Red Velvet Bundt Cake
If you are looking to make an easy and delicious cake with little to no effort, look no further. This bundt cake is what you need.
Reasons I love bundt cake
- Only one pan for the cake. I used the Nordic Ware 12 cup, which you can find here:
- Easy to make
- Easy to decorate
- Easy to serve
Ingredients you will need
- Red velvet emulsion – Don’t have it? You can sub food red dye
- All purpose flour
- Brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Eggs
- Sour cream
- Cocoa powder
- Buttermilk
- Baking soda
- White baking vinegar
- Cream cheese
- Powdered sugar
- Vanilla
- Chocolate for the garnish
What is emulsion?
Emulsion is an oil and water base. It differs from an extract because an extract has an alcohol base and cooks some of the flavor out when baked. When an emulsion is baked, it keeps all of the strong flavor. I recommend using an emulsion when you are trying to get hard flavors to come through in your baked goods.
The leavening agent I use?
In traditional red velvet cakes, they don’t use baking powder, they use a a chemical reaction formed by combining vinegar and baking soda which acts as a leavening agent and helps your cake to rise.
Red Velvet
I’m not sure if you know this, but red velvet is just a red dyed chocolate. There is also typically a sweet tangy flavor that comes from the buttermilk and the vinegar.
I do like my cakes very bright red, so on top of adding the red velvet emulsion, I also add a couple teaspoons of red food dye. My favorite is Amerigel bright red which you can find here:
Don’t forget to follow my go-to tips for getting your cakes to rise and bake well:
- Preheat your oven for 20-30 minutes prior to baking. This ensures your oven is ready to go.
- Beat the butter and sugar for at least 3-5 minutes on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy.
- Spray your bundt pan with cooking spray, but make sure you don’t over spray. Over spraying will cause a small crust to form on the top of your bundt cake.
- When adding your dry ingredients, make sure you mixer is on the lowest speed.
- Use room temperature wet ingredients.
- Use fresh baking soda
- Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out with only a few moist crumbs on it.
How to grease your bundt pan
If you decide to use the same bundt pan I use, you can just lightly spray it with cooking spray. I suggest that once your cake is fully cooled down, that you take it out of the pan.
If you decide to use a pan that has a little more detail in it than mine, I suggest you use flour goop to grease your pan. Flour goop is just equal parts butter and flour. Use a paper towel and get the ridges and the edges of the pan. Again, I suggest waiting until your cake is fully cooled down after baking to ensure that it will come out nice and even.
Recipe
Red Velvet Bundt Cake
Equipment
- Kitchen AiD
- Bundt pan
Ingredients
For the cake
- ½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
- 3 Tablespoons red velvet emulsion my favorite is Lorann’s Emulsion
- 1 teaspoon red food gel
- 3 large eggs at room temperature
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups buttermilk at room temperature
- ⅓ cup sour cream at room temperature
- 1 Tablespoon vinegar
- 1 ¼ teaspoon baking soda
For the Frosting
- ¾ cup unsalted butter melted
- 3 ounces cream cheese
- 3 cups powdered sugar measured and then sifted
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
For the cake
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Spray the bundt pan with a nonstick cooking spray. Make sure to not spray too much because it can cause the cake to form a crust on the outside. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vegetable oil, red food gel, and red velvet emulsion. Beat the ingredients on medium-high speed for about 5 minutes, until the mixture is light in color and slightly increased in volume.
- Lower the speed and add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until each egg is incorporated before adding the next. Once they are incorporated, beat on medium high for 2 minutes.
- Add the sour cream and mix on low for 20 seconds.
- In a separate bowl, sift the flour and cocoa powder. Sprinkle the salt on top of the dry ingredients and whisk until combined.
- With the stand mixer on low speed, add half of the dry ingredients and half of the buttermilk into the butter mixture, and repeat. Mix just until incorporated.
- In a small bowl, combine the vinegar and baking soda until it fizzes and then add it to the batter. With a rubber spatula, fold into the cake batter until combined.
- Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with only a few moist crumbs on it. Mine took 55 minutes exactly.
- Let the cake cool completely in the bundt pan before turning it over to remove the cake. This can take a couple of hours.
FOR THE ICING
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine all of the ingredients. Stir on low speed until the powdered sugar is mixed in. Turn the mixer to medium speed and mix for a couple minutes.
- Pour over the bundt cake.
- If you want a thick buttercream, instead of a thin icing, you can use the same recipe but simply use cold butter instead of melted butter.