Old Fashioned Red Velvet Cake

I call this recipe “Old Fashioned Red Velvet Cake” because this is the exact recipe that has been in my family since the early ’70s. My mom made this cake for each of us on our birthdays. So, if you do the math, she made this cake seven times a year.

She had cake pans that she used, especially for her red velvet cake. Over the years, the pans began to show their age, but they remained perfect for this task.

I remember one year, the day before my birthday, our oven stopped working. Being resourceful, my mom had a frozen Petridge Farms cake hidden deep in the basement freezer.

The frozen cake was fine, but no match for my mom’s Red Velvet Cake.
I should also mention that the Red Velvet Cake of today is different than this recipe. The difference lies in the frosting. Most recipes call for a cream cheese frosting, but early versions, like this cake, use a frosting called Ermine.

Ermine Frosting is frosting that is made by cooking flour as the base of the recipe. It creates a frosting that is lightly sweet and fluffy. Think of it as the filling of a Hostess Twinky. It is incredible and by far my favorite frosting that I use on all of our cakes.

I hope you try this exceptional cake and see that cream cheese frosting isn’t the only frosting that works well on a Red Velvet Cake.
By the way, keeping a cake in the freezer is a brilliant idea; thanks, mom.

5 from 2 votes

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Old Fashioned Red Velvet Cake

This Red Velvet Cake will remind you of something your Grandma would have baked....it's that good!

Course cake

Cuisine American

Keyword boiled frosting, dougbakes,com, dougbakes.com, red velvet cake

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Servings 8 people

Ingredients

Cake Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1.1 oz bottle red food coloring
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2-1/4 cups cake flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 tablespoon vinegar

Frosting Ingredients

• 5 tablespoons cake flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup butter , room temperature.
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

For the cake

1. Cream together butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition.

2. Mix cocoa powder and food coloring in a small bowl to make a paste; add to butter mixture and mix until well combined.

3. Mix salt, vanilla, and buttermilk in a small bowl; add to butter mixture alternately with cake flour until well combined.

4. Mix baking soda and vinegar in a small bowl, then fold into the batter by hand until well combined

5. Pour batter into two 9-inch greased and floured cake pans, then bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until cooked. Cool completely, then frost with Cooked Buttercream Frosting. The cake does not need to be refrigerated.

For the frosting

1. Add flour to a small saucepan, then whisk in milk. Heat over medium-high heat until boiling. Cook and stir until thickened (about the consistency of your cake batter). Remove from heat and cool completely.

2. Cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy and smooth (about 3-4 minutes). Add vanilla and cooked flour mixture and continue mixing until creamy, well combined, and spreadable. Don’t worry if it doesn’t seem to be coming together – it will. Just keep mixing!