Easy Red Velvet Sheet Cake is a party-sized crowd pleaser. Moist and tender old fashioned red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, all made from scratch.
This no-fuss sheet cake recipe is just as moist and delicious as Red Velvet Layer Cake, without the extra work. Whether for a birthday cake or a weekend dessert, these Cake Recipes are just what you need.
RED VELVET SHEET CAKE
An old fashioned Red Velvet Cake brings joy to any dessert table. The cheery, bright red color makes it the perfect cake for holidays like Christmas and Valentines’ Day. Even with your eyes closed, one bite of the melt-in-your-mouth tangy, moist cake will have you smiling from ear to ear.
This Red Velvet Sheet Cake is incredibly moist and fluffy, with just a hint of cocoa flavor and the perfect amount of cream cheese frosting to cake ratio. The best part is whether you have a baking addiction or you just dabble, you probably have everything you need on hand to make this easy cake.
Like Chocolate Texas Sheet Cake, this Red Velvet Cake is great for potlucks, summer cookouts, or parties. Simply frost with Cream Cheese Frosting, or add sprinkles or heart-shaped candies to make it extra special. For more chocolate flavor, top with mini chocolate chips or a Chocolate Ganache drizzle. Classic Buttercream Frosting would also taste great on this cake!
Tips for Red Velvet Sheet Cake
- Part of the red color comes from the combination of acidic buttermilk and sour cream plus the cocoa powder. You don’t want to swap just plain milk or your cake will be duller and darker.
- If you don’t have buttermilk, use ½ cup whole milk plus ½ tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice. Allow to sit 5-10 minutes before adding to the cake batter.
- This Red Velvet Sheet Cake is baked in a 9×13 pan, but you can also use a regular sheet pan or jelly roll pan. Reduce the cooking time to 15-20 minutes, checking at 15 minutes to ensure it doesn’t overcook.
- This recipe uses gel food coloring because you need less of it than liquid food coloring. If you use liquid food coloring, use a full bottle.
- If you don’t want to use red food coloring, check out the beet puree substitute below for an all natural Red Velvet Sheet Cake. While it won’t be as vibrant, it will still be a beautiful red color.
MORE SHEET CAKE RECIPES:
Chocolate Texas Sheet Cake
Carrot Sheet Cake
S’mores Sheet Cake
Lemon Sheet Cake
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VARIATIONS ON RED VELVET SHEET CAKE
- Coffee: Just a like a chocolate cake, you can add a tablespoon of espresso powder or instant coffee to bring out the chocolate flavor.
- Nuts: Fold in a ½ cup of chopped pecans or walnuts to the cake batter or use the nuts as a garnish to the frosting.
- Chocolate Chips: Add a ½ cup of semisweet chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, or white chocolate chips to your cake batter. You can also sprinkle the mini chocolate chips over the frosting.
- Vanilla: Make a Red Velvet Vanilla Sheet Cake by simply leaving the cocoa powder out of the dry ingredients and increasing the flour to 2 ¾ cups.
- Cake Mix: Substitute all the dry ingredients with 1 box red velvet mix and 1 box white chocolate instant pudding. Use the same amount of eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Replace the butter with ⅓ cup vegetable oil and use ½ cup sour cream.
Red Velvet Cake with Beets (no food coloring)
- Scrub 10 ounces red beets really well.
- Wrap beets in parchment paper and microwave 8-10 minutes, until tender.
- Cool beets before peeling and chopping.
- Add beets and 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice to a food processor and process until smooth.
- Prepare cake batter as usual, using only ¼ cup sour cream.
- Gently fold in 1 cup beet puree after the flour mixture is added.
- Bake cake according to recipe card.
EASY, CLASSIC CAKES FOR ANY OCCASION
Easy Chocolate Cake
Classic Yellow Cake
Classic Carrot Cake
Red Velvet Cake
HOW TO STORE RED VELVET SHEET CAKE
- Serve: If frosted, your Red Velvet Sheet Cake will need to be refrigerated after no more than 2 hours room temperature. Unfrosted, the sheet cake can be at room temperature for up to 3 days.
- Store: Cover cake pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate Red Velvet Sheet Cake for up to 1 week. Bring to room temperature to serve for best taste.
- Freeze: Freeze a frosted or unfrosted Red Velvet Sheet Cake for up to 3 months. Cover pan tightly with plastic wrap and aluminum foil to store. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before bringing to room temperature to serve.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups cake flour
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 ounce red food color
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups Cream Cheese Frosting , recipe
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9x13 baking pan with baking spray.
- Sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking soda into a large bowl and add the baking soda to it.
- In a stand mixer whisk together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add in the eggs one at a time.
- Whisk in the sour cream, milk, red food coloring and vanilla then add in the flour until just combined with no dry streaks.
- Pour into baking pan, spread evenly and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean
- Let cool completely before frosting.
Nutrition
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can you use a glass pan
Sure!
Making this for a graduation cake. Deciding if I want to make from scratch or go with your box cake version. If I go that route, what size of the white chocolate pudding mix would I use? Small box or big box? Thank you for sharing!
Not sure what the yield for a small or big box would be. This recipe feeds 24 people.
Hi, I am excited to make this cake, but would like to split this cake into 2 8 x 8 pans. One for now one for later. Do you think I will need to
change the baking time? Thanks!
No, same baking time!
Used this recipe, doubled, to make a graduation cake this week. The cake tasted SO GOOD, thank you! I also noticed one error in your instructions; did you mean to say “…add the salt to it” on the second part?: the original says “Sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking soda into a large bowl and add the baking soda to it.”
this is my favorite cake had for my birthdays going up and had cook frosting on it not cream cheese. I like trying different recipe to see how each is and how well it goes for events
I was thinking about piping the frosting on using some decorating tips. Any suggestions for getting the cream cheese frosting to hold its shape?
Hi Amanda! You can try adding some cornstarch to it to help it stiffen up.
I made this cake twice in a couple of weeks. The best Red Velvet cake I’ve ever made.
Nothing but great remarks from others. So very moist and easy to make. Thanks for sharing. This one is a keeper!!
P.S. . Can I use this recipe for 9’ inch layers?
I’ve made this recipe 3 times. Nothing but great results and compliments. Can I use this to make 9 inch cakes?
This recipe is a keeper.
Thanks for sharing
Yes you can. There are many charts online to help with cake pan conversions.
A 9 inch round cake pan holds approx 8 cups of batter.
This recipe is for a 2 inch half sheet pan (some are 12×18 and others 13×18) and hold approx. 14 cups of batter.
Hover over Yield in the recipe card and slide the bar to increase the recipe to the desired size!
So glad you enjoy the recipe! We do too.
Very good and moist
Hi, I’m wondering, do you think this recipe is firm enough for carving? I want to make a shaped cake with this recipe.
Yes! Just be slow and careful!
This recipe turned out great! I went with 1/2 the amount of food coloring called for and still ended up with a nice vibrant red cake. I made it in a 10”x15” sheet pan and cut out circles from it with a cookie cutter, then stacked them with cream cheese frosting to make baby cakes for the bakery I work at. Will definitely hold onto this recipe!
Hi Sabrina,
This is the BEST recipe for Red Velvet that I’ve ever made. My family loved it. My ‘soon-to-be 7-year-old’ grandson wants this cake for his birthday next week.
Thanks so much!
Jude
Yay!! Thanks so much for taking the time to come back and let me know, Jude.
I am going make this for a women’s shelter this weekend and won’t be able to do a test run ahead of time. I know you reference being able to use a sheet pan but will it work in a 12×17 without being too thin?
I am so sorry, I am just seeing this tonight. I hope it turned out well for you. Yes, it should’ve worked, cooked for 18-20 minutes.
Hi there. Can you triple this recipe for a larger crowd? Thanks so much. Joanne
Sure 🙂
Interesting recipe. My red velvet cake, I add vinegar with my eggs food coloring, vanilla, and oil. I noticed you didn’t have canola oil nor vinegar to yours. Could you explain that?
Hi Sheila, I’m so sorry this comment was lost and I just came across it. I find the buttermilk gives me the tangy flavor I need for the cake.
How do you cover sheet cake without frosting sticking and coming off when you uncover
I recommend placing toothpicks throughout so nothing covering the cake is able to get to the frosting. Helps create a barrier. Hope this helps!
I LOVED this simple red velvet sheet cake recipe! It was so simple and the cake was amazing.
I’m glad you enjoyed it enough to give it a 5 star rating, Valentina. Thanks!
This cake is perfection! Absolutely love it.
Yay!! Thanks for coming back to let me know.
Yummy, so moist and flavorful and super easy to make! 🙂
Glad it was a hit, Matt. Thanks for the 5 stars.