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Vegan Red Velvet Cake

10/11/2011 by Camilla 48 Comments

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red velvet 9

I love a blog post that requires little explanation, and this is just such an instance.


Hence, an über-brief overview in place of prose; may the photos and recipe speak for themselves!

Vegan friend
Born and raised in Mississippi
Birthday
Longing for grandmother’s red velvet cake
Please??? Is it even possible???
Yes! (I think…)
Here goes nothing
OMG
Best red velvet cake ever
Happy Baking!

red velvet 2

Easy-peasy. The batter is mixed and in the pans in about 5 minutes flat. Take that, Betty CrockerNick loved the batter. He asked if I was making blood cake. He is such a boy. Because it has no raw eggs, I let him unabashedly lick the bowl and spatula.

red velvet 5

!
These layers came out so perfectly; makes me blush with pride 🙂
Among the many things I love about red velvet cake: extremely moist cake layers!
This recipe produces particularly uniform, crumb-free layers, making them a breeze to frost (no experience required)

red velvet 7

Is there anything better than a homemade birthday cake?
red velvet 8
Print

Vegan Red Velvet Cake


  • Author: Camilla
  • Prep Time: 50 mins
  • Cook Time: 30 mins
  • Total Time: 1 hour 20 mins
  • Yield: 16 servings 1x
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Ingredients

  • Two 9-inch (23 cm) round metal baking pans, greased and floured
  • 2–3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups granulated sugar or evaporated cane juice
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa power (not Dutch process–it will alter color of cake)
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1–3/4 cups plain nondairy milk (e.g., soy, hemp, almond, rice; not reduced fat varieties)
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 tbsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tbsp white or cider vinegar
  • 1/4 cup red food coloring (use natural, like Chefmaster made from plant extracts)
  • Non-Dairy Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting (see below)
  • 2 cups assorted berries (optional)
  • Frosting
  • 2–1/2 cups confectioners’ (icing) sugar
  • 2 8-oz containers Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese, softened
  • 1/2 cup vegan margarine, softened (I recommend Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks)
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Cake
  2. Preheat oven to 350°F
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
  4. Add non-dairy milk, oil, food coloring, and vanilla to flour mixture and stir until just blended. Whisk in vinegar until just blended.
  5. Immediately pour batter into prepared pans. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack. Run a knife around edge of pans, then invert cakes onto rack to cool completely.
  6. Place one cake layer, flat side up, on a cake plate or platter. Spread 3/4 cup of the frosting evenly over bottom layer. Top with the second cake layer, flat side down. Spread the remaining frosting over top and sides of cake. If desired, arrange berries decoratively on top. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.
  7. Frosting
  8. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat confectioner’s sugar, cream cheese, margarine and vanilla until smooth and creamy (do not overbeat). Use immediately.

Did you make this recipe?

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. James Kolodziej

    September 17, 2019 at 7:06 am

    Not sure why, but mine tastes like cornbread I followed the recipe

    Reply
    • Camilla

      September 17, 2019 at 8:46 am

      Hi James,
      I am sorry the cake did not work for you. I really do not understand how the cake could taste like cornbread given that it has 2 cups of sugar (to 2 and 3/4 cups flour, plus 1 cup oil–close to the ratios of a rich pound cake). Also, cocoa powder and 2 tablespoons of vanilla.

      Reply
  2. Janequa

    July 10, 2016 at 10:06 am

    Hi! I’ve made this recipe before & it came it wonderful! My daughter has a dairy allergy & for her first birthday I’m making her cake myself, but I want to make the color purple instead of red for her cake smash. I was wondering if you think it would turn out the same if I used a different food coloring other than red?

    Reply
    • Camilla

      July 11, 2016 at 11:10 am

      Hi Janequa! So glad you enjoyed it! Yes, you could use any other food coloring. I am not sure how deep the color would be–you might want to cut back on the cocoa a little bit if you want the color to be more vibrant 🙂 Let me know how it turns out!

      Reply
  3. linoy cohen

    June 16, 2016 at 2:24 am

    wow! it was the best vegan chocolate crumb cake I have ever ate.
    thank you so much.

    As other comments here I used 1 tsp baking powder (instead of the baking soda) , 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar, 3/4 cup beet mashed (that was in Boiling water) although the cake became at the end bround and not red.

    Reply
  4. Shilpa patel

    April 10, 2016 at 8:54 am

    Hi

    This is a fab recipe! Only thing is that it didn’t turn out as red as the original red velvet recipe comes out as….think I’ll have to reduce the amount of cocoa powder…but would I need to increase something else to compensate?
    Thanks Shilpa

    Reply
    • Camilla

      April 20, 2016 at 12:17 pm

      Hi Shilpa,
      I might just be a difference/variation in the brand of food coloring. I know the natural ones vary a lot in terms of color intensity!. Decreasing the cocoa would make it more red, too.

      Reply
  5. Tina

    January 11, 2016 at 7:02 am

    I have to say I made this cake over the weekend, and it was fabulous. It’s delicious and moist and my non-vegan boyfriend loved it and said it was the best red velvet he’s ever had. I was afraid of the food coloring and didn’t put enough in, so it wasn’t quite as red as yours but it was still clearly a red velvet cake. I did use a different frosting, though. Just a basic vegan buttercream with Earth Balance sticks and confectioner’s sugar. Thank you for sharing your recipe!

    Reply
    • Camilla

      January 11, 2016 at 5:23 pm

      I’m thrilled to pieces that it was such a success, Tina! I understand about the red color; the first time I made a red velvet cake I held back on the coloring, too 🙂

      Reply
  6. Jewlz

    November 24, 2015 at 5:22 am

    can you use cake flour?

    Reply
    • Camilla

      November 24, 2015 at 7:05 am

      yes! 🙂

      Reply
  7. Ella

    September 10, 2015 at 3:16 am

    Thank you so much for this amazing recipe! I bought all the ingredients today and I’m going to bake it for my vegan boyfriend’s birthday in a few days. I’m really excited to make it.

    Reply
    • Camilla

      November 12, 2015 at 7:36 am

      wonderful, Ella!

      Reply
  8. Susan

    May 26, 2015 at 1:06 am

    Hi,

    I really love the taste of this cake, but I can’t make it rise more than an inch(have tried four times).
    Any ideas why that keeps happening? Cake comes out moist and well cooked, but no high.
    Notes: took off from recipe, one cup of sugar and also live in central Mexico.
    Please help, should I add more baking soda?

    Reply
    • Camilla

      June 04, 2015 at 9:07 am

      Hi Susan,

      So sorry the cake did not rise! I would strongly advise against adding more baking soda–it will change the taste and texture of the cake in an unpleasant way. Do consider getting new baking soda if it is more than 3 months old; it could be a bad batch.

      I am almost 100% certain, however, that the culprit is the dramatic decrease in sugar. The sugar in the recipe is doing far more than adding sweetness. When sugar molecules meet water molecules, they form a strong bond. This union of sugar and water affects the texture (keeping the cake soft and tender) and moist (the bond between sugar and water allows sugar to lock in moisture so that the cake is not dry) .

      But it also dramatically affects leavening (especially in vegan cakes where there are no eggs to help the rise). When you mix up the cake batter and beat sugar into fat and other liquid ingredients, the sugar crystals cut into the mixture, creating thousands of tiny air bubbles that lighten the batter. During baking, these bubbles expand and lift the batter, causing it to rise in the pan.

      When you cut the sugar dramatically, you need to tinker with all of the other proportions (i.e., lots of testing and experimenting) to get the texture, flavor, and leavening right.

      Hope this helps! 🙂

      Reply
  9. Taylor

    February 04, 2015 at 10:25 am

    Such a moist cake! Was a total hit, even with my non-vegan friends. I’ll use this recipe again and again!

    Reply
    • Camilla

      February 04, 2015 at 11:34 am

      So happy to hear it, Taylor! 🙂

      Reply
  10. Laura Poole

    October 09, 2014 at 7:42 pm

    You wrote:
    Hi Elizabeth,
    Glad you liked the cake! Yes, changing the leavening and other ingredients will majorly affect the rise of the cake. You will have to play around to get the proportions where you want them. Baking soda reacts with acid, so if you want to go all baking powder, leave out the lemon juice (acid) for a better rise.

    But what about the cider vinegar ?
    I am going to make this cake this weekend and I really want to avoid using food coloring.

    Reply
  11. paddy

    July 08, 2014 at 10:36 am

    I stumbled upon this recipe thanks to Google. I am a vegan who loves to bake but never dared to try red velvet as i assumed it had tons of food coloring which i didn’t care for. I used your recipe with a few modifications – reduced the cocoa a bit, used apple cider vinegar and went to wholefoods and got them to make me a cup of fresh beet juice which i used instead of the food coloring. The cake was a HUGE hit at a July 4th party consisting entirely of non-vegans (except for me). So wanted to take the time to write and say THANK YOU! and for those hesitant to use Beet juice – hesitate no further 🙂 there was no smell of beets and the color was rich

    Reply
    • Camilla

      November 12, 2015 at 8:42 am

      Thank you so much for the feedback, Paddy! 🙂

      Reply
  12. Thalia

    July 07, 2014 at 12:16 pm

    Hi! I want to make this cake for my vegan teacher but I only want one layer. Would I just have to cut all the measurements in half? Or is there a different recipe? Thanks it sounds great!

    Reply
    • Camilla

      July 07, 2014 at 1:35 pm

      Hi Thalia–that should work!

      Reply
  13. Thalia

    July 07, 2014 at 12:15 pm

    Hi! I want to make this cake for my vegan teacher but I only want one layer. Would I just have to cut all the measurements in half? Or is there a different recipe?

    Reply
  14. Elizabeth

    May 04, 2014 at 9:12 am

    I made this cake for my boyfriend’s birthday (who is not vegan, but some of our friends are). I did not feel like spending $20 on natural food coloring at whole foods, so I opted to try beet juice instead. After a LOT of research (how to keep the cake red! but not make it taste like beets! but still have it be vegan
    !!), I made a couple alterations to this recipe.
    I used baking powder instead of baking soda. And I added about a 1/2 cup of raw beet puree w/ raspberry and lemon juice. I shredded the beet raw and then blended it in a high quality blender. I used raw beet because I read that I’d get better color. I added the lemon and raspberry juice to the puree until it tasted less earthy.
    So the cake TASTED amazing. The color was not BRIGHT red but definitely red enough for me. And I honestly think the beet puree improved the flavor, everyone kept asking “omg what is IN this?!?”
    My only complaint was that the cake didn’t rise as much as a I wanted it to because of the baking powder substitution but I had read that baking powder would kill the red color. Any suggestions for next time? Am definitely making this again the next time I want to make a cake!

    Reply
    • Camilla

      July 07, 2014 at 1:38 pm

      Hi Elizabeth,

      Glad you liked the cake! Yes, changing the leavening and other ingredients will majorly affect the rise of the cake. You will have to play around to get the proportions where you want them. Baking soda reacts with acid, so if you want to go all baking powder, leave out the lemon juice (acid) for a better rise.

      Reply
  15. Kim

    March 20, 2014 at 9:44 am

    Thank you for the recipe. I did a blind taste test with my friends last night. I am trying to find the best recipe for his 3rd birthday. I can’t even begin to tell you how challenging it was 6 years ago finding dairy free recipes, let alone dairy free and egg free recipes. And to combine that with his peanut allergies-OMG. So needless to say finding a plethora of recipes was awesome. I put your recipe with the oh so famous Isa’s recipe and a tweaked version of a traditional recipe. The texture on your cake is imcredible. I loved the crumb! I made it as a cake for today as well as cupcakes. It was hands down better than Isa’s recipe, and fought pretty hard against the tweaked traditional recipe. That recipe used coffee as the liquid. I think I am going to sub out the water for coffee when I make it for grown ups. Thank you for such an awesome recipe and for the time it takes to experiment and get it right. You rock!

    Reply
    • Camilla

      March 20, 2014 at 9:58 am

      Kim, I may run outside and start dancing in the street, all do to your generous comment. I am so happy you loved the cake!!! 🙂

      Reply
  16. C Rowley

    August 11, 2013 at 2:41 pm

    I am not much of a baker, but a few weeksago when my soon to be four year old specifically asked for “a red cake with chocolate on top and candles” for his birthday, I set out in search of a red velvet recipe for my vegan birthday boy. I am so glad I found this easy peasy recipe! We had it today and it was awesome. We used a premade vegan frosting (which we won’t do next time, it was more like a glaze), and decorated with chocolate chips and star candles. Wonderful recipe…thanks!

    Reply
    • Camilla

      August 11, 2013 at 5:24 pm

      Oh, I am thrilled it worked out for your little guy! 🙂

      Reply
  17. alena

    July 22, 2013 at 2:40 am

    This is the second time I attempted to make a red velvet cake. My cupcakes turn out amazing and so do all the other amazing baked treats a make. But the two times I have tried to attempt to make red velvet cake something always goes bad. The first time and not this recipe my cake boiled over this time with this recipe it boiled and gooed up. I followed the instructions and used the right ingredients. Why does this keep happening to my red velvet cakes?

    Reply
  18. rene

    March 16, 2013 at 3:28 am

    I made this recipe a few weeks ago to see how well I could do it turn out wonderfully, today I will make it for my husband’s surprise birthday party. So thankful you have this recipe posted because other homemade recipes I have tried have been super dense and just bland.

    Reply
    • Camilla

      March 16, 2013 at 10:15 am

      I am sooo happy you had success with it, Rene!!! I am sure your husband will be overjoyed to have a homemade red velvet cake from you! Camilla 🙂

      Reply
  19. Zoi

    March 05, 2013 at 6:24 pm

    I LOVE red velvet cake! I’m trying to go the vegan route on most things as it is healthier (and I’m not much of an egg person). I was looking around the web and stopped when I found yours. I’m definitely going to try it this weekend after a trip to Fairway. Thanks!

    Reply
  20. Anonymous

    December 30, 2012 at 10:13 pm

    just want to say this cake is amazing!! i made it for my bday party n didnt hav time to trial making it and it turned out delicious! everyone loved it even tho they arent vegan/vegetarian. i used Hoppers veg food dye as im in aus n ordered it off the net n it worked well!

    Reply
  21. Camilla

    December 12, 2012 at 12:40 am

    Oh, how awful! I am not familiar with americolor…but will avoid it! I have had many a cake disaster in my day (including a gray cheesecake)– it’s no fun!

    Reply
  22. Anonymous

    December 11, 2012 at 6:09 pm

    I just made this cake.. it rose wonderfully and was moist. Unfortunately, I used some Americolor powdered food color I had in the house and the aftertaste is terrible. I am going to have to throw the whole thing out. : (

    Reply
  23. Camilla

    May 10, 2012 at 3:54 pm

    Holy wow right back at you, Molly! So so happy the cake was made, eaten and enjoyed by you!

    Reply
  24. Molly

    May 09, 2012 at 3:09 pm

    Holy wow, this really is the best red velvet cake ever. Made it for my vegan best friend’s birthday, and it was an unqualified success — not just good for being vegan, but so good as to ensure I’ll never have to find another red velvet recipe again. Thank you!

    Reply
  25. Xtina

    February 08, 2012 at 6:59 am

    So excited to try this! My husband is allergic to eggs, so I am always on the lookout for egg-free versions of his favorites! Thanks!

    ~K

    Reply
  26. Anonymous

    January 08, 2012 at 2:22 am

    Beet juice was used a lot here in the southern US during the Civil War to make this cake. I’ve made the cake both ways and have never had it taste “beety”

    Apple Cider vinegar also makes for a much better cake in my personal opinion.

    Reply
  27. Camilla

    October 18, 2011 at 1:13 pm

    You are so welcome, Corinne!

    Rainyday: I’ve heard of the beets option, too, but have never tried it. I’d love to know if you give it a try. I love beets, but was also wondering if the cake might end up tasting beet-y. I also saw a dried beet powder on amazon that was intriguing…may have some experimenting ahead 🙂

    Reply
  28. Corinne

    October 18, 2011 at 4:07 am

    I’ve never tried red velvet cake but on a recent trip to the US I was very tempted to when I saw how gorgeous it looked. Not liking eggs, I decided to wait till I could find a recipe to try at home – this looks like the perfect recipe! Thanks Camilla!

    Reply
  29. Rainyday

    October 15, 2011 at 11:53 am

    I’ve heard of using pureed beets instead of red food colouring but have been hesitant to try in case it alters the taste. Might just give it a go though, and this recipe looks fantastic!

    Reply
  30. Camilla

    October 13, 2011 at 2:54 pm

    Bryanna: All modesty aside, it was so good! It would be perfect at Christmas 🙂

    Shivani: Welcome! So glad you “found” me. I agree about the food and love comment 🙂

    Reply
  31. Shivani Allgaier

    October 12, 2011 at 12:46 am

    Wow, I just discovered this blog. It is awesome!
    I love food which is prepared with love – you even can taste it.

    Reply
  32. Bryanna Clark Grogan

    October 11, 2011 at 5:32 pm

    This looks fantastic, Camilla– I’m going to try it at Christmas for a change of pace. This looks better than most I’ve seen so far.

    Reply

Trackbacks

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I’m Camilla, food writer, author, runner, and spin instructor. PowerHungry® is where I share my easy, minimalist, plant-based recipes, designed for living a healthy, delicious, empowered life.

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