Gluten Free Red Velvet Cake

I've always wanted to make a red velvet cake, but once I was diagnose with Celiac Disease, even though I'd had some excellent gluten free baking opportunities, I was scared to go for the double layer cake that I wanted. Needless to say, I let this prevent me from taking that double layer leap...until now! For Valentine's Day I decided to put my fears aside and go for the gusto. I did a bunch of research on red velvet cake recipes (gluten free and glutinous), found a recipe that I could work with and adjusted it to my preferences. Most red velvet cake have 2 Tablespoons of cocoa, but if I'm having a chocolate cake I want to taste the chocolate so I added 4 Tablespoons. I also omitted the vinegar since I was using the red food coloring (I didn't need the chemical reaction it would cause to give my cake a reddish hue). And I used a cream cheese frosting which many would say is non traditional, but I love cream cheese frosting and use every excuse I can to use it! The cake was a huge success! It was moist and flavorful with a soft texture that surprised some of the non-celiac tasters. Yeah! This cake will now and forever be included on our Valentine's Day menu and it might even show up at a birthday or two!

Gluten Free Red Velvet Cake

4 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1 ounces red food coloring
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups white sugar
3 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp xanthum gum
1 teaspoons baking soda
Grease and flour two 9 inch round pans. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Make a paste with the cocoa and food coloring (add some of the buttermilk if you need more liquid to form a paste). Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the oil, sugar and eggs until light and fluffy. Stir in the cocoa mixture. Beat in the buttermilk, salt, vanilla, xanthum gum and baking soda. Add the gluten free flour blend, mixing just until incorporated. Scrap down the bowl and than mix on medium for 3 minutes.
Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool 10 minutes before removing from pans and then cool completely before frosting and assembling. Refrigerate until ready to serve.


Assembling the cake - Check out that color!


The finished product.


And then there was none!

23 comments:

Linds Forrest said...

I have never tried red velvet cake, but yours sure looks delicious... even at 8:30 in the morning!!

Tamara Jacobs said...

holy shmoly! That cake was to die for!!! Don't worry we finished it off last night:) Thanks for making it for all of us. you are an amazing cook!

Jen said...

Hi there - Just found your site! - I had been looking for a RED VELVET cake recipe to make for a great Gluten free friend's birthday - She just found out not too long ago that she is gluten intolerant - I can't wait to surprise her with this GF cake - she bet me that it would be impossible to find a GF recipe!! - Thank you - can't wait to try it out!
I am also sending her your link but NOT til after her birthday party!
Jennifer

Princess Kate said...

Someone gave me a 5lb bag of Bob's Gluten Free Flour. Do you think I could use it instead of your flour blend? Thank you, by the way, for what you do. I'm 6 months in to the gluten free life. I was actually in my second quarter of culinary school for Baking & Pastry when I found out, and I've been so intimidated to try any baking. I'll be browsing your blog often!!

Meredith said...

Princess Kate - I'm sure you could use the Bob's Red Mill Flour just fine and be able to exchange it part for part. Is it the one with garbanzo bean flour (among other things)? It's a personal thing, but I can really detect a bean aftertaste when I bake with bean flours. When using this blend I substitute half of the flour called for in the recipe with brown rice flour. This seems to help with the bean flavor. I'd try it as is first and see what you think before experimenting. Good Luck!

Unknown said...

Struggling to find a suitable gluten free cake recipe for my 50th birthday, I stumbled on your recipe for the Red Velvet Cake! Your instructions were easy and I was able to adapt for UK measurements. Red Velvet Cake is an unknown in the UK so it was a big hit and our friends and family LOVED it! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Lisa Szmyt said...

I found this recipe while searching for a GF Red Velvet cake to make for a birthday cake for my Georgian son-in-law. I'm Celiac and I refuse to bake anything that I can't eat. I've never tasted a Red Velvet before so I was uncertain about the taste.

My son-in-law's verdict? Better than his GrandMother's. Thank you for helping me impress my family with my baking ability once again.

Thank you for helping

Cristabel said...

I just stumbled across your blog and I'm very excited to try this recipe. My mom hasn't been diagnosed with celiac disease but she has all the signs of it. So, she stays away from anything with gluten. She loves red velvet so I think she'll like this recipe too!

Unknown said...

Hi there. I wanted to make half of this recipe (or 2/3 of it), but i wasn't sure how to do that. Should i cut the xanthum gum and baking soda in half or...? Help...

Meredith said...

Orit, Cut everything exactly in 1/2 and bake in a 9 inch round (or square) cake pan. The bake time and temperature will stay the same. Good Luck!

Monique said...

Thank you for posting your great recipes. I always look up your site when I am stuck on how to make something gluten free. This recipe looks delicious and will be tried this weekend.

Monique said...

This recipe looks delicious...I bake all the time and just found out my daughter has a gluten intolorence. I have used your blog before to get recipes or ideas. Thanks.

Dorothy Moody said...

This recipe is FANTASTIC!! I served it to my co-workers and not a crumb was leftover.

Denise said...

The gluten free mix I made already has xanthan gum in it..should I still add some ?

thanks

Denise from Canada

Meredith said...

Denise, if the gluten free flour mix you use already has xanthan gum you do NOT need to add any more. Hope you like it!

4 HIS Glory!!! said...

my Grand-Daughter can't have red dye, do you think beet powder would be a suitable substitute?

Meredith said...

4 his Glory: I've never used beet powder but give it a try. The food coloring is just for fun...the cake is delicious with or without it!

Unknown said...

Hi! I really want to make this for a birthday celebration for a friend but I want to make cupcakes instead of a double layer cake. Do you know if the baking time would be vastly different? Thank you for sharing this recipe. I'm so excited to make it and have a cupcake myself. I'm Celiac, my birthday friend is not, but I don't like making glutenous things any more. So happy I can have one, too, when they're all done! Thank you for your help!

Meredith said...

Unknown: If you'd like to make cupcakes instead of cake you should reduce the baking time to 20-225 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the finished cupcake should come out clean (a few crumbs on the toothpick are okay).

PDXrs said...

Hey Meredith- I will be attempting your recipe this weekend! (exicted) I'd like to double the recipe..and make an extra tall layer cake similar to a store-bought, bakery-style cake. (4 layers) Do you see any issues with this? What about storage time once the cakes are done?

Meredith said...

PDXrs - My only concern is that the cakes might be too heavy to do 4 regular size layers. Instead of doubling the recipe I would probably use the same amount of batter in 4 pans and do the 4 layers that way. If you do double it, you might need to use small dowels to keep it in place. Let me know what you end up doing and how it turns out. I hope you love it as much as I do!!!

Bullanie said...

This was amazing - I made it for my GF sister's birthday party and none of her friends could believe it was gluten free. They said it was the best cake they've ever had and I'm really not a baker at all!

qjones84 said...

I love this recipe. I made it for my fiancé and his family back in 2009 and they fell in love. Now it's our go to recipe for birthdays and special holidays. Thanks for this great recipe