Reviewed: May 16, 2007

Made the alterations of 1 cup oil and 2 cups flour and cake came out dense and appeared dry. Upon serving cake was dry and I was embarrased. Won't use again

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DebR

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Reviewed: Apr. 25, 2007

Frosting was great. The cake was moist and delicious. Thanks for a great recipe.

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brwneyedchef

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Storm Lake, Iowa, USA

Living In: Kansas City, Missouri, USA

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Reviewed: Apr. 13, 2007

I made this cake with the changes other reviewers recommended, and it was fantastic! I used one cup of oil instead of the shortening, two cups of sugar instead of 1 1/2 cups, and an extra tablespoon of cocoa powder. Also, I only used 1 ounce of food color because that's all I had and it gave it a nice red color. I think 2 ounces would be overkill. I did make the mistake, though, of sifting the cocoa powder together with the flour, and the food dye with the buttermilk, thinking it made more sense to do it that way, but I ended up with some brown swirls. The second time I made this, I did everything except I made the cocoa powder and food color into a paste like you're supposed to and the color turned out an even red color. Also, the second time I made it into cupcakes and baked them at 325 degrees for about 25 min. The frosting is to die for! I'll be using that on most every cake from now on! Thanks for a great recipe and all the reviewers' suggestions.

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Jody D.

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Cheyenne, Wyoming, USA

Living In: Dover, Delaware, USA

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Reviewed: Mar. 7, 2007

Years ago when I moved I lost my red velvet recipe and have hunted for a long time to find one like it.[My son would always clean up the bowl.[ red everywhere]With the modifications that are mentioned, this is very moist and very close. will DEFINETLY use again

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ginny

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Westminster, Maryland, USA

Living In: Oakland, Maryland, USA

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Reviewed: Feb. 18, 2007

I made this cake and it was dry and bland. This recipe is very close to the original recipe, but needs more cocoa and more shortening or butter. The icing was the original recipe and turned out superb. Although, I will keep looking for the perfect cake.

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Lesa

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Reviewed: Feb. 11, 2007

This was an awful recipe. I followed the directions just as they are written. I tasted the batter before I put it in the oven and it didn't taste as good as my chocolate cake. After baking it and letting it cool, the cakes felt very heavy as I removed them from the 9" layer pans. I was suspicious at that time. I made the frosting that was recommended and when I tasted the frosting, it tasted like whipped cream and I was disappointed but thought maybe it would taste better when it was on the cake. I served this cake to my family and they were gracious in giving me compliments but the cake and the frosting tasted terrible. The cake was dry and heavy, and the frosting was too sweet. I threw the rest of the cake away.

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Gina

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Reviewed: Feb. 5, 2007

In all fairness, I didn't use the cake recipe but rather the frosting recipe. My curiousity got the best of me so I tested it before frosting my red velvet cake. I actually was surprised that I prefer this frosting over the usual cream cheese frosting! I think the trick is to allow time for the flour/milk mixture to reach the consistency of mashed potatoes over low heat while stirring and smoothing out any lumps. I actually chilled it after cooking to make the mixture cold. I creamed softened-not hard butter- with powdered sugar and vanilla thoroughly and added the flour mixture. I beat it for 5 more minutes. Turned out PERFECT! I will use this on my red velvet cake from now on. The strawberries compliment this tasty frosting nicely! **I used the Red Velvet Cake recipe on dianasdesserts.com

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Baybee Caix

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Living In: San Antonio, Texas, USA

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Reviewed: Jan. 27, 2007

I followed the other suggestions of 2 cups of sugar, 1 cup of oil, and putting the food coloring (1 bottle) in the buttermilk and doubling the cocoa powder. I used 2 8 inch heart shaped pans and baked for 30 minutes. My cakes were perfect--moist and oh so yummy! I frosted it with cream cheese frosting (1 pkg cream cheese, 1.5 cups powdered sugar, 2 tbsp milk and 1 tsp vanilla). I split the two cakes and made a four layer. The frosting was just enough for a thin coat between each layer and to frost. This is a KEEPER! YUM!

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Jen Levin

Cooking Level: Expert

Living In: Tempe, Arizona, USA

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Reviewed: Dec. 26, 2006

I have this recipe that was deemed "original" from a newspaper clipping almost 40 years ago! This recipe is identical and it is wonderful! I followed the recipe to the letter. And please keep trying on the icing. It is wonderful! It must be cold, as stated, and to be sure that it isn't grainy, I used powdered sugar instead of granulated. I cut the 2 layers of cake (9") in half, and the 4 "layers" were beautiful. (I also doubled the icing recipe and had more than enough). Absolutely excellent!

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NANCYDYCK0629

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Quincy, Illinois, USA

Living In: Chandler, Arizona, USA

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Reviewed: Nov. 24, 2006

This is the same recipe my family has followed for years and is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE cake!! To me, if you put cream cheese frosting on a red velvet cake you've just ruined it. This frosting cannot be beat. Note: the longer you beat the butter/sugar, the better the frosting will be. I beat mine for about 5-7 minutes.

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MichelleT

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Reviewed: Oct. 2, 2006

Absolutely fabulous. I made this with all the suggested modifications, plus a few blunders - I accidentally used a 1 1/2 tbsp measure in plan of 1 tbsp, so mine had something like 10 tbsp of cocoa powder. It was SO good, though. The frosting has to be cold, not just cool, and make sure to mix it very well to avoid soupyness. And don't be like me and fail to realize that the frosting will go bad after the cake sits out for a week!

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Kate

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Reviewed: Aug. 30, 2006

I followed the directions and the cake turned out good, it wasn't anything to rant and rave over, but it was okay. It had a beautiful color, and it tasted like pretty good. I didn't use the frosting recipe, maybe I just don't know how to thicken milk, but my frosting was a butter and milk liquidity mess. After two tries with the frosting I decided to use a butter cream frosting recipe instead. That turned out well, and really brought the cake together. I don't know if I would make this cake again, I might look for other recipes.

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rachael

Cooking Level: Beginning

Living In: Brookings, South Dakota, USA

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Reviewed: Jul. 25, 2006

Mine came out a little too dense. Flavor was good though.

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CUCKOOBIRD

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Living In: Los Angeles, California, USA

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Reviewed: Jun. 20, 2006

I made this w/ the substitutions (including cake flour)and made it "Blue Velvet Cake" for my son's birthday. The cake was delicious, moist, and tasty. I didn't get the lumps out of the milk/flour mixture for the icing so it did not work out. It was not, however, runny, as some suggested. I cooked it long enough to make it mashed potato consistency, or more like oatmeal. I also cooled it plenty in fridge and it was not runny at all (the finished product) but had inedible little flour beads. Question: when this recipe calls for food coloring, does it mean liquid or paste? I think the color in my cake was swirly on top because of the cocoa paste situtaion and the buttermilk idea sounds better. I used 3T cocoa, about .15 oz. liquid food color and about .5 oz. paste. It was very blue but brown/black in two corners. My paste was too thick.

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carolannh

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Reviewed: Mar. 19, 2006

This is the absolute worst cake recipe I have ever tried in my 3 years of cake baking. Not only was the cake batter thick, but the whole mess was overwhelmed by the cocoa taste. The so called frosting was a soupy butter, milky sugar-filled slop of pure liquid. I reccomend this recipe to no one. I waster two batches worth of ingredients on it. Both time i followed the instructions exactly. If you're thinking about making a red velvet cake this is not a recipe for it.

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derekdm901

Cooking Level: Intermediate

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Reviewed: Feb. 16, 2006

I followed the recipe exactly and family loved it on Valentines Day. I think next time I will cut back on the food coloring and add more cocoa though as others have suggested. Kinda time consuming but I thought it was well worth it!

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Terri C

Cooking Level: Intermediate

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Reviewed: Jan. 28, 2006

I thought this was an okay version of what I look for in a red velvet cake, but I definitely wouldn't call it great. I didn't alter the recipe too much, except I added more cocoa and used less food coloring and the cake still came out bright red. I found the end product a bit too dry and it had too much of a floury taste. I used exactly as the recipe called for, no more. I know these cakes usually have this kind of taste, but this was way too overpowering. I had to overcompensate on the frosting to not notice the flour. I also didn't use the frosting because I prefer a cream cheese frosting. Overall, I say it's average, but I will definitely try it again with the suggestions from other reviewers.

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YELLIE73

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Reviewed: Jan. 19, 2006

I only used the icing recipe off this recipe. It was excellent! My family loves red velvet cake and that specific icing. They know if I use a "fake" icing! I did use a box mix. They didn't care because the icing was SO good! % stars for the icing!

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OLIVIA17

Cooking Level: Beginning

Home Town: Warsaw, Indiana, USA

Living In: Etna Green, Indiana, USA

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Reviewed: Jan. 15, 2006

I'm astonished and amazed to find an red velvet cake that actually uses the CORRECT frosting!!! Not sure why so many think that "cream cheese frosting" belongs on a red velvet cake. I'm so delighted that this cake has no cream cheese frosting -sorry but cream cheese frosting is NOT the traditional frosting on red velvet cake. Kudos to you for posting a recipe that is *Almost* like my family recipe, ours calls for 3 Tbsp of cocoa, and no vinegar. The vinegar is un-necessary, especially when the recipe contains buttermilk.

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