Red Velvet Cake is not just cake dyed red. It’s a lot more than that.
It’s a mix of subtle flavors: vanilla, chocolate, buttermilk. All these flavors are represented gorgeously, and subtly.
It’s like you can’t quite put your finger on it, is that vanilla I’m tasting? Oh wait no, it’s chocolate.
Paired with lemon buttercream frosting and some maraschino cherries this is a cake to remember!
Perfectly smooth, moist, dreamy and decadent, not to mention absolutely gorgeous with that glorious red color.
A note about the color. I used red food dye.
McCormick’s Red Food Color has been confirmed to me to be vegan (I contacted them directly). So that’s likely a good one to use and available on Amazon.
Foster Clark is another good one to use if you’re in the UK or somewhere else where it is a commonly sold brand. But from my research it seems that most red food dye is vegan these days. The non-vegan ingredients – cochineal or carmine – are not usually seen anymore.
I did try using beet juice to dye previous versions of this cake, and…. I did not manage to make that work – to put it nicely. 
It was the grossest cake I have ever made and the whole thing went straight into trash, to put it more bluntly. 
First off – it wasn’t moist, it was wet. And it tasted like beets! Yum! Hahaha!
All that and the red color did not hold.
The chemical reactions that take place while baking stripped that red color right out of it and it was a not terribly appealing shade of reddish brown. But way more brown than red.
I’ve heard of beets being used successfully but it might be out of my purview, so red food dye it is!
Red food dye enabled this cake to come out beautifully, with the color holding absolutely perfectly.
This cake is ideal for birthdays or other special occasions and it definitely stands out from the crowd.
You will love this cake for its smoothness, richness, moistness, vibrant color, subtle flavors, hints of vanilla, hints of chocolate, hints of buttercream and lemony creamy frosting.
And if you love red velvet then check out our vegan red velvet cupcakes. Our midnight blue velvet cupcakes are something special too!
So for all the reasons mentioned above, you’re definitely going to love this vegan red velvet cake. But if you’re still not convinced, let’s recap, this cake is:
- Moist
- Beautifully red
- Spongey
- Frosted with Lemon Buttercream
- A deliciously subtle blend of flavors
Keep covered at room temperature where it will stay fresh for a few days or keep it covered in the fridge where it will stay good for up to a week!
So go on and make this gorgeous vegan red velvet cake!
And let us know how it goes by rating the recipe and leaving a comment. But hey do that anyway, we love to hear from you!
And you’re definitely going to want to show off your creation, so take a photo and tag it #lovingitvegan on Instagram so we can go nuts over your gorgeous cake. 🙂
For more glorious vegan cake recipes, check out:
- Vegan Blue Velvet Cake
- Vegan Banana Cake
- Vegan Carrot Cake
- Vegan Vanilla Cake
- Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Vegan Key Lime Cake
- Vegan Chocolate Sheet Cake
And if you lean more towards the gluten-free, then don’t miss our gluten-free chocolate cake with ganache frosting!
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Vegan Red Velvet Cake
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 45 mins
- Yield: 10
Description
Rich, moist and smooth vegan red velvet cake topped with lemon buttercream frosting and maraschino cherries. Two gorgeous layers of fluffy, gloriously vibrant red cake, ideal for birthdays or other special occasions.
Ingredients
For the Red Velvet Cake:
- 2 cups (250g) All-Purpose Flour*
- 1 cup (200g) White Sugar
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1 Tbsp Cocoa Powder (unsweetened)
- 1 cup (240ml) Vegan Homemade Buttermilk
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1/3 cup (80ml) Extra Virgin Olive Oil*
- 1 Tbsp White Vinegar*
- 3 Tbsp Vegan Red Food Dye
For the Frosting:
- 3 and 3/4 Cups (450g) Powdered Sugar
- 3 Tbsp (45g) Vegan Butter
- 4 Tbsp Lemon Juice
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
For Decoration:
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Spray 2 7-inch cake pans with non-stick spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Sift the flour into a mixing bowl.
- Add the sugar, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder.
- To make the vegan buttermilk, add 1 Tbsp lemon juice to a measuring jug and then add soy milk up to the 1 cup (240ml) line. Leave to sit for a minute, it will curdle into buttermilk.
- Add the buttermilk, vanilla, oil, vinegar and red food dye into the mixing bowl and mix in.
- Use a hand whisk briefly to get rid of any large lumps.
- Divide the cake batter evenly between the two cake pans.
- Place into the oven and bake for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, insert a toothpick into the center of one of the cake layers and if it comes out clean, it is cooked.
- Transfer the cakes to a wire cooling rack and allow to cool completely before frosting.
- While the cakes are cooling, add the powdered sugar, vegan butter, lemon juice and vanilla to an electric mixing bowl and starting at slow speed gradually increase speed until the frosting is thick and smooth.
- It should be thick enough that it doesn’t slide off the cake, but not so thick that you can’t easily spread it. If the frosting is too thick, add a little more lemon juice. If it is too thin, add more powdered sugar until you reach the right consistency.
- Spread frosting over the top of one of the cake layers. Add the other layer on top and frost the top and sides.
- Add cherries to decorate.
Notes
*My cake tins are 7 inches round.
*Always weigh your flour for the most accurate results.
*You can use a different oil such as canola oil if you prefer.
*Apple cider vinegar can be used instead of white vinegar.
- Category: Dessert, Baking
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Vegan
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Serve (of 10)
- Calories: 450
- Sugar: 65g
- Sodium: 287mg
- Fat: 11g
- Saturated Fat: 1.6g
- Carbohydrates: 86g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 3.5g
Keywords: vegan red velvet cake
This looks great! I love red velvet, however I’m looking to make this into a sheet cake for the 4th of July . What size baking dish should I use and should I adjust bake times? Thanks!
★★★★★
Hi Elisabeth, I haven’t tested this as a sheet cake so I’m not sure. I would probably try a quarter sheet cake pan and see how it goes. As far as timing goes, you’ll just have to keep a watch on it and check for doneness with a toothpick inserted into the center.
hi what could I substitute the white vinegar for?
You could use apple cider vinegar instead, but white vinegar is preferable.
Hi Alison! Did you use gel or liquid food dye? I used powdered and my cake come out a little bit salty, besides from that the texture was great.
★★★★★
Hi Melanie, we used liquid. The gel is more powerful so you could likely use less of it. I’ve never used a powder so I’m not sure at all what effect that has. Glad the texture was good though! 🙂
Hi!
This cake looks amazing! My family is vegan and we’ve been on the hunt for the perfect red velvet cake recipe for my mom’s birthday!
My question – I have several 9-inch pans, no 7-inch pans. Is it possible to make this or modify it to work in 9-inch pans? I don’t bake often (pretty much never) so am hoping not to have to purchase 7-inch pans just for this recipe if possible.
Thanks so much for your time!
Samantha 🙂
Hi Samantha, you can double the recipe for a 2 layer 9-inch cake. Baking times will be exactly the same.
Hi Alison,
The cupcakes are to die for 🙂
I was wondering why you add flax egg in them but not in the cake.
★★★★★
This works !!!!
Brilliant..super happy with the results..I’m going to try more of your recipes..
Thank you so much !!
★★★★★
Awesome! Thanks so much Dhara! 🙂
hello! I would love to try this for my son’s birthday cake but I’m not an experienced baker. I only have 8″ round pans….do you know what adjustments I would need to make to accommodate that pan size? Thank you!
Hi Lauren, I would increase the recipe by half. So 2 cups of flour becomes 3, 1 cup of sugar becomes 1 and 1/2 cups and so on. I would definitely test it before the time so you can see how you go with it. All the best! 🙂
Hello! I made this with my kids today and it was a big hit! The cake turned out perfect but the frosting (although delicious) had a very strong lemon flavor and not quite the traditional red velvet frosting I was going for. I used 4 tablespoons of lemon juice and measured out 450 grams of powdered sugar, 45 grams of vegan butter and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Do you know what I can do to fix the taste of the frosting? Thank you so much!
P.S: My kids and I have made your baking recipes countless times and it’s so delicious every single time! Thank you!! 🙂
★★★★★
So glad you enjoyed the cake! Sorry the frosting wasn’t to your taste. In terms of fixing it, you could add more vegan butter and powdered sugar to dilute the lemon flavor. So happy you enjoy the recipes and thanks so much for the great rating! 🙂
We will definitely try that! Thank you so much! 💜🥰
Hi, I’m looking to bake this for a friend, and I have a couple of questions. Firstly, could I substitute 2tsp-3tsp of baking powder for the baking soda? Secondly (this is more just out of interest!), how come you have chosen a buttercream frosting rather than a cream cheese one? Just because I always thought cream cheese was more traditional, so I was wondering if you did it for a specific reason. I love your recipes and am really looking forward to testing this one out!
Hi Alice, the baking soda and the vinegar react together in this recipe to give the cake rise. I’m not sure how well it would work to switch for baking powder. It might be fine but I haven’t tested it. When I made this cake, I didn’t have any vegan cream cheese options so I couldn’t make a cream cheese frosting. We do have a vegan cream cheese frosting recipe now and it would definitely work well here too! 🙂
Ermine frosting is traditionally used for a red velvet cake but I found this frosting to be surprisingly great. This cake has become my new favorite birthday cake! I honestly couldn’t tell that it was vegan.
★★★★★
Thank you so much Vanessa! 🙂
Hi
Lovely red velvet cake. Just made it. Is the whole cake less than 500 calories?
Thank you!
Nooo, that’s per slice. 🙂
Hello,
How would I increase this recipe to 3-9 inch pans?
Thank you
Hi Hana, I would double the recipe. All the best! 🙂