The Best Red Velvet Cake with Chocolate Chips

A slice of red velvet cake with chocolate chips and cream cheese frosting.

3 from 1 vote

The Best Red Velvet Cake with Chocolate Chips

Bake the ultimate red velvet cake with chocolate chips! Soft, fluffy, and crazy delicious, it'll be sure to satisfy your sweet tooth!

Prep Time45

Cook Time30

Total Time1 15

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Diet: Vegetarian

Servings: slices

Calories: 794kcal

Author: Ella Gilbert

Equipment

2 8-inch cake pans
Stand Mixer
Kitchen Scale
Measuring Spoons
Bowl
Rubber Spatula

Ingredients

Red Velvet Cake

½ cup Unsalted Butter room temperature
1 ½ cups Granulated Sugar
2 large Eggs room temperature
Red Food Color
3 tablespoons Cocoa Powder natural cocoa powder
1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon White Vinegar
2 ½ cups Cake Flour
1 cup Buttermilk
½ cup Neutral Oil
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

Mini Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Frosting

1 cup Unsalted Butter room temperature
5 ½ cups Confectioners' Sugar
1 ½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
¾ teaspoon Kosher Salt
6 oz Cream Cheese cold
⅓ cup Mini Chocolate Chips

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350℉/175℃ and grease and line two 8-inch cake pans with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda and cocoa powder. Set aside.
3 tablespoons Cocoa Powder, 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt, 1 teaspoon Baking Soda, 2 ½ cups Cake Flour
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a handheld mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
½ cup Unsalted Butter, 1 ½ cups Granulated Sugar
Add in the eggs, oil, vanilla extract and vinegar and beat on high speed for 1-2 minutes.
2 large Eggs, 1 teaspoon White Vinegar, ½ cup Neutral Oil, 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
Add the dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with the buttermilk. Make sure to start and end with the dry ingredients.
1 cup Buttermilk
Mix in your food coloring until you have your desired color.
Red Food Color
Pour the cake batter into your prepared pans. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of one of the cakes comes out clean.
In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or a large bowl with a handheld mixer, beat the butter and confectioners' sugar together on low speed until combined.
1 cup Unsalted Butter, 5 ½ cups Confectioners' Sugar
Increase the speed to high and beat until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes
Mix in the vanilla extract and salt.
1 ½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract, ¾ teaspoon Kosher Salt
Add the cold cream cheese and cocoa powder. Mix until combined. If the frosting is too thick, add a tablespoon of heavy cream at a time until you have your desired consistency.
6 oz Cream Cheese
Stir in mini chocolate chips and assemble your cake!
⅓ cup Mini Chocolate Chips

Notes

My recipes have been developed and tested in metric grams. I highly recommend using a weighing scale and measuring out your ingredients the metric way. I have provided a conversion to US cups but please note that I haven’t tested the recipe with this method. Just click on ‘US Customary’ above the ingredients to see the cup measurements.

I make sure that all of my ingredients are at room temperature before I start the recipe, so pull out all of the ingredients before you start baking.

Cake Flour: Cake flour is different to all-purpose flour or plain flour because it has a lower protein content, that's going to make your cake much softer. If you don't have cake flour on hand, use all-purpose flour. I have tested it with all-purpose flour and it does work, but it isn't as soft! Please note if you're in the UK, cake flour is not self-rising flour! Just use plain flour.

Butter: I use European-style butter in my recipes. This will make your frosting much creamier and richer.

Salt: If you don’t have kosher salt, halve the amount of salt called for in the recipe. 1 teaspoon kosher salt = ½ teaspoon fine salt.

Buttermilk: If you don’t have buttermilk, replace it with an equal amount of sour cream or full fat yogurt. You can also make your buttermilk, for every cup of buttermilk add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to 1 cup of milk and let sit for 5 minutes.

Cocoa Powder: make sure to use natural cocoa powder and not Dutch-processed cocoa powder. Not sure what type you have? Check the ingredients! If it mentions alkali or acidity regulators, it's Dutch-processed cocoa powder. Dutch-processed cocoa powder reacts differently to baking soda than natural cocoa powder.

Vegetable Oil: Use an unflavoured oil like canola oil if you don’t have vegetable oil.

Storage: Keep tightly wrapped in the fridge for up to 5 days. Let it come to room temperature before eating.

Making Ahead: You can make the cake layers ahead of time. Bake them and then once completely cooled, wrap in plastic wrap tightly. Store in the fridge for up to 2 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months. If frozen, allow to defrost and come to room temperature before frosting the cake.

Nutrition