I use the Duncan Hines red velvet mix, add an extra egg, use milk in place of water, and add a box of chocolate instant pudding to the mix - turns out real well. You could make the crusting cream cheese icing to go on this cake, and he would never know it was not store bought icing (just don't tell him) 
I make cakes from mixes all the time and I have never once used store bought icing on any of them.
In the past I use the Red Velvet cake mix, but lately I have been making
Red Velvet from scratch.. it's really easy though. But I just brush
Torani Syrup on it before icing so it will be really moist. I getting the hang of it from scratch. 
But a mix would also be a good alternative.
I recently made Sarah's red velvet cake from this site and it's better then any mix I've ever used. I took it to my DH family dinner, because that is the only cake they like, and everyone raved about it. It's very moist and easy to make.
You know it's funny that we have used the same recipe and both liked it.
I got my recipe from Food Network.. I made a few out of different recipes but this is the one I like best.. I guess it's because it uses oil and not shortening.. I find that cake that uses oil is more moist..
Here's the link to Sarah's red velvet cake. Enjoy! http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-2259-Sarahs-Red-Velvet-Cake---a-tradition-of-excellence.html
but lost my scratch recipe years ago. Hello everyone
About Sarah's rvc, what is it that you all like about it? I noticed there is no vinegar in this recipe; what's the difference in taste without it (I've only tasted rvc with vinegar. With 3tbsp of cocoa and 2 bottles of fc what color red is the cake is it that bright red (don't want) or the deep dark red (yes)
TIA!
I doubled the recipe and used 2 bottles of red food coloring and it came out a beautiful dark red color (not bright). I haven't tried one with vinegar in it so I can't answer that question, but this cake is moist and delicious. I got rave reviews on it. Everyone said it was the best they had ever tasted.
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