Red Velvet Cake, How To Make A Southern Classic

Updated on October 19, 2017 Jan Charles moreJan has been cooking and writing about food for over twenty years and has cooked on multiple television stations, including Food Network. I first began making red velvet cakes when I was a little girl - most likely no older than seven or eight. Because I was born with some hard wiring regarding food in my brain gone haywire, I had already been cooking for a couple of years at that point. My first cakes were simply chocolate cakes (usually the recipe off the back of Hershey's Cocoa) with about a half a gallon of red food coloring thrown and topped with plain vanilla frosting. I'd like to apologize to my family for those, although I don't remember either my grandfather or brothers turning them down.

I've grown since then. And learned quite a lot. Those early mistakes weren't wasted - partly because I had a houseful of little brothers who would eat anything. But more importantly, I learned a lot of lessons from a lot of baking mistakes. Most of the cakes I made when little weren't really red at all - the most that could be said for them was that they were a rather rusty dark brown. Mainly because a true red velvet cake isn't really a chocolate cake to begin with. That's what I did wrong when I started - I didn't know I was working my way in backward.

The cocoa in this cake is just an accessory - it highlights the rest of the cake without taking center stage. Basically a red velvet cake is one in which the cocoa highlights the other flavors - the real rockstar element of a classic red velvet cake is the texture - hence the 'velvet' in the name. It's the gorgeous texture that you're after. This recipe makes two 9 inch layers. You can cut each layer in half if you wish, double the frosting amount, and make a four layer cake. Even better though is to double the cake recipe itself, and bake off four 9 inch layers.

The resulting cake will be about a mile high - and covered with that fluffy, creamy frosting is truly impressive. That's the favorite birthday cake at my house! Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour two 9 inch cake pans and set aside. Make a paste of the cocoa and red food coloring. In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking soda. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together oil and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated. Whisk cocoa paste into the buttermilk and stir to combine. Add buttermilk/cocoa mixture to the sugar and oil, and continue beating until all is incorporated.

Add vanilla and stir. Fold in the flour, and transfer batter, distributing it evenly between the two pans. Bake cakes for 30 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Let them cool in their pans for 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire racks. Allow them to cool completely before frosting. To make the frosting, beat the cream cheese and butter together until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar, and beat until fully incorporated. Add vanilla - and you're ready to frost your cakes! If you double the recipe to make four layers, try using a small dowel or large wooden skewer inserted into the middle of the cakes to make sure they stay straight and tall. Use kitchen snips to trim the skewer before you frost - just don't forget it's in there and serve it to someone!