This Eggless Red Velvet Cake is moist, rich, and amazingly tasty! Two lovely layers of tender vibrant sponge red cake with fluffy cream cheese frosting. The perfect showstopper dessert for any occasion.
Egg Free Red Velvet Cake Recipe Highlights
You are going to LOVE this egg-free red velvet cake. It is so moist and fluffy, even with the absence of eggs! This cake may look all elegant and fancy pants, but don’t let it fool you! It really couldn’t be easier to make!
For the beautiful bright red color, I use a gel paste food color. I know many people don’t like to use artificial food coloring, so you always have the option of using natural food coloring such as beets. I personally haven’t tested this recipe using natural food coloring.
How Do You Make a Cake Without Eggs?
The best way to substitute eggs in a cake recipe is to find the right combination of leavening agents, such as baking powder and/or baking soda, and acids, such as vinegar, lemon juice, buttermilk, yogurt, sour cream, etc. When leavaners and acids are combined, they react and produce gas (bubbles), making the cake fluffy.
Cakes without eggs can be a little tricky, but not impossible! This eggless red velvet cake is just as tasty as a regular one.
Ingredients You’ll Need & Notes
Amounts are included in the printable recipe below (scroll down). You’ll need:
- Flour: Standard all-purpose flour works best here, skip the cake flour, bread flour and wheat flour.
- Baking powder and baking soda: Make sure they’re not expired.
- Cocoa: – I like to use unsweetened natural cocoa powder instead of Dutch processed, because it’s more acidic and reacts with baking soda, allowing your baked goods to rise.
- Salt: I prefer kosher or sea salt. If you only have table salt handy, I recommend reducing the amount to half.
- Butter: I prefer to use unsalted butter, but if you only have salted butter handy, you can use it. In this case, skip the salt called in the recipe.
- Sugar: Regular white granulated sugar, also known as caster sugar.
- Sour cream: You can substitute sour cream for plain regular yogurt. I recommend using the full-fat versions. Learn How to Make Sour Cream at Home.
- Pure vanilla extract: For optimal flavor, reach for pure vanilla instead of imitation. Even better, try homemade vanilla extract!
- Buttermilk: A must for red velvet cake and to keep the cake moist without the use of eggs! You can make your own buttermilk if you don’t have any on hand.
- White vinegar: You can also use apple cider vinegar.
- Red food color: The amount of food coloring will depend on the concentration of the food coloring you are using. I recommend using gel or paste food colors since they are highly concentrated, and you’ll end up using less.
- Cream Cheese Frosting
How To Make Eggless Red Velvet Cake
Detailed instructions are included in the printable recipe below (scroll down).
1 — Prepare the Equipment
Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line and grease two 8 or 9-inch (20 or 22-cm) round cake pans.
2 – Combine Dry Ingredients
Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, and salt into a large bowl; whisk to combine.
3 — Cream the Butter
In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and sugar until smooth on medium speed. Once smooth add sour cream, vanilla extract, and vinegar; mix till well combined.
4 — Combine the Ingredients
Turn the mixer to low and add the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat in your desired amount of food coloring just until combined.
5 — Bake the Eggless Red Velvet Cake
Divide batter between cake pans. Bake for 25 – 30 minutes on the same shelf or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let it rest for 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a cooling rack and allow to cool.
6 — Assemble the Cake
To assemble the cake, place 1 cake layer flat side down on a serving platter or cake stand. Spread evenly about 1 cup of frosting onto the cake, using a flat spatula. Place the second cake layer flat side down on top of the first layer. Use remaining frosting to cover the top and sides of the cake, if desired.
Cream Cheese Frosting
The cream cheese frosting has a tangy yet sweet flavor that isn’t overpowering. The perfect complement to this red velvet cake. To make the frosting follow the steps in this recipe.
QUICK RECIPE TIPS
Measure the ingredients correctly. I highly recommend using a kitchen scale to avoid using too much flour.
Make sure to cream the butter and sugar together for 4 – 5 minutes, until creamy and pale. To achieve this, the butter has to be at the right consistency; ideally, the butter will easily bend without breaking and will give slightly when pressed. If it looks or feels oily is too soft. It should also not look like wet sand. That means it’s not finished creaming yet.
Don’t overmix the batter. Mix just until you’ve evenly distributed the ingredients throughout the batter.
Bake the cake(s) as soon as the batter is ready since you don’t want the baking soda to lose its effectiveness.
The amount of color you need to add depends on the brand of food coloring you are using, add till your batter turns a nice red in color. I used around 1/2 tablespoon. This is the one I always use.
Every oven is different, so baking times always have to be taken with a grain of salt. Oven thermostats can be wildly off, and that will all affect baking time, so keep an eye on yours. The cake(s) are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can. I recommend mixing 1/4 teaspoon red beet powder with 1 teaspoon cold water to substitute 1 teaspoon of food coloring.
Yes, see my Favorite Cream Cheese Frosting That Isn’t Runny!
After decorating anything with buttercream or cream cheese frosting, it’s fine for 1 day at room temperature. After that, it’s best to refrigerate it.
For cupcakes, I reccomend my Easy Eggless Red Velvet Cupcakes recipe.
Adapt This Recipe to Other Food Allergies
This recipe is egg-free, but you can certainly adapt it to other food allergies.
Gluten-Free
Substitute all-purpose flour for 1-to-1 Gluten-Free flour mix. My favorite brands are Cup4Cup and King Arthur.
Dairy-Free
Use your favorite plant-based, dairy-free, or vegan milk. Make sure to use an unflavored, unsweetened variety of non-dairy milk. Soy and oat milk have the best consistency and very neutral flavors. Also, use your favorite plant-based, dairy-free, or vegan yogurt.
Storing & Freezing Instructions
This egg-free red velvet cake is always a hit, so what are the odds of leftover cake? However, if you do have leftovers or you’re planning on making this egg-free red velvet cake ahead of time for a party, here’s how to do so.
Leftovers
This eggless red velvet cake will stay fresh in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. However, it’s best not to leave it at room temperature for long periods of time due to the cream cheese frosting.
Freezer
You can freeze this eggless red velvet cake with and without frosting. To freeze, wrap the cake or slices tightly in plastic wrap and place it in a plastic double zipper quart freezer bag. Freeze the cakes for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature before frosting if there isn’t any and serving.
More Eggless Red Velvet Desserts You’ll Love!
- Eggless Red Velvet Bundt Cake
- Easy Eggless Red Velvet Donuts
- Eggless Red Velvet Whoopie Pies
- Eggless Red Velvet Cheesecake
- Eggless Red Velvet Cookies
- Easy Eggless Red Velvet Cupcakes
- Eggless Red Velvet Sheet Cake (The Simply Eggless Cookbook)
- Eggless BIG FAT NYC Style Red Velvet Cookies (The Simply Eggless Cookbook)
Eggless Red Velvet Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups (350 g) all-purpose flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 tablespoons (16 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup (230 g) unsalted butter, softened (2 sticks)
- 1 ¼ cup (250 g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (120 g) sour cream
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon white or apple cider vinegar
- 1 1/2 cup (360 ml) buttermilk
- 1 tablespoon red food color (see notes)
To Assemble & Decorate:
Important
You can find step-by-step photos above in the post and/or right here on the recipe card. They’ll walk you through the process and make everything super clear! Just click the camera icon button below on the right to show or hide them. Turn them off before printing if you prefer a cleaner copy!
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line two 8 or 9-inch (20 or 22-cm) round cake pans with parchment paper. Butter and dust with cocoa powder. You can also lightly grease with baking spray with flour, if you prefer.
- Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, and salt together into a large bowl; whisk to combine.
- Using an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar until creamy and pale on medium-high speed, about 4 minutes, scraping down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Once smooth, add sour cream, vanilla extract, and vinegar; mix till well combined.
- Turn the mixer to low and add the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat in your desired amount of food coloring; mix just until combined.
- Divide batter between cake pans. Bake for 25 – 30 minutes on the same shelf, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Let it rest for 10 minutes in the pan then turn out onto a cooling rack and allow to cool.
Make the Frosting:
- To make the frosting follow the steps in this recipe.
Assemble the Cake:
- Level the tops of the cakes with a cake cutter or a long, serrated knife as needed.
- Line the edges of a cake platter with four strips of parchment paper to keep the platter clean. This is optional.
- Place the first cake layer on the platter. Spread 1 cup of frosting evenly over the top. Top with the second cake layer, press lightly to adhere, then spread 1 1/2 cups buttercream evenly over the top and sides of the cake. You can smooth the cake’s top and sides with the edge of an offset spatula to smooth out any bumps.
- Measure the ingredients correctly. I highly recommend using a kitchen scale.
- Make sure to cream the butter and sugar together for 4 – 5 minutes until creamy and pale. To achieve this, the butter has to be at the right consistency; ideally, the butter will easily bend without breaking and will give slightly when pressed. If it looks or feels oily is too soft. It should also not look like wet sand. That means it’s not finished creaming yet.
- Don’t overmix the batter. Mix just until you’ve evenly distributed the ingredients throughout the batter.
- Bake the cake(s) as soon as the batter is ready since you don’t want the baking soda to lose its effectiveness.
- Every oven is different, so baking times always have to be taken with a grain of salt. Oven thermostats can be wildly off, and that will all affect baking time, so keep an eye on yours. The cake(s) are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
I appreciate your feedback, and it helps others, too!
Nutrition
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Recipe originally posted in January 2018, post content edited to add more helpful information, no change to the recipe in May 2021.
4 stars for taste but minus a star because it sank in the middle once I pulled it out of the oven. I am thinking I will turn it into cake balls, think that will work? But the cake itself is really good and not overly sweet so once I frost or add frosting to cake pops it will be delicious!
Hello Erika! Thank you so much for your feedback and for giving the recipe a try! 🌟 I’m sorry to hear the cake sank in the middle. The fact that you enjoyed the flavor and sweetness level makes me so happy. Cakes can sometimes sink due to underbaking or overmixing the batter, which can affect the structure. If you try the cake pops, I’d love to hear how they turn out. Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions. x
Hello Oriana – firstly would like to thank you very much for your recipe. I tried this and the process was good – my butter and sugar creamed nicely, adding the buttermilk and flour incorporated well, adding the gel food colouring at the end made me think I haven’t incorporated the colouring gel because I was worried of overmixing the batter would this matter? What does the cocoa do in this recipe? The recipe was for a 8 inch cake tin but my tins were 7 inch – would this have an impact on structure and density of the cake? The skewer came out nice and clean so it was cooked nicely. I left the cake to cool in the tin for 10 min but as I turned it out of the tin it was still very warm and steaming. I will try this recipe again, but with an 8 inch cake tin (bought 2 today) and perhaps leave the cake in the tin to cool completely. Thank you once again Oriana 🙂
Hello Deepa! Thank you so much for trying the recipe and for sharing your experience—I’m so glad you enjoyed the process and that the cake turned out nicely!
Regarding your questions:
• Food Coloring: If you’re worried about overmixing, don’t stress too much! As long as the gel food coloring is roughly incorporated, it shouldn’t impact the taste or texture. Next time, you could mix it into the buttermilk before adding it to the batter for even distribution.
• Cocoa Powder: The cocoa adds a subtle depth of flavor and contributes to the classic color of the cake—it’s a key ingredient for that traditional red velvet taste.
• Cake Tins: Using a 7-inch tin instead of an 8-inch will result in a thicker batter layer, which might affect baking time and potentially the texture slightly, but it sounds like you nailed it since your skewer came out clean!
• Cooling the Cake: Yes, letting the cake cool in the pan longer can help avoid any structural issues when turning it out. Waiting until it’s warm (not hot) is a great idea.
It sounds like you’re on the right track, and I’m sure your next bake will be even better with the new pans. Happy baking, and wishing you a wonderful holiday season! 😊
Feedback- Not sure if you noticed, when the serving size changes ingredients in metric does not.
Thanks for the recipe i would be trying this soon!!
Hello Suresh! Thanks for your interest in my recipe. Please come back and let me know how you like it =)
Hi can i make this using whole wheat flour plz suggest
Hello Nancy! I wouldn’t recommend using whole wheat for this recipe since the texture will be too dense. Thanks for your interest in my recipe.