It’s hard to imagine a Valentine’s Day without Red Velvet Cake!
And I love making individual red velvet cake to give away as gifts
Perfect little cakes to give as gifts to the ones you love!
I even used my Russian Piping Tips to decorate them with a basket weave design!
This cake is so moist with the traditional cream cheese filling and icing
Except this new recipe for no cream cheese~ no refrigerator cream cheese icing is going to change your life!
Of course you can make this entire recipe into any size pans you prefer
This recipe below will make 2-8″ cake layers instead of the sheet pan I am using
But if you want to spend a little bit more time on this project to make these adorable little individual cakes like I did
You would simply bake all the batter into a half sheet pan and then cut out each heart shaped layer! *video tutorial link here
Totally worth the extra effort when you give these mini cakes as gifts to the special people in your life!
If you are making my individual heart cakes you will need a heart shaped cookie cutter to make the cut outs
The only problem with doing it that way is the excess cake scraps left over when cutting shapes from a sheet cake
But I never fret over excess cake scraps since I will always use it for something else later
Like these adorable heart shaped cake pops for example!
Or these luscious Red Velvet Cake Balls dipped in white chocolate!
I have also developed a No Cream Cheese ~ Cream Cheese Icing recipe that is room temperature stable
Bonus: It doesn’t require using vegan cream cheese which can be difficult to find nowadays
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Notes for Success:
I am using my No Shortening Buttercream Icing recipe modified for Cream Cheese icing that does not require vegan cream cheese!
Be sure to read the entire blog post for that recipe and use the modified “no refrigerator” cream cheese icing version for the best cream cheese icing ever!
In the video for this recipe I was using beet juice for added color but I find this to be an annoying, unnecessary ingredient so I’ve replaced it with more water
Red Velvet Cake
Ingredients
- All Purpose Flour 2½ Cups (312g)
- Granulated Sugar 1½ cups (300g)
- Baking Soda 1 teaspoon (5g)
- Salt ½ teaspoon (3g)
- Natural Cocoa Powder 2 Tablespoons (12g)
- Vegetable Oil ½ cup (120ml)
- Plant Milk 1 Cup (237ml) * I like to use soy milk
- Ground Flax Seeds 2 Tablespoons (16g)
- Hot Water 6 Tablespoons (90ml)
- Red Food Color 1 teaspoon
- White Vinegar 1 teaspoon
- Vanilla Extract 1 teaspoon (5ml)
- 1 Recipe 2-2-2 Cream Cheese Icing
Instructions
- For the Red Velvet Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F
- Grease & parchment line your cake pan(s)
- First combine the flax meal with the hot water and whisk smooth, let it stand for 5 minutes to thicken
- Combine the vinegar with the plant milk to sour
- In a large mixing bowl combine the sugar with the oil, & vanilla extract and whisk smooth
- Add the flax paste and the soured milk and whisk smooth
- Sift all the dry ingredients into the sugar/oil mixture and whisk smooth again
- Add optional red food color to spike it up then pour into a greased and parchment lined 12" X 18" pan and bake in a preheated 350°F oven for approximately 25-30 minutes or until it is springy to the touch when you gently press the center
- If using 8" pans divide the batter evenly between both greased & parchment lined pans and bake for approximately 25 minutes, check with a toothpick to make sure it is done.
- Cool the cake in the pan and then cut out the heart shapes with a 4" heart cookie cutter, save the scraps for another project like Cake Pops or Red Velvet Truffles *links above in text
- Meanwhile prepare the 2 2 2 cream cheese icing recipe according to the instructions on that recipe post linked above
- Decorate the cakes as you like ~ watch the video tutorial for how to make the basket weave and the Russian piping roses decor
Notes
Since there is no vegan cream cheese in the icing, this cake will be fine at room temperature for up to 4 days.
For longer storage keep refrigerated for up to 1 week
Love your work. So Talented
thankyou so much!
You are amazing Baker. Thank you for all yours recipes.
Hi Gretchen,
This recipe and the red velvet cupcake recipe is exactly same …Oni difference is this uses 3 tbspn of water for flax while the cupcake recipe uses 6 tbspn of water for same amount of flax and rest of the ingredients. Is it a typo error? Or it is to be taken as it is.
Thanks
Instead of the beet juice can I just add red food colouring?
can i use diary milk instead of non diary??
sure
I have been following you for over 3 years now and I absolutely Love all your recipes!!!(cant wait for your new book to arrive!!!) A Friend of mine needs gluten free Cakes can I substitute the all purpose/cake/bread flour with gluten free flour or would this be “bad” for the Cake?
HI Thanks! While I don’t do very much gluten free (really none at all) I’ve been told that with vegan.. gluten free becomes more difficult. It’s worth a try though, you can only learn by testing! Please let me know if you do and thanks again!
I found some gluten free flour thats specially made for cakes& cookies… I decided to make cupcakes with the batter, the top came out really crusty hard and dry but the Inside is moist and fluffy.
Hey thanks for the feedback! I have been told that sometimes its necessary to increase the fat in the recipe (for vegan recipes) when also doing gluten free.
Can I use apple cider vinegar instead of white vinegar?
yes for sure
You are amazing and inspiring!!! Keep it up!!!!
Made this for my daughters birthday and it was so good- even non vegans said it was great! Recipe was easy to follow- I didn’t have hi ratio shortening but used Spectrum organic. Used Trader Joe’s vegan cream cheese.and bottled straight beet juice. Used 7” round pans.
First time using flax egg- cakes rose and looked perfect, very moist. Thank you!
awesome! thanks for the feedback!!
Hi how could this be made in a 13×9 rectangular pan or 8 or 9” round cake pans?
This recipe makes 1- 12″ x 18 pan so you can just pour all the batter into your 9″ x 13″ too and it will be fine. OR 2- 8″ or 9″ pans as well
Hi! If you don’t mind me asking. What Hi ratio shortening brand do you use? Can it be bought in small quantities. I’ve read that sweetex is a good brand but when searching for it, I only find the 50lb. I don’t need that much. Thank you!!
Yes exactly about the sweetex, that is the best one, but I too cannot take on 50lbs of it anymore now that I no longer own my bakery! I have resorted back to crisco (while it is not hi ratio) it is the most stable for vegan icings, I have found spectrum to be super soft, just terrible.
hi!! your recipes are so amazing! i just switched to being a vegan and your recipes are the way to go. thanks a lot, these recipes helped a lot:))
Hi. Really keen to try your recipe. I just wanted to check the quantities in the recipe – its says 2 and a half cups flour is 312g and 1 and a half cups sugar is also nearly the same (300g) – is that correct? The sugar is a whole cup less than the flour but the grams amount is almost the same. We tend to use grams rather than cup measures in the UK. Thank you
Hi thanks for the inquiry, as sometimes I DO make errors!! But this recipe is correct, you see flour is much lighter than sugar (think 1 pound of rocks and 1 pound of feathers- the 1 pound of rocks will be a much smaller bag than that same amount of feathers) CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO!
Can i subtitude fresh breet juice for dry hibiscus flowers juice, i’m in Africa, Nigeria and breet can be hard to find and expensive also. We make use of dry hibiscus flowers juice alot for drink.
Hi Yes, You can follow this recipe though, where I used DRIED BEET ROOT POWDER so it will be an easier 1:1 sub CLICKHERE
Greetings!
Firstly, I want to thank you for helping to inspire me. I love to bake, and have been following you for a few years now. I am vegan, and I recently went back to school to become a pastry chef. My goal is to make amazing desserts that happen to be vegan, not vegan desserts that happen to be amazing.
Secondly, how do you think this recipe would work as a roll cake? Red velvet roll cake is my brother-in-law’s favorite, and I would like to make one for him. Thank you in advance for any advice that you may have.
I LOVE IT! That is the best thing I’ve heard! And you are very welcome too! 🙂
As for rolling vegan cakes, not very successful! BUT I will send you to my friend Amy who has THE BEST ROLL CAKES EVER! CLICK HERE FRAGRANT VANILLA CAKE
Thank you for sharing this versatile and delicious Vegan Red Velvet Cake recipe with a unique twist on cream cheese icing!