker but couldn't get this frosting recipe to work. In this case it turned out more like a glaze then a frosting. I even add more confection sugar to it to help it stability. It end up being very sweet and consistanct of water. I was totally not impressed and would never use this recipe again. Plus as for the cake part who would use vinegar in a cake recipe. I would never use this for a nice event it will not turn out correctly.

It turned out great. I altered the icing by using only 3 cups of confectioners sugar. Didn’t change anything else.