Red Velvet Cake with Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting – A new spin on the traditional red velvet cake, made with red velvet emulsion, toasted marshmallow filling and chocolate sour cream frosting.

Red Velvet Addict
I have a confession to make. I used to be a red velvet cake addict. It was all thanks to the red velvet cupcake and cake at Susie Cakes that was about five blocks from my house in Santa Monica. I honestly think I got a red velvet cupcake every week. No joke! Well, leave it to over indulgence to turn you off from something. Up until two years ago, I hadn’t touched red velvet anything since those Santa Monica days (nearly a 5 year span).

The Reintroduction of Red Velvet Cake
I’m not sure why I decided to revisit this classic southern cake (which actually was first served in NYC but later became a southern fave), but when the idea popped in my head a couple years ago, I knew I wanted to make it count when I put this recipe on my blog. I wasn’t just going to offer up any ol’ red velvet cake. It needs to be something special. I know how polarizing this cake flavor is (my husband isn’t a fan at all). You either love it or hate it.

In researching red velvet cake recipes, I saw a lot of cakes that were bright red, like a crayon. I’ll be honest, the artificial color of these cakes were totally off-putting. A lot of these recipes used a large amount of red food dye to achieve this color – one of the reasons many of you don’t like this cake and won’t make it.

Recipe Testing
The first recipe I worked with was the Red Velvet cake by Tessa Huff from her cookbook, “Layered.” Her recipe seems more like a traditional red velvet cake (based on my personal research), which is similar to a basic chocolate cake recipe, but with only three tablespoons of cocoa powder. Her recipe also uses red food gel, instead of a liquid dye. I also liked that her cake had a cup of buttermilk – a good sign it would be nice and moist – and it was!
The second cake I simply couldn’t resist trying was from another one of my cake heroines, Rosie from Sweetapolita. What caught my eye about Rosie’s cake was that the ingredients were very different from most of the other recipes I read through. Rosie’s cake uses butter with a mix of granulated and brown sugar. She also uses a mix of all-purpose flour and cake flour, as well as a combination of buttermilk and mayonnaise. I was also intrigued by her recipe because instead of copious amounts of red food dye, Rosie uses just one teaspoon food gel and gets her color and flavor from red velvet flavoring (link to the brand I used can be found in the ingredients list below).

The red velvet emulsion adds the slightest hint of citrus to the cake, which sounds strange for red velvet, but I promise you, it’s the best surprise of this cake – especially when it’s paired with a tart chocolate sour cream frosting.
My Take on Red Velvet
In the end, both cakes were super moist and flavorful, but I personally love Sweetapolita’s version the best. So, as I worked on creating my own version of this cake, I used Rosie’s cake as inspiration. I love the red velvet emulsion and thinks it packs a powerful flavor and color. In fact, I see no need for additional food coloring, so I left that out of my recipe. I also use a little more cocoa powder, no cake flour, sour cream instead of mayo, and less butter. and less brown sugar. The result is a super moist and fluffy red velvet cake with the slightest hint of cocoa and citrus. When paired with the toasted marshmallow filling and chocolate sour cream frosting, the combination is utterly delightful!
Video Tutorial
Enjoy!

Hi, I wouldnlike to know if this can be used for cupcakes. Have you used them & if so beside baking time anything else change in recipe? I would like to make these for my son & any help I can get I’d appreciate! Thank you!!
I’ve been following you on Instagram for a long time and love watching every thing you make. They’re always so beautiful. But this is the first cake of yours I’ve made. I was so in love with the taste and the texture is so good!! I got rid of my old red velvet recipe. This is so delicious!! And I’m obsessed with the marshmallow filling! It tastes like a marshmallow and I’ve been eating the leftovers by the spoonful. Haha. I’m so excited to make more of your cakes!! Thank you!!!
I’m so glad it was a hit. Thank you for writing and letting me know. I so appreciate it!
Hello. This looks amazing. I’m making this tomorrow for a birthday! Just a quick question, how warm does the Buttermilk need to be?
TIA! Harvey
Just room temperature.
I made your dark chocolate cake recipe, and it was wonderful. I wish I could post you the picture. Thanks for the clear explanations you make.
I would appreciate if you can also post a frosting that does not require much sugar. If that exists at all.
Making this cake tonight for the family and everything is tasting scrumptious as always!! How much leftover marshmallow filling do you have normally? I tried to be very generous with my layers but I still have a decent amount leftover!
That can happen sometimes! Enjoy the extra 🙂
My cakes are flat and dense 😕 Do you know what would cause that? I’m at sea level…. Maybe I let the soda and vinegar fizz too long? Or over mixed? Thanks for any tips!
Sea level should give you problems with my recipe but for sure the mixing will. Really low speed for the mixing, just until ingredients are incorporated.
Hi! What if I don’t have the red velvet emulsion? What would be a good substitute??
You’ll just leave that out. There’s not a good sub.
Best red velvet cake recipe I have made. I did it in both 8 inch and 6 inch pans and they came out amazing
I forgot to add this question, but how would this recipe work for cupcakes?
I made this cake for Christmas and I will definitely make it again! I might use a little less of the emulsion flavor next time it has a bit of a berry flavor? Anyways….It was super moist and it seemed to taste even better the next day which is surprising for a cake. I skipped the chocolate sour cream frosting and made a cookies and cream frosting (recipe from Courtney’s Cookies and Cream Cake) except I replaced the original Oreos with Red Velvet Oreos. Very tasty! Will make it again! Rise was beautiful.
Also I added toasted pecans between the layers!
Is there any way I could use this recipe for 2 9 inch pans instead of 3 8 inch? It sounds delicious.
Yes it will just need to bake longer.
This was so good! Great texture, well-balanced flavors, unique. Everyone in my family loved it. And since I’m anti-cream cheese frosting, the combination seemed perfect to me!
My only issue was the toasted marshmallows filling. It was really thick and stiff, so I added a bunch of heavy cream (probably about half a cup), which seemed to help. Have you had that happen?
Yes, only if i’ve refrigerated it for a while. When that happens, I just microwave it for 10 seconds to soften the butter base.
Can I use beets to make the cake layers red instead of food colouring?
You can try!
What kind of vinegar do you use? Is using the red velvet emulsion critical to this recipe or why is it used?
Yes you need the red velvet emulsion for the flavor. White vinegar is what I use.
This is so tasty!! I originally couldn’t let go of the idea of have cream cheese with red velvet so I went with Sweetapolita’s filling instead. I made her filling and was so disappointed with the flavor so I grabbed my marshmallows and followed your directions for toasting them. YOU’RE A DANG GENIUS! Those toasted marshmallow were EVERYTHING in the filling. I had to keep myself from eating all of it with a spoon before putting the cake together. Thanks for your creativity and willingness to share!
The toasted mallows are game changer huh?!
Hi Courtney ~
I am making this red velvet cake, and I am finding that 2 1/2 teaspoons of the emulsion weighs about 10.5 grams, whereas 2 1/2 tablespoons weights approx. 35 grams. I have tried multiple times but I keep coming up with the same weight… I have not weighed emulsion before this though, so maybe there is just a problem with my scale and i am just finding out 🤔
My question is, should I be measuring out the 2 1/2 tablespoons, or should I weigh out the 10.5 grams?
Thank you very much 🙂
Christine
I fixed it! It should be 2.5tbsp or 35g
I made this cake for our son’s 18th birthday last week and it was delicious! I followed your directions for the cake exactly (except for the emulsion, as by my scale 2 1/2 Tablespoons was ~35 grams whereas 2 1/2 teaspoons was ~10.5 grams so I wasn’t sure whether I ought to follow the 2 1/2 Tablespoons measurement or the weight, I ultimately went with the 10.5 grams)
I also used your chocolate buttercream with it instead, and between the moist cake, the delectable frosting and the marshmallow filling, it was very well loved! A big plus is that since the cake was so big (and due to Covid there were only the 4 of us physically present) the leftover cake slices are vacuum sealed in the freezer waiting for some lucky person to eat them 🙂
I’m so glad you loved it! yay for leftover. We are in the middle of fixing all of our metric units so sorry for that mixup! It should be tablespoons so 35g