Low carb grain-free red velvet cake in donut (and cupcakes!) form. With a delicious sugar-free cream cheese frosting.
But those of you who know their red velvet cake are probably wondering at the rather lurid pinky-red colour of my red velvet cakes and donuts. Ah, well, there is a funny, and somewhat embarrassing, story to go along with that. See, this recipe was requested by a reader, Carla, when I opened the floor for requests. I saw her comment and thought to myself that it would be an easy one. I thought I knew what I was doing. It’s a classic case of baking hubris, I believe. I knew that my cake batter recipe from the Lemon Cream Cake would be perfect for modifying into red velvet. And I knew that it took cream cheese frosting, which I have perfected over the past year. And I thought I would get all fancy and inventive, and put some of the batter in my donut pan for fun. No problem, easy peasy.
I didn’t even really look at any conventional red velvet recipes, since I was so very certain I knew what I was doing. I made up my batter and added my red food colouring, and even then, it didn’t really occur to me that anything was wrong. It literally wasn’t until I was taking the cakes out of the oven that I thought “Gee, these are a really ugly colour”. And then it hit me that maybe, just maybe, red velvet was supposed to take some cocoa powder to give it a much deeper, darker red. I quickly ran to my computer and looked up a few red velvet recipes and yup, cocoa powder is a key ingredient. I looked at my pinky-red cupcakes and donuts in dismay. They were perfectly good little cakes and I wasn’t about to throw them out, so I decided to go ahead with them as planned and tell my readers the truth…I thought red velvet was simply white cake with food colouring and cream cheese frosting. I thought I knew what I was doing.
T he Results: I figure you will forgive me, given my foreign upbringing and all. I can’t be blamed for my ignorance! I will say that the cakes were delicious just as they were. This cake recipe is so very, very good and infinitely adaptable and as such, I am very confident that it would be just as good with a few tablespoons of cocoa added into the mix. So, for those of you who really want true red velvet, I am writing up the recipe to include the cocoa. The frosting was spot on, there were no complaints there! My pictures show some of the donuts with sprinkles…that was just to make them fun for the kids.
Since I did some as cupcakes and some as donuts, it’s hard to tell exactly how many these would make. My donut pan doesn’t hold much in each hole, so two donuts would probably be the equivalent of one cupcake. Which would amount to 9 cupcakes or 18 donuts, whichever you want to go with!
Kathy says
I specifically signed up for your email list as requested at the top of this page so I could get this recipe. When I got the email it just links me back to this blank page. Can I please have this recipe?
Carolyn says
Hi Kathy… Unfortunately, that recipe doesn’t exist anymore and I am not sure how you even found the post on my website… it’s hidden.
Dawn Marie Miller says
Hi Carolyn, I found it too! I found it by searching “All Day I Dream About Food Red Velvet Cake” and this came up (see link below). In that Facebook post is a link to your page. I love your recipes and your energy; have a couple of your cookbooks and was hoping to find a Red Velvet recipe by you so I could make it for a friend – I trust your processes! Hope you are well 🙂
https://www.facebook.com/AllDayIDreamAboutFood/photos/a.295379530489443/1310936748933711/?type=3&_rdr
Andy says
Am I missing something? I don’t see the recipe anywhere here. I’ve tried to view on my phone and my PC.
Carolyn says
You have somehow found a very old recipe that I have hidden from search on my blog… not quite sure how you did that!
Tom says
This was very good overall. I tried to make them blue velvet but even with 18 drops, they came out gray-ish brown. I think the comments on needing vinegar or buttermilk to bring out the chemical reaction may be true. I think next time I will just leave out the cocoa. The cupcakes tasted a bit earthy/bland as one other person stated and they were a tiny bit on the moist side, I might have underbaked them by a couple of minutes. However, the frosting is amazing. Mine was runny at first, but I beat it a high speed for two minutes and it was then very nice and creamy. I plan on using this frosting on everything, I could also see it easily being converted to a lemon or chocolate flavor. I’m one of those weird people who like cold cake, so I put them in the fridge for a couple of hours and then, they were incredible, the cake part became firmer and more brownie-like, and that frosting, yummm…
kate says
This is a great recipe. Best red velvet cake i’ve made. The kids loved it. I actually made two 9-inch cakes out of this recipe and spread a layer of the frosting in between. Then covered the cake with frosting. That was my birthday cake:-). Thank you for sharing!
kristen thornton says
Hi Carolyn!
I adore your website and have many of your cookbooks. Your newest one is on my Christmas list this year! On this recipe- the frosting part. the directions reference stevia but i don’t see the amount of stevia in the frosting ingredient list. Would it possibly be- 1/2 tsp. of vanilla extract and 1/2 tsp. of liquid stevia?
Carolyn says
I’ve changed the recipe so it doesn’t need stevia. I guess I need to fix the instructions!
Janet says
I only trust you for recipes so I’m going to try to make a round cake from this recipe. It’s our Valentine’s day go to. Hoping for a red velvet cake recipe in the future 🙂
Carolyn says
Hi Janet. Thanks so much, just keep in mind that this is quite an old recipe that I’ve been meaning to revisit. It should still work as is, though!