Homemade Red Velvet Cake Recipe with Claire Saffitz | Dessert Person

Homemade Red Velvet Cake Recipe with Claire Saffitz | Dessert Person
In this episode, Claire Saffitz demonstrates how to make a delicious Red Velvet Cake with a natural twist. Red-ish Velvet Cake. Follow along to discover the secrets to achieving the signature taste and texture of red velvet cake without relying on artificial additives. Claire will guide you through her step-by-step recipe, showing you how to craft the perfect layer cake and demonstrating the preparation and application of ermine frosting. Don't forget to like and subscribe for more exciting episodes coming soon!
#ClaireSaffitz #RedVelvetCake #Dessert
Red Velvet Cake
Serves 10
NATURAL RED FOOD DYE - yield 2 cups (start with 4, reduce by half)
½ small or medium red cabbage, very thinly sliced
1½ tablespoons red wine vinegar
BATTER
Room-temperature butter, for greasing the pans
½ cup annatto seeds
1 cup neutral oil, such as avocado or vegetable
¾ cup sour cream (160g)
⅔ cup natural red food dye
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs, beaten until streak-free, at room temperature
2¼ cups cake flour
1¾ cups granulated sugar
⅓ cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder, sifted if lumpy
1½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt or ¾ teaspoon Morton kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
CREAM CHEESE ERMINE FROSTING
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour (1.5 oz / 42g)
½ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt or ¼ teaspoon Morton kosher salt
1 cup whole milk (8.5 oz / 240g)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1½ sticks unsalted butter (6 oz / 170g), cut into 1-tablespoon pieces, at room temperature
6 ounces (170g) cream cheese, cut into 1-tablespoon pieces, at room temperature
¾ cup sugar (5.3 oz / 150g)
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
02:04 Ingredients & Special Equipment
03:06 Prepare the Pans and Food Coloring
11:49 Combine the Wet and Dry Ingredients
13:11 How To Make Layer Cake
15:35 How To Make Ermine Frosting
21:32 Assemble
24:23 How To Apply Crumb Coat
25:33 Finish Frosting the Cake
27:35 Eat
29:11 Cat cam
Thanks for watching!
Dessert Person Online: www.dessertperson.com/
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Video Series:
Producer/Director: Vincent Cross
Camera Operator: Calvin Robertson
Editor: Hal McFall
Animation Credits:
Character Designer/Animator/Backgrounds: Jack Sherry
Character Rigger: Johara Dutton

[@CSaffitz]

Red-ish

[@kjdude8765]

Undeniably Delicious

[@gabylopez7]

Why don't you like adding artificial coloring?

[@Nico-yb2tm]

I’m daltonic, so it looks as red as any other red thing I’ve ever seen!

[@kjdude8765]

@@gabylopez7 She mentioned she took it for a challenge and to make it something that was hers.

[@dwaynecuster]

Claire, I'm curious if you could use beet juice. The red in beets is really strong. I would imagine the taste transfers over to the cake though.

[@prim5413]

STOP THAT NEW INTRO ANIMATION IS SO CUTEE

[@SuperTinyTurtle]

Song is mid though....

[@TheSwauzz]

@@SuperTinyTurtle You're mid.

[@xtaylorxboyx]

Doo-doo dessert, per son.

[@werelemur1138]

ALL the kitties!

[@chrisBEiGE]

So good!

[@Hirukaki]

The kitty sneezing fit at the start I'm dying...

[@harutran4703]

I absolutely love how Claire breaks down each step. For example, when she was explaining to us about pH levels she also showed variations like how it reacts when baking soda is added or when she was scientifically telling us how reverse creaming works rather than just showing it. She's honestly one of the best! Whenever she makes mistakes she doesn't hide it either, I admire her passion so much

[@1114gg]

To Claire's friends: Please buy her a large glass bowl. Fascinating recipe! and yay for natural food coloring.

[@MaureenDrees]

This cake looks absolutely delcious. As a retired chemistry teacher, I also enjoy so much Claire’s explanation of the acid-base reactions while making the red velvet cake. My only quibble is that chemicals are certainly contained in every ingredient because, like everything else in the universe, they are made of elements. Cabbage juice and annatto seeds simply happen to be made chemicals made by nature, while red food coloring contains chemicals made by people.

[@dianeewoldt3035]

My Southern grandma made her red velvet cake with red beets- the batter recipe is similar to a zucchini bread but the beets are baked and then shredded. I also make her recipe using King Arthur burgundy cocoa powder and a tablespoon of white vinegar. The unbaked batter is bright fuchsia and fades to a softer red once baked. I will try your recipe too- Happy Baking!

[@JaniceMartin-fd8mr]

HA! My Aunt Helen made her red velvet cake with red beets! We took a vacation back to KS in 1962 to visit relatives and I got to spend a week with her. How fun to make a cake with beets. I don't know if she baked or boiled them, but I had a great time shredding the beets!

[@brentonwalters]

My mom used to be the cake person in our small town, so she was always baking cakes for people, and I grew up eating the thin pieces she would trim off to level her layers. Such a wonderful memory. Thanks, Claire!

[@questionresearch8721]

😊

[@samwarren2850]

My grandma always made ermine frosting with her red velvet cake! i've never seen anyone else make itt, it's so so good and nostalgic to me

[@joshplunkett2932]

So did my Granny!

[@juliabishop1408]

Do I like red velvet? No, not really. Do I like Claire and watching her videos? Yes indeed 👍 Also the intro looks beautiful 😍

[@ashleys637]

This is my dessert hill to die on: red velvet cake is half-assed chocolate cake. If you want a vanilla cake, make one. If you want a chocolate cake, add enough cocoa for it to be an actual chocolate cake. That said, I love Claire, and will watch the hell outta this video anyway lol

[@dylpickle0927]

​@@ashleys637red velvet has enough cocoa to be a chocolate cake, it literally is just chocolate cake but red

[@ashleys637]

@dylpickle0927 False. Red velvet cake recipes call for significantly less cocoa than chocolate cakes, usually containing between a mere 3 tbsp.-1/4 cup to a chocolate cakes 2/3 cup (or more, and some chocolate cake recipes call for some amount of melted chocolate too). Red Velvet Cake simple isn't as chocolate-forward as a chocolate cake. Some people like it. I'm not a fan.

[@debrascott8775]

Me for every claire video

[@MobMentality12345]

Idk why your videos disappeared from my KZbin feed, but I’m so glad to be seeing your videos again!

[@CSaffitz]

Welcome back!

[@muka0301]

Oh my daughter and I love watching Claire and thanks for the mini science lesson for our homeschool day! We made blueberry lemonade to learn about anthocyanins! Also - We love how real life you are. Cat sneezes, rack not level, cabbage smell, reddish? Instead of cutting these bits it is so endearing!

[@faye7808]

love this. you should do a recipe developing series! it would be interesting to see how you troubleshoot through trial and error to make the ideal recipe, and it can be a bts compilation for a new book of recipes

[@RixihStyx]

All the cat sneezing going on at the start had me dying 😂

[@ks7343]

I love that you let us know when you do things “wrong!” And then they still work out great!

[@krisrow]

I don't think I could even count the amount of times I've done something backwards like this and then worried the whole rest of the process that it wasn't going to turn out, while also berating myself for my dumb mistakes. Seeing seasoned bakers mix up steps or briefly forget ingredients too is so validating!

[@floraluxla]

This has the energy of a Claire Remakes but is classic Dessert Person at the same time. You're iconic.

[@ambra8957]

Claire is such a great yet relatable cook! Thanks for always being you and for all the great tips!

[@eyeonit469]

Ermine frosting is the best icing ever. So luscious and smooth without being overly sweet. As a child of the 50's, Red Velvet Cake was THE family cake and quite the rage at the time. For colouring we used Cochineal and I still have half a bottle left over from my mums pantry.

[@jacktsherry]

Love all the colors happening in this recipe!!

[@malloryyyish]

I made this last night and it was the lightest and also most moist and delicious chocolate cake I've ever had!!!! And I made it!!!!!!! I don't do a lot of baking, but this recipe was so easy. I skipped the food coloring part so I just had chocolate cake but it was perfect. Thank you for this easy and delish recipe

[@noob19087]

Fun fact: Turmeric will also turn red at basic pH. Discovered this while making soap. Another fun fact: turmeric fluoresces a nice bright green under a blacklight.

[@JavierFernandez01]

interesting.

[@T_M___]

fun facts are never really fun

[@noob19087]

@@T_M___ A lot of things are fun.

[@ingloriouskitty]

Very tempted to try this frosting on my carrot cake!

[@johnrosenau2090]

This is the first time I have heard why its called Red Velvet. Thanks! P.S. Love the new intro!!

[@sunflowerhandler]

omg the new intro. adorable. i really appreciated the quick breakdown of ingredients at the very very start, it allowed me to assess if i could make this right away or would have to go shopping (and pay attention accordingly). loving this new channel so much.

[@JMOP1715]

I made your carrot and pecan cake for orthodox easter and my family loved it

[@kingly.]

I’m so jealous that you get to live in the woods and have a cooking show for a living, god. That’s all I wanted to grow up to be. I hope you love every day.

[@emmag.12]

I love the new intro animation! How cute! The chicken in the window was my favorite😊 I love sour cream in deserts so I’ll have to try this!

[@defaultuser1447]

A great thing about leveling the layers, those moist cake top trimmings are tasty tasty snacks.

[@jodirauth8847]

This is a great baking video. Thankyou Claire

[@kelliehall6582]

I made the marbled sheet cake that Claire mentions at the beginning of this video for my baby's first birthday (though I turned it into a layer cake). It was absolutely delicious and turned out perfectly, though I've made very few cakes before.

[@debragrant4697]

I have loved everything you do EXCEPT this!

[@GinzaBear]

i'm so glad ur now fully in ur food blogger era just making recipes u want to make! thank u so much for this video! red velvet is my favorite cake and i can't wait to try urs. ur recipes are always my favorite dishes of whatever dish they are. also the bit at the end saying not to compete it with other red velvet cakes. people are deff going to ignore that lol

[@laurenschenck5355]

Looks absolutely gorgeous love this Clare! ❤❤❤❤

[@sydneyberggren5887]

My favorite pastry chef making my favorite cake

[@SusanAllard-gg6wy]

I can’t wait to make this cake and frosting!

[@AudenimLock]

I’m surprised beetroot wasn’t used for the dying part 🤔 Looks scrumptious!

[@Rohekivi]

yeah, like just using some beetroot juice seems so much easier, so like.. why cabbage??

[@AdumbWillSun]

love love love the OG ermine frosting. it’s a bit more annoying to make but it’s worth it!

[@mariacamilaserranomelo6307]

Precisely this week i was thinking that i haven't seen your take on red velvet, not a huge fan of it, but if you make it, i will definitely give this a try

[@MrGamerCaptain]

love the more natural red velvet!

[@violinamajorov5667]

YES, CLAIRE! Thank you so much. I love red velvet but I have to restrict myself because I do not want to be eating the red food colouring. This is perfect and it's going to be my birthday cake for sure :)

[@livesouthernable]

I appreciate that you leave the mistakes in. Only Claire can make all kinds of mistakes and still be brilliant and perfect 🤩

[@marleykotylak1194]

It’s so perfectly red!!!!

[@ellieisanerd]

Aw, love the new intro, and the cat cam at the end. ❤

[@Issor_Rossi]

Classic. classic classic classic!

[@corneliusbrambum6549]

Camera work much better! TY! It makes a huge difference to some of us.

[@cherylkurtz6376]

Great show! If you swirl the batter arround the outside of the pan so it goes up the side a little, it'll be less domed--more level after baking. I learned that little trick from Julia Child (I won't say how long ago!) I always learn something from you as well. Thanks for great content.

[@ewtam24]

Thank you! 🙏🏼

[@anthonydolio8118]

Yum. Thank you.

[@Jorts417]

Ive made a really good red velvet cake from a video elsewhere that uses red yeast rice powder to reduce the amount of red dye needed and it works really well.

[@joannekoehler1788]

I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS RECIPE❤❤❤❤❤

[@CSaffitz]

Hope you like it!

[@laurenschenck5355]

I love red velvet so much ❤❤❤❤

[@brt5273]

I do the same cream cheese flavored ermine frosting on my carrot cake. Always a big hit.

[@KonstantinZilberburg]

made the no-dary version of that, the sponge is just brilliantly moist and soft

[@belemesen]

Love the choice of natural colorings! Do you think hibiscus powder could work to achieve a similar result?

[@jeanseverson9164]

I love you!!! You’re so smart and funny!! 😄 ❤

[@horeyezen]

I learned something about my Salvadoran culture from this video! My mom always put Achiote in all the food she made but I didn’t know it came from Annato seeds! 😮 I’d love to try this recipe someday!

[@nakhunchumpolsathien4861]

Yayy🎉 another episode

[@44mae]

Loving the new intro!!!!!

[@alexkl6084]

I love science Claire so much

[@thing1andd2]

Welp, now I'm asking for a red-ish velvet cake for my birthday cake for this month

[@CSaffitz]

Happy birthday!

[@thing1andd2]

@@CSaffitz the best present already, getting wished happy birthday by Claire Saffitz 😭❤️ Thank you so much! ❤️

[@winterbledsoe2136]

I will forever henceforth mix my eggs the way Claire does! 😊

[@skilletfan932]

That is an amazing intro!!! Love it :)

[@Rodviet]

Oh my gosh ive always wanted to know how to make red dye at home, and never looked into it. This is perfect! I've heard that red40 isn't that good for us. Thank you Claire! Your Aunt Rose's Mondel bread is a staple at my home.

[@CSaffitz]

Let me know what you think after you try!

[@Rodviet]

@CSaffitz definitely! Love that you used achiote, I'm Mexican so I'm very used to the taste and I love the idea.

[@drhelenloney1426]

Ermine frosting is my favorite

[@PrecludeLP]

Overall, it looks like a delicious Cabbage Cake.

[@SingingwithHLC]

I love the new intro!!

[@kristinjokela381]

Stella Parks has a quite good version that uses red wine to color the cake. It reacts with the leavener and has a similar reddish hue.

[@josieblue]

i love science class with claire

[@phyllisreinking4208]

It came out beautiful and I know it’s delicious. I appreciate the effort you went to in order to avoid food dye. I would call the finished color definitely a cocoa-red. And, now I’m inspired to try making that ermine frosting.

[@questionresearch8721]

I'm glad to watch this. I wonder if you would consider beet juice for the color.

[@LecksGetCozy]

If the options are to watch a new video from Claire or anything else…I will always choose a video from Claire

[@annealicia2585]

Thank you for addressing the steps of ermine frosting. I'm interested to make it since I heard it's very smooth, light, and much less sweet than regular american buttercream. I have watched some videos before, so I thought your steps were different but then you admitted the step in the video is incorrect. Thank goodness it still worked in the end

[@joanchiu7360]

Loved that Claire mentioned Filipino cooking when she mentioned anato seeds 🎉🎉🎉

[@scottsummers4234]

Filipinos use the anatto (atsuete) seeds for cooking Kare-kare which is an oxtail/beef peanut stew to make it look more orange in color

[@samanthabovington543]

Yayyyy new vid! ❤️

[@pickles2791]

Can you make madeleine's? I randomly became super obsessed with them

[@alexandraestela3634]

Hi claire! Another method to dye things naturally is using dry berries and blending them. It will change the flavor a little bit, but oh well! ❤

[@T_M___]

i like that Claire includes the bloopers to show us that mistakes happen to even the best of chefs.

[@streetlites]

yum old cabbage cake

[@atomwenzel]

The colour of the cake and the looseness of the frosting is really giving me Jos Louis vibes. Could be your next idea for Claire Recreates!

[@user-mg6nh6il3i]

I only gave two cake pans. Do you think I can bake the third cake layer after or will the leaveners be activated and it will not be as good?

[@tamarlavy7464]

Could use the cake scraps to make crumbs to decorate the surface with too

[@baileyfreeland9955]

the brief edit of making the first cake slice super red was hilarious!

[@Lucifer-bv6ts]

your hair looks so strong and shiny and beautiful

[@justpinkcandy]

Tip: add a couple tablespoons of the sugar to the flour before adding the milk. Guaranteed no lumps. Also, you MUST beat the sugar, butter, (cream cheese) long enough so the sugar completely dissolves. Then beat in the roux. I've never put anything but Ermine Frosting on Red Velvet cake. I think the flavor is so delicate, cream cheese overpowers it, imho.

[@goeshen4359]

Wish we could see all the guys taste too ❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@raven5279]

Honestly, one of my favorite aspects of the red(ish) velvet cake, is that if you _are_ attached to having a bright red cake, you can get that by adding minimal synthetic food dye to _this_ cake, instead of resigning yourself to using entire bottles of red food dye

[@listofromantics]

I approve. Red Velvet Cake is just a novelty chocolate cake ruined by the addition of red food color, which has a bad / off flavor. I LOVE THE NEW ANIMATED INTRO!

[@elizabethalice6634]

The new intro animation?!??!?!?! YES YES YES.

[@ZomburgerNoOnion]

Red Velvet used to be my favorite cake until I found out it takes 2 BOTTLES of red dye to turn a scratch made cake red so I appreciate what Claire is doing here

[@Oriandu]

... Uhhh... What? I make it on a regular basis and I've never come close to using one bottle let alone two. You need to get your scratch made cakes from better bakers.

[@madelineS98789]

I don’t consider red velvet a chocolate cake. It’s a velvet cake first with such a beautiful texture. This looks perfect.

[@kristophgavin]

Claire is would love to see a latke video!

[@Haanjr1227]

Ive seen reference to Cake Pan Bands, Just wondering your thoughts on them, and if you have had luck using them in the past?

[@ArgentAbendAzure]

Magi-Cake Strips

[@DaphneVKos]

I much prefer the earthy red color you've created :)

[@milagroslavorgnia3293]

A a a a just when i needed a red velvet recipe. If we do it with artificial food colouring, the cabbage water is the same right? Only no cabbage hahah

[@vitorolinto]

The red cabagge Dye is also a pH indicator. Once I used it in class till day I get sick by the smell of cabbage

[@carinen8119]

nice

[@Tiphyy]

I wanted to make red velvet cake ,I open KZbin,Claire just posted red velvet cake I know a sign when I see one😂

[@freemovies411]

Yum cabbage cake xD

[@mboykin6047]

In my Chemistry class, we boiled cabbage to make an acid/base indicator. They hated the smell but were amazed that it could identify pH.