Best Red Velvet Sheet Cake recipe! This moist red velvet sheet cake is a topped with homemade cream cheese frosting.
I’m such a sucker for red velvet anything, and this red velvet sheet cake is moist and has great red velvet flavor!
This cake is similar to a Texas sheet cake. It is easy to make, tender, and has great flavor. The cake is topped with a tangy cream cheese icing for that nice contrast of tangy and sweet.
How to make red velvet sheet cake
Stir flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
In a heavy saucepan over low heat, combine butter, water, and cocoa powder. Bring to boil, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat. Stir in eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, and food color.
Stir until well-combined.
Stir in flour mixture until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan to room temperature.
To make the frosting, beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla together until well-combined. Stir in powdered sugar and enough milk to make desired consistency.
Frost cooled bars with cream cheese frosting.
Tips
- Butter: I use salted butter in this recipe. If you use unsalted butter instead, increase the salt in the cake to 1/2 teaspoon and add a pinch or two of salt to the frosting.
- Cocoa powder: I use regular unsweetened cocoa powder. I haven’t tried Dutch-processed cocoa powder in this recipe.
- Buttermilk: Regular or low-fat is ok. If you don’t have buttermilk, you can make an easy substitute with this recipe.
Other frostings that go well with this cake
Other frostings that work well with this cake are my Whipped buttercream frosting, whipped cream cheese frosting, or vanilla buttercream both go well with this cake.
Storage
StorageThis cake will keep for up to 1 week, covered, in the fridge.
More red velvet recipes!
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Red Velvet Sheet Cake
Equipment
- 10x15-inch rimmed baking sheet
Ingredients
Red Velvet Cake
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons red food coloring 1 ounce
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 2 tablespoons butter softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 ½-3 cups powdered sugar
- 1-3 tablespoons buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 15x10-inch rimmed baking pan. Set aside.
- Stir flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In a heavy saucepan over low heat, combine butter, water, and cocoa powder. Bring to boil, stirring constantly.
- Remove from heat, and stir in eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, and food color.Stir until well-combined.
- Stir in flour mixture until combined.
- Pour batter into prepared pan.
- Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool in the pan to room temperature.
- To make the frosting, beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla together until well-combined.
- Stir in powdered sugar and enough milk to make desired consistency.
- Frost cooled bars with cream cheese frosting.
- Chill any leftovers.
Video
Notes
- Butter: I use salted butter in this recipe. If you use unsalted butter instead, increase the salt in the cake to 1/2 teaspoon and add a pinch or two of salt to the frosting.
- Cocoa powder: I use regular unsweetened cocoa powder. I haven't tried Dutch-processed cocoa powder in this recipe.
- Buttermilk: Regular or low-fat is ok. If you don't have buttermilk, you can make an easy substitute with this recipe.
- Frosting: Whipped buttercream frosting or vanilla buttercream both go well with this cake.
- Nutrition values are estimates.
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?
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Originally posted 12/2/16. Updated with additional photos and tips 2/3/21.
Adapted from BHG.
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Comments & Reviews
robert says
can you add a teaspoon, or a tablespoon of white vinegar?
Kate says
I haven’t tried adding vinegar because there is buttermilk in this recipe, which helps to add some tang. However, I would guess that you could add a teaspoon of white vinegar.
Beth Gragg says
Took it to a picnic. People said that they usually don’t like red velvet cake because it’s too dry, but loved this moist, delicious cake!
Kate says
Yay! I’m so glad that it was a hit!
Amy says
This cake is really delicious. It’s very moist and chocolaty, and the frosting is so good! I usually feel very neutral about cream cheese frosting, but this is an excellent recipe. I made this(it baked in 20 minutes), cut it small pieces so there was a big platter full, took it to a Christmas party, and every piece quickly disappeared.
Kate says
Thanks! I’m glad that it was a hit!
Carla says
Delicious and perfect!Love the texture and the true hint of tart from the buttermilk. My family doesn’t care for the traditional cream cheese frosting so I used white canned frosting. (I know, but it sometimes just works) I will be following this blog more.
Kate says
Thank you so much!
Ann says
I am noticing that this looks like a layer cake. To be clear, the batter only makes 1 15×10 jellyroll pan? And, if you wanted to layer, you could cut it in half to make a smaller cake or double the recipe for the full 15×10?
Kate says
Hi! Yes, the cake is a single-layer, jellyroll pan. I stacked two pieces of cake on top of each other in the photo. Unfortunately, I haven’t tried to make this cake as a layer cake to say for certain.
Lagale Pippens says
Do you use a mixer to mix the red velvet cake?
Kate says
You can either use a mixer or mix it by hand. If you use a mixer, I recommend mixing the flour in by hand to avoid overmixing the batter.