Red velvet birthday cake

Red velvet is my all-time favorite cupcake flavor and I’ve always wanted to make the bigger, badder cake version, especially since I turned a bigger, badder 24 on Monday.

So, my mom and I whipped up our own version based on this recipe with cream cheese frosting (mmmm....). It called for TWO 1-ounce bottles of red food coloring! We only used one and the batter turned out very red (as in, will-stain-your-tongue-and-fingers-and-counter-top red), even after completely baking. We agreed that next time we attempt this cake, we’re going to go the anti-dye route and use beets, which can naturally give the cake a red color. This no-red-dye recipe by Sophistimom looks delectable.

As family and friends devoured the dessert around the table that evening, we got to discussing why in the world a red cake became popular. It turns out, the history of red velvet involved food coloring way back in the late 1800s. John A. Adams, whose family founded The Adams Extract Company marketed his dye products on posters with illustrations of a thick crimson, velvet (which meant fine-crumbed back then) layer cake. With every purchase, those Southern and Midwestern mamas received two free bottles of Adams red dye. Clever, clever, Mr. Adams. 

No matter how you slice it, cake is cake...and I'll eat it!

Continue reading for the complete recipe...

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

1-ounce bottle red food coloring

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cocoa

1 cup buttermilk (we used 1 cup milk and 1 tablespoon white vinegar as a substitute, because we didn’t have buttermilk in the house)

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon baking soda

Cream Cheese Icing – see below

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease three 8-inch cake pans.

Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy; gradually add sugar, beating well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition.

Stir in food coloring and vanilla, blending well. Combine flour, salt, and cocoa; set aside. 

Combine buttermilk, vinegar, and soda in a 4-cup liquid measuring cup. (Mixture will bubble.) Add flour mixture to shortening mixture, alternately with buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. 

Beat at low speed until blended after each addition. Beat at medium speed 2 minutes; pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake at 350° for 25 minutes. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes; remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks.

*We refrigerated the layers overnight before icing them, to make them a bit more firm.

Cream Cheese Icing

1 (8) ounce package cream cheese, softened


1/2 stick butter, softened


1/2 box plus 2 tablespoons confectioner's sugar
 (about 3 3/4 - 4 cups)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Using a mixer, blend all of the ingredients together until smooth and creamy.

Ice the layers with your best culinary skills (red velvet is so moist and sticks to the spatula!)

Refrigerate for the day or serve immediately. Yum!