- This is the most requested cake on our channel,
and I'm gonna teach you how to make it.
(upbeat music)
Hey, everybody.
It's Natasha of NatashasKitchen.com,
and today I'm gonna show you how to make red velvet cake.
This is moist, and you're gonna love
how we make the ultimate cream cheese frosting.
And I'm craving cake so let's get started.
(drums)
You'll need to preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit,
then grease two nine-inch cake pans with butter.
Also, to keep the cakes from sticking to the pans,
I also like to dust with a little bit of flour,
and make sure to tap out the excess.
Once you have your cake pans buttered and floured,
set those aside until you're ready to use them.
This quick prep will ensure that the cakes release easily.
Now we'll make the cake batter.
Combine two and a half cups of all purpose flour,
two tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa,
a teaspoon of baking soda, and half a teaspoon of salt.
Quickly whisk those together just until they're combined.
Now, we're gonna sift the dry ingredients
to make sure everything is really well blended.
Sifting also ensures that your cake crumb
is soft and fluffy,
and I will link to the sifter in the notes.
Set aside the dry ingredients.
Now in a large mixing bowl, combine one half cup
or one stick of softened unsalted butter,
and one and a half cups of sugar.
Cream those together with an electric mixer.
It takes a minute or two for the butter
and sugar to come together, and you just wanna keep mixing
until the sugar is moistened with the butter,
and it has a powdery snowy consistency.
You'll need two room temperature eggs.
Add those one at a time, beating well with each addition.
Once the eggs are well incorporated,
add two teaspoons of vanilla extract,
and we're using our homemade extract.
I will leave a link to the two-ingredient recipe
in the notes.
Quickly blend in that vanilla.
Now with the mixer on,
add three fourths cup of vegetable oil,
or you can use a light olive oil.
I have one cup of room temperature low-fat buttermilk.
And into that, I'm gonna stir in
one teaspoon of white vinegar.
The buttermilk and vinegar mixture
adds great moisture to the cake
and activates the baking soda
so you end up with a very fluffy cake.
Add the buttermilk mixture,
and blend until smooth and well-incorporated.
Now add your dry ingredients all at once,
and with the mixer on low speed, stir until well blended.
Stop mixing once it's evenly moist
and you no longer see any dry streaks of flour.
Also make sure to scrape down the bowl while you're mixing
to catch any pockets of flour.
Now last but not least,
we're gonna turn this into a red velvet cake batter.
To make it that classic red color,
I highly recommend using a gel food coloring.
This is the one that I'm using,
and I will link to this in the recipe notes.
All you need is half a teaspoon,
and a little bit goes a long way.
You could even use less food coloring if you wanted to,
just add it to your preference
using the mixer on low speed,
mix until the color is well incorporated into the batter,
scraping down the bowl as needed.
Once the batter is uniform in color,
you're gonna transfer it,
and divide it evenly between your prepared cake pans.
My best tip for getting even cake layers
is to use a digital kitchen scale.
Zero out your cake pan, then you can see
exactly how much batter you've poured into each cake pan.
And make sure to get every last drop
of that yummy red velvet cake batter.
Now use your spatula to spread the batter
evenly into the pans, and we're gonna transfer that
and bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit
for about 30 minutes.
What I love about this recipe is the cake layers rise evenly
and have a level top, so there's no need to trim.
To test for doneness,
insert a toothpick into the center of the cake,
and it should come out clean.
Once the layers are out of the oven,
let them rest in their pans for about 20 minutes.
Run a thin spatula or knife around the edges of the cake
to loosen them from the pans.
Now carefully invert the cake onto a wire rack.
Sometimes you need to give the pan a little tap
for it to slide out, but normally, they slide out easily.
Once your layers are on your rack, you wanna set those aside
and let them cool completely to room temperature
before adding the frosting and assembling your cake.
To make our favorite cream cheese frosting,
you'll need one and a half cups
or three-fourths pound of unsalted softened butter.
Make sure you do not over-soften your ingredients.
This has been at room temperature
for about an hour and a half,
and you can see that you can indent it
slightly with your finger,
but it should still be a little bit cool to the touch.
Add that butter in pieces to a large mixing bowl,
and use an electric mixer to beat that on high speed
for about a minute,
or until it's smooth and lightened in color.
And it's important to scrape down the bowl periodically
to make sure you don't have any chunks of butter
that aren't blended.
(mixer buzzing)
Now add your softened cream cheese.
And again, you wanna use a block style cream cheese
and make sure it's not overly softened.
The key to having a thick
and spreadable cream cheese frosting
is to make sure that your ingredients
are at the right temperature.
(mixer buzzing)
Now beat those together on medium-high speed
until the cream cheese and butter are well incorporated,
scraping down the bowl as needed.
Now add one tablespoon of vanilla extract
and an eighth of a teaspoon or a generous pinch of salt.
Beat those in until well combined.
I like to add four cups
or a total of one pound of powdered sugar,
because I think it has the best balance of sweetness.
We're gonna add the powdered sugar one cup at a time,
and mix on low speed until it's incorporated.
(mixer buzzing)
Once all of the powdered sugar is in,
kick the mixer up to high speed
and continue beating for another two to three minutes
or until the frosting is whipped, thick, and spreadable.
All right, our frosting is ready,
and our cake is now at room temperature
so it's time to assemble.
Place that first cake layer onto a serving platter,
and we're gonna add a generous amount of frosting
over the top.
I love a thick layer of frosting between my cake layer,
so I'm using about a third of the frosting
Spread that evenly to the edges of the cake.
Now top that with your second cake layer.
And I like to place it upside down
so that you have the smoothest, most even surface
for the top.
Now we're gonna crumb coat the cake,
which means that you're gonna apply a thin layer of frosting
all the way around the cake.
Crumb coating glues the crumbs down
and seals in the moisture of the cake.
Once you've finished with an even crumb coat,
add a little bit more frosting to the top and sides
until it's evenly coated.
I love using my offset spatula for this,
it makes frosting your cake so much easier,
and I will link to this tool
and all of our favorite tools in the notes.
Once you're satisfied with your frosted cake,
wipe the base of the cake platter with a paper towel.
Now transfer the remaining frosting into a piping bag,
fitted with a large open star tip.
We're gonna use the rest of this cream cheese frosting
to pipe puffs over the top of the cake.
And because the frosting has been out for a little bit,
and I'd like it to firm up,
I'm gonna pop this into the refrigerator
while we add sprinkles to the cake.
This is how I like to decorate my red velvet cake.
I'm using two different kinds of red sprinkles.
Start by adding the larger sprinkles
around the top border of the cake.
Also apply some sprinkles to the bottom edge of the cake.
And I'm just gently tossing the sprinkles onto the side,
I don't have any secret tricks for this.
And because I have the base of my cake platter clean,
I'm able to reuse some of the sprinkles
that fall off the edge.
I'm also using some red sanding sugar,
and following the same pattern.
And the sanding sugar just fills in the sprinkles.
This way of decorating makes it look really pretty
for a birthday, or Valentine's Day, or even Christmas.
Once you've cleaned off your extra sprinkles
from your cake platter,
we're gonna pipe that chilled frosting over the top.
Add little rosettes or puffs over the edges of the cake.
Before cutting into this,
I like to refrigerate it for about an hour.
This will firm up the frosting slightly
and just make it much easier to slice.
Who's excited? (laughs)
I am, (laughs) 'cause I get to have some cake.
And it's just firm enough now where I can slice it easily.
That's the only reason to refrigerate,
just to make it easier to serve,
the cake layers stay together a little bit better.
So that's what we're gonna do.
We're gonna do the taste test 'cause I want some cake.
All right, here we go.
And I do like to wipe the knife in between slices,
so that way you'll get a really clean cut,
just like we do with cheesecake.
Okay, here we go.
Oh my goodness, look at that. (laughs)
Oh, okay, yum yum, yum.
Okay, and we're just gonna go for it
because I want my cake. (laughs)
I wanna have my cake, and I'm gonna eat it too. (laughs)
Okay, here we go.
Oh, and it is so soft.
The cream and the cake, super moist, just the perfect crumb.
That is exquisite! (laughs)
We're bringing out the big words. (laughs)
Seriously, it tastes like a bakery quality cake,
like a fancy bakery.
It is moist, and you can taste
that little bit of cocoa in the cake.
The cake itself has so much rich flavor.
It's just so decadent and delicious.
Seriously, it's like I can't stop it,
just one bite because it's really good.
It's like melt-in-your-mouth delicious.
I also love that it's not overly sweet,
both the cake and the frosting, it is just right.
And maybe that's why I can always eat a really big piece.
(laughs)
You can freeze the cake and you can freeze the frosting,
which is awesome because I love make-ahead desserts,
perfect for parties.
Make sure to check out more desserts
at NatashasKitchen.com.
And if you're building a Valentine's Day menu,
or a menu for any special occasion really,
check out some of our best recipes right over there
and right down there,
and we'll see you in our next video.
(laughs)