Pink Velvet Cake with Raspberry Buttercream – Tender pink velvet cake with raspberry buttercream and fresh raspberries.
After a successful red velvet bake off last year, I thought it would be fun to do another “velvet” cake for Valentine’s this year. But, instead of red, I went with pink velvet!
Unlike a traditional red velvet cake, however, my pink velvet cake isn’t chocolate based. Instead, I went with a vanilla based and used the idea of a “velvet” as part of the texture. I mean, look at those cake layers! So tender and velvety!
Pink Velvet Cake
The base of this cake is from my favorite vanilla cake I used in my Marshmallow Moon Cake. It’s so tender and flavorful. All I did different was add some pink food gel by Americolor. You don’t need to add much color when you use the food gels because the color is so concentrated. I only add two drops. Also, it’s super important to add the food coloring to the batter when you’re blending the butter and sugar. You run the risk of over-mixing your batter if you add the food coloring at the end.
Raspberry Buttercream
For the frosting, I thought it would be fun to do something less traditional for a “velvet” cake, which usually gets paired with a cream cheese frosting or a vanilla buttercream. I went with a raspberry buttercream, using LorAnn Oils Raspberry Emulsion. The emulsion is clear, so I added a little food coloring gel to the frosting as well. Again, just a drop or two is all you need.
Hope you love this Pink Velvet cake as much as I do!

I am so excited to try this!! Just wondering if you can make these into cupcakes!
I think you can but I haven’t tried it yet. Not all cake recipes transfer well into cupcakes so I can’t be certain. Sorry!
Just made this cake a few days ago for my daughter’s birthday. The cake is delicious! I was bummed because although I had planned on making a tall-ish 6″ cake, I followed the directions to use 8″ pans, which I thought would result in a cake as tall as pictured. My cake was a bit shorter after evening the layers, even with decent layers of frosting between each. So I ended up making another batch for more layers, spending twice as much time as expected on the baking. My layers appear just as thick as the photos show, so I’m super confused. Not complaining – I love the recipe, just wondering how I ended up with such a shorter cake? I don’t think I messed anything up because the texture and flavor is perfect and I’ve had a hard time finding cake recipes as good as this!
So you used 8″ pans like I did? Cakes sometimes have issues rising if the baking powder or baking soda is expired, or if you overmix the batter, or if you oven temp is off. But it sounds like the texture turned out good, so I’m not sure what happened.
I live at an altitude of about 5500 feet above sea level, and I am sad to say that every cake I bake from your recipes sink in the middle. I have questioned you about this before and you have advised me that I must be over mixing. But that is not the case as I am EXTREMELY careful not to do so. Also, I am not a novice baker and have baked hundreds of cakes over the years but have lived most of my life at sea level. I will have to start amending your recipes by reducing the baking powder and sugar and adding more liquid. The sinkage is not extreme so I can make it up with the frosting and it is still very delicious, but still it really bothers me, and it is such a pain to alter the recipes. I do love your cakes, you are amazing!
Darn. Sorry to hear about that. At high altitude, one of the best adjustments you can make is reducing the sugar. I would remove 1/4 cup of the sugar for it to rise better.
Is there anything I can use as a substitute for the raspberry emulsion in the frosting? Would extract work; and if so, would it be an even exchange?
Extract can be used instead and its the same quantity.
Hi! I’m thinking of baking this cake for my daughter’s birthday, but I don’t have time to order raspberry emulsion. Could I swap out the sour cream for raspberry jam/preserves to flavor the cake batter? And could I use the jam/preserves to flavor the frosting as well?
Hi! Keep the sour cream in the cake – that’s the key ingredient to keeping the cake moist. You can definitely add a raspberry puree but it needs to be simmered on the stove and thickened a bit, especially for the frosting. The water content of fresh raspberries will ruin the frosting.
Another beautiful cake. Thank you.
The only think i wouldn’t do again is use the raspberry emulsion, not for me, I found it had a medicine flavour i didn’t like.