This vegan red velvet cake is moist, perfectly sweet, flavored with a hint of chocolate and topped with white chocolate frosting! Perfect for celebrations or treating someone special.
I never thought creating a simple vegan red velvet cake recipe would throw me for such a loop! I had to bake so many cakes to get it right.
Every version of this cake I made was delicious. They just weren't red. The whole red thing is kind of crucial in this particular dish.
I planned to throw in the towel pretty early on, deciding that vegan food coloring just wasn't up to the job, but after serving a brownish version to my family they started nagging me to figure it out. They all loved it. The same thing happened via my husband's co-workers when I sent cake to work with him.
Well, after lots of research and many, many tries, I finally veganized the classic red velvet cake. The result was glorious.
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Vegan Food Coloring Options
Carmine or Cochineal
You may have heard that red food coloring is made from bugs. This is true, in some cases. If the coloring contains carmine or cochineal, it's got some bug products in it (and therefore isn't vegan). You can read all about that here.
To keep your cake vegan, avoid food dyes with carmine or cochineal on the ingredients list.
Plant-Based Food Colorings
You can buy plant-based food colorings, with the reds usually being made from ingredients like beets or cabbage.
I made an attempt with this brand, and using three full packets for one cake, amounting to just over a tablespoon of coloring (at a cost of twenty dollars at my local health food store) gave me a cake with just a few red highlights. You could possibly double or triple the amount and get something a redder, but I can't say for certain as I wasn't willing to go in for another forty to sixty bucks.
Beet Powder
I don't recommend using beet powder for your vegan red velvet cake. It resulted in total failure for me. I used a whole quarter cup of beet powder, giving me a beautiful red, vibrant cake batter that just turned muddy brown when I baked it.
Red Food Dye
Most red food dye these days is made without bugs. Yay! And before anyone yells at me, I recognize that the ingredients they are made with (usually FD&C Red No. 3 and 40) aren't exactly healthy, but this is a cake recipe. It's not intended to be healthy.
If you're totally opposed to artificial colors, feel free to give the plant-based color I linked above a try. Or just skip the color — the cake will still be delicious, even if it's not red!
So McCormick red food dye is what I ended up using. You can even see under the Q&A section on the Amazon page that the manufacturer confirms it's vegan.
How to Make Vegan Red Velvet Cake
The following is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
Once you've got your coloring sorted out, this vegan red velvet cake is pretty darn easy to throw make!
- Traditional red velvet cake is made with buttermilk. Fortunately, vegan buttermilk is simple to create. Just mix some non-dairy milk and water together. While you're at it, add some vanilla extract and your red food coloring. If you're experimenting with one of the food coloring options above, this is a good opportunity to gauge how much you'll need, based on how red it turns your milk.
- Whisk your dry ingredients together in a large bowl: flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Add your wet mixture to the dry ingredients, along with some oil. Beat everything with an electric mixer until fully blended.
- Divide the vegan red velvet cake batter among a couple of round cake pans, each coated with some oil and lined with parchment paper.
Bake the cakes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Frosting Options
I went and made a special white chocolate frosting that I adapted from this recipe. It's amazing! But most of us will need to order the vegan white chocolate online in order to make it (here's what I used).
If you're not up for tracking down some vegan white chocolate or it's just not your thing, my vegan buttercream frosting would be amazing on this cake as well.
Shelf-Life & Storage
Wrap your vegan red velvet cake in plastic or store it in a cake-keeper and it will keep at room temperature for about four days.
This cake is also freezer-friendly! With all the cakes I've made lately, I didn't have much choice but to freeze a few of them. To freeze, make sure the frosting is set and then wrap your cake in a few layers of plastic wrap. Then transfer the cake to a two-gallon freezer bag, seal, and freeze. It should be good for at least three months.
Frequently Asked Questions
I'm not sure, but if you'd like to try it I think an all purpose gluten-free blend like those made by Bob's Red Mill or King Arthur Flour would be your best bet.
Most sugar in the united states is processed using animal bone char. Organic sugar is processed differently, so it's considered vegan.
Usually this is due to older baking soda. Test yours by sprinkling it in a glass of vinegar. It should fizz. If it doesn't, it's time for a new box. Another culprit could be overmixing the batter, or letting it sit too long before baking.
Pro Tips
- I went a tad heavy on the chocolate in this recipe, because I love chocolate! If you prefer less chocolate and/or a more vivid shade of red in your cake, cut back to just a tablespoon or so of cocoa powder.
- Cake frosting tip! I learned from this post by The Pioneer Woman about creating a crumb coat, and it's been a total game changer. Basically, fill and stack your layers, then apply a thin layer of frosting on the top and sides of the cake. Pop the cake in the fridge and let it set, before slathering on the rest of the frosting. The crumb coat will seal in the crumbs before you apply that final coat.
More Vegan Cake Recipes
- Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Vegan Pineapple Upside Down Cake
- Vegan Carrot Cake
- Vegan Coconut Cake
- Vegan Lemon Bundt Cake
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Vegan Red Velvet Cake
This vegan red velvet cake is moist, perfectly sweet, flavored with a hint of chocolate and topped with white chocolate frosting! Perfect for celebrations or treating someone special.
Ingredients
- 2 cups unflavored and unsweetened non-dairy milk
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 3 tablespoons vegan red food dye
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ¾ cups organic granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup canola oil (or your favorite baking oil)
For the White Chocolate Frosting
- 12 ounces vegan baking white chocolate or vegan white chocolate chips
- 1 cup vegan butter, brought up to room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups organic powdered sugar
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 350°F.
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Oil a couple of 9-inch cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
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In a small bowl or measuring cup, stir the milk, vinegar, food dye, and vanilla together.
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In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
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Pour the milk mixture into the mixing bowl, followed by the oil.
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Beat the mixture together with an electric mixer at high-speed, just until fully blended, about 1 minute.
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Divide the batter into the prepared baking pans.
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Bake the cakes for about 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of each one comes out clean.
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Transfer both cake layers to a cooling rack. Allow them to cool completely in the pans.
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When the cakes are cool, prepare the frosting. Melt the white chocolate by microwaving in 30 second increments, stirring between each increment. Allow the chocolate to cool for a few minutes while you gather the remaining ingredients
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Add the butter and vanilla to the bowl with the white chocolate and beat the ingredients together with an electric mixer at high speed, until fully blended.
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Being adding the powdered sugar, about ½ cup at a time, beating in each addition until creamy.
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Invert one of the cake layers on a plate, then remove the pan. Peel off the parchment, then spread an even layer of frosting over the layer.
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Carefully invert the second layer over the first, then remove it from the pan and remove the parchment paper.
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Distribute the frosting over the top and sides of the cake.
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Allow the cake to sit for a few minutes for the frosting to set. Slice and serve.
Recipe Notes
White chocolate frosting adapted from Food and Wine's White Chocolate Buttercream.
Dear Alissa,
Your recipe looks AMAZING. I try to bake without using sugar. Do you, by chance, have any suggestions for making this recipe using maple syrup or any other sugar substitute?
Thank you very much!
Thanks Janet! I'm not sure about maple syrup, since it's liquid and would throw off the ratio of wet to dry ingredients. Are there any granulated sweeteners that work with your diet? Coconut sugar could be subbed directly for the sugar. You could probably also use something like erythritol and increase the amount by about a third.
I acquired the original Waldorf Astoria Red Velvet cake recipe in1970 from my roommate’s mother. I loved it! I don’t see why your cake could not be made with the original frosting recipe by substituting unsweetened, plain Westsoy milk for the dairy milk, and vegan butter for real butter. It’s such a good frosting and very unique! I’m going to give that a try and see how it turns out. Thanks for veganizing such an iconic cake recipe!
I'd love to hear how the frosting turns out! I thought about trying to veganize it, but I got the white chocolate frosting idea in my head and was pretty intent on trying it. I hope you enjoy the cake!
I thought that dyes were tested on animals and that the red comes from the semen of bulls and/or other animals? If so that doesn't make them vegan so hopefully there's another alternative or just don't use red coloring.
Hi Lauren! There's actually a discussion within the post on different coloring options. I did confirm that the McCormick red dye is not animal derived. I can't find any info on whether or not they test on animals (I'm guessing this will vary by brand), but I'll keep looking into it!
I want to try this for Christmas. I'm thinking of doing a Chocolate ganache with dark cherry layer between cakes. Any hints/tips?
That sounds delicious! I make a vegan ganache with coconut milk and chocolate chips - I included it in this recipe that I just posted today! https://www.connoisseurusveg.com/vegan-chocolate-cheesecake/ If you do something like this, try chilling it for a bit before spreading it on the cake. This will thicken it up so it doesn't all run out the sides. Enjoy!
Hi! This was my first vegan cake and it was amazing! I only had a problem with the white chocolate frosting. What is the exact butter that you use? I used Earth balance (the green package that says with olive oil) so I’m thinking that might have been my problem.
I've made the frosting with regular Earth Balance and it worked out just fine, but never tried the olive oil variety. What went wrong? Let me know and I'll try and help you pin down the problem!
The ingredients kept getting more and more clumpy but seemed to be separating from the oil.
My best guess is that it is the vegan butter you used. I usually have the best luck with Miyokos, so maybe give it a try if you can get your hands on it!
I was really excited to try this Recipe, and wasn’t too concerned if the colour was bad. Sadly I’d have to try again. I found the cake to be beautifully moist, and the right amount of fluffy/density, but it tasted so strange and gave me a bad aftertaste. I’m not used to eating much sugar so it was too sugary and could taste the oil too much. My icing I used vegan butter was separating from the chocolate and stayed more liquid than Isuspect it should have been. I ended up throwing it out unfortunately. No one would eat it. I will have to do it again with different oil and different vegan butter.
The cake is great. We really enjoyed it. I already had an frosting recipe so I did not try it.
Glad you enjoyed it!