Small Red Velvet Cake
This small red velvet cake is a moist six inch two layer cake with a light chocolate flavor, and a rich cream cheese buttercream. It's the perfect mini sized cake for birthdays, valentine's day or when you just need a slice of cake.
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1¼ cups (160 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons dutch cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) baking soda
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) salt
- ½ cup (118.29 ml) neutral oil I used melted coconut oil
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 2 teaspoons (2 teaspoon2) vanilla
- 2 tablespoons red food coloring
- ½ cup (120 g) buttermilk room temperature
- 1 teaspoon white or apple cider vinegar
Frosting:
- 4 oz (170.1 g) cream cheese room temperature
- ¼ cup (56.75 g) butter
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) vanilla
- 1¾ cups (240 g) powdered sugar
- pinch of salt
Instructions
To make the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Spray the bottom of 2 six inch round cake pans or 1 eight inch cake pan with cooking spray and line the bottom with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together dry ingredients, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a medium bowl add oil, eggs, granulated sugar and mix all together 2-3 minutes. Add in vanilla and red food coloring and mix again. In a separate small bowl or measuring cup add the buttermilk and vinegar together.
- Add half of the dry ingredients to the batter, followed by the buttermilk/vinegar mixture. And then the rest of the dry ingredients.
- Pour batter evenly into two 6-inch cake pans.
- Bake for 28-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cakes comes out clean. Transfer the baking pans to a wire cooling rack and let the cakes cool until they reach room temperature.
To make the frosting:
- Cream together butter with softened cream cheese until smooth. Add vanilla and salt and mix again. Add in powdered sugar and beat until smooth. If after adding all the powdered sugar you think its too thick, feel free to add a tablespoon or two of whipping cream or milk to get desired consistency.
To assemble cake:
- Place one of the cake layers, top side up, on a cake plate or serving stand. Spread a small amount of frosting over the first layer.
- Place the remaining cake layer, top side down. Frost the entire cake, top and sides, with a thin crumb coat layer of the cream cheese frosting. Place in the fridge or freezer for about 10-15 minutes to chill.
- Pull the chilled cake out, and frost the cake with the remaining frosting.
Notes
Cakes will have the best results if made with room temperature ingredients. I like to pull my eggs, buttermilk, cream cheese, and butter out of the fridge an hour or two before I start baking.
I have given both cups and grams as measurements. Grams will be more precise, especially when measuring flour. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, no problem! Just lightly spoon flour into your measuring cup to insure its not packed in there. Light and fluffy is the key.
Make Ahead Instructions: The frosting can easily be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge in a sealed container. Remove frosting from the fridge an hour before you’re ready to frost the cake, to give it time to come to room temperature.
Freezing Instructions: After baking the cake layers, allow them to cool completely, then wrap them well in plastic wrap and stick each layer in a ziplock freezer bag. They can be frozen for a few months. I usually just pull them out of the freezer once I am starting to make my frosting, or an hour or two before I want to assemble.
Nutrition
Calories: 414kcalCarbohydrates: 55gProtein: 4gFat: 21gSaturated Fat: 7gPolyunsaturated Fat: 4gMonounsaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 0.2gCholesterol: 44mgSodium: 264mgPotassium: 73mgFiber: 1gSugar: 42gVitamin A: 341IUCalcium: 33mgIron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!