Most people like making red velvet cake on Valentine’s Day but I love making it around Halloween because of its intense red color 🙂

This is my favorite red velvet cake recipe… it’s very soft and moist, primarily due to the use of vinegar and buttermilk.

I also like to use sifted all-purpose flour because all that sifting  gives this cake a light and tender texture.

And obviously, I prefer to fill and frost this cake with cream cheese frosting but this time, I colored it red for the sake of Halloween 🙂

Finally, I topped it all off with mini chocolate bites.

To make this cake, you will need the following ingredients:

Red velvet cake:
2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 tsp vinegar
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 ounce red food coloring

Cream cheese frosting:
2 packages (8 ounces each) softened cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
8 cups powdered sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1-3 tbsp whole milk
Red gel coloring

Chocolate bites:
Melted chocolate
Pumpkin candy
Candy corns
Yellow m&m candies
Orange m&m candies
Yellow and orange sprinkles

These are the instructions for making the red velvet cake:

Step 1:
In a small bowl, add cocoa powder and food coloring and mix it together until you have a smooth paste.
Keep this bowl of red cocoa paste aside and move on to the next step…

Step 2:
In another small bowl, add buttermilk, vanilla extract and salt.
Mix this and keep aside as well.

Step 3:
Now, in a mixing bowl, add sugar and oil and start mixing.

Step 4:
Beat in the eggs one at a time.

Step 5:
Now, add the red cocoa paste and mix again.

Step 6:
Finally, mix in the flour and buttermilk alternately until you have a smooth mixture.
Don’t over-mix!

Step 7:
In an another small bowl, add baking soda and vinegar and mix it together.

Step 8:
Now, mix this vinegar mixture into into your cake batter.

Step 9:
Pour this batter into two greased/floured 8×2 cake pans.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

These are the instructions for making the cream cheese frosting:

Step 1:
Ina  mixing bowl, add butter, shortening, cream cheese and vanilla extract.

Step 2:
Cream everything until you have a smooth mixture.

Step 3:
Gradually, start adding powdered sugar and keep mixing.

Step 4:
Add red gel coloring and mix it evenly into the frosting.

Step 5:
If your icing is too thin, add some powdered sugar (1 tbsp at a time) until you are satisfied with the consistency.
If your icing is too thick, add some milk (1 tsp at a time) until you are satisfied with the consistency.

Step 6:
Refrigerate this icing until needed.

These are the instructions for making the chocolate bites:

Step 1:
Line a cookie tray with wax paper.

Step 2:
Fill a piping bag with melted chocolate and squeeze out multiple chocolate blobs on wax paper.

Step 3:
Chop up some pumpkin candies and gather all the other candies.

Step 4:
Stick the candies on the melted chocolate blobs.

Step 5:
Allow the chocolate to harden and then you can remove them from the wax paper easily.

Assembly and decoration:

Step 1:
After your cakes have completely cooled down, place one cake on a cake board.

Step 2:
Use a spatula to spread some cream cheese frosting on top of it

Step 3:
Then, place the other cake on top of this and push it down so that they stick together.

Step 4:
Now, frost your entire cake in cream cheese icing.
Note: If your icing is too soft, then chill it in the fridge for 15-20 minutes and then use it.

Step 5:
Give the frosting a roughed up textured look with your spatula.

Step 6:
Fill a piping bag with some cream cheese icing and attach a round tip.
Make messy round swirls on top of the cake.

Step 7:
Position the chocolate candy bites on top of the cake.

Step 8:
Stick some candy corns around the base of the cake.

And you are done!

Make sure to keep this cake refrigerated.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.

Happy caking everyone 🙂