Red Velvet Cake

food coloring going into the liquids

This is my 2nd favorite cake EVER (1st favorite is chocolate stout cake). My favorite is from Sprinkles and I'm still looking for the perfect recipe. I've had this recipe bookmarked for awhile and I thought I should finally make it.



I do not know if my cocoa is dutch-process or not. It's the generic cocoa from Ralphs and I didn't have white vinegar so I substituted apple cider vinegar. I used half the amount of food coloring because I read some scary articles about it. I guess originally it turned red because of the cocoa they used back in the day and how it reacted with the vinegar and buttermilk (wikipedia), but now it's just food coloring (or beets).


I also added some slivered almonds because I had them on hand and I liked the crunch. I also think that next time I'd make either a 9 inch cake or make 3 layers because the layers were a bit tall.

The oil was great because the cake was moist and dense, but I didn't like the slight tang that it had from the buttermilk and vinegar. I'll probably add less of them next time. But this is a very moist, not too sweet, slightly chocolately cake that you should try and make. This is my favorite recipe for red velvet cake so far. Other ones have turned out dry or too chocolate-y.


Instead of their recipe for frosting (which looked interesting- I just didn't have most of the ingredients), I made a regular cream cheese frosting. It's just a matter of taste- some people like the frosting slightly tangy still, I like mine sweet (but not sweeter then the cake). (And Joanne made this awhile ago too and she had a really really good vanilla bean frosting that went so well with the cake!)

Oh, also helpful is a crumb coating, which I didn't do because I was impatient. This is great when you have to slice the top off because your layer isn't completely flat. You basically frost the cake with a very thin layer of frosting and then put it in the fridge or freezer for a bit until it sets up. Then take it out and put more frosting over. So the first layer catches all the crumbs so the second layer is crumb-free.