Best Red Velvet Cake Recipe???

Here's the one I use after experimenting with a few recipes. This one also gets requested frequently. I got it off of Food Network. I don't use this icing recipe using instead the crusting cream cheese buttercream. I also use only 1 oz. of Red Food coloring and 3 tsps of Cocoa powder. HTH
For the cake:

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
2 teaspoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 ounces red food coloring

1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the frosting:

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter or margarine, softened
1 pound box confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans
For the Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease and flour 2 (9-inch) cake pans. In a medium bowl or on a piece of waxed paper, sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk. Beat in food coloring and vinegar, then add vanilla. Spread the batter evenly in the pans.

Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Turn out onto a rack to cool.

For the Frosting:

In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese and butter. Beat in confectioners' sugar until fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Stir in pecans. Use frosting to fill and ice cake.

Slice and serve on individual plates.

I tried a homemade recipe and a boxed recipe, then made one up by following the WASC recipe as a guideline and it the winner by far.

I used 3 mixes trying to get the proportion of chocolate right, but it was fine when I used 1 white and 1 milk chocolate mix:

2 boxes white cake mix
1 box dark chocolate cake mix (hard to find, but worth it)
2 pkg choc pudding
2-3/4 c flour
1/4 c cocoa powder
3 c sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
3 c sour cream
8 whole eggs
1/3 c oil
2 tablespoons vanilla
2 jars Wilton red-red (or 2 small bottles of Americolor super red)

I noticed that in the recipe from Food Network the flour used is cake flour.What is meant by cake flour , as I'm only used to self rising flour and the common all purpose bleached flour? Can I use either of these two?
TIA
Maria

There are two red velvet recipes I've used. One is my grandma's and she made it when we were kids. It's the family's favorite cake. The other is the red velvet cake recipe from the Martha Stewart Wedding Cakes book. I was hesitant to even get the book because I'm so not a Martha fan but a friend convinced me I needed the book so I bought it and have tried some of the recipes - all delicious, I might add! The red velvet recipe in her book is - dare I say - better than grandma's. It's a little moister and has a great texture.

If you want either of these recipes, PM me and I'll send them to you.

Julie

PS - The coconut cake in her book is also very delicious! If anyone wants that book, check Amazon. I got it for nearly half price and free shipping.

So I'll have to use the first of the two substitutions you give in your answer.
Thank you, mbt4955 for your quick answer.
Maria

I agree that the Martha Stewart recipe is wonderful. After trying several, it's the only red velvet recipe I use now. I also use Raspberry cream cheese filling for my RV. Everyone seems to love the raspberry CC better than the plain CC.

If you are looking for a cake mix recipe version and dont want to deal with red dye, I do this:

1 box of DH Red Velvet
1 box of butter yellow cake mix
1 box of devils food pudding mix
2 teas of butter extract
2 cups of sugar
2 cups of flour
2 teas of vanilla extract
1 teas of salt
16 oz of sour cream
8 eggs
1/4 cup of oil
2 cups of water

mix all ingrediants and pour into pans as usual. (this makes 4-8 inch cakes or 2-12 inch cakes, etc)

Terrig's recipe looks exactly like the recipe I use and it comes out great.

Thanks for the frosting recipe too. Mine doesn't have to crust since it is going under fondant.

No, this one was Emerill's recipe. I had tried 5 of them but this one taste the best of them (with the adjustments). I haven't tried the Martha Stewart one yet but I do have the book. Perhaps I'll try that one too.