Red Velvet Loaf Cake
what to expect:
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cooling Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 60 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
A dense red velvet loaf cake that feels like a cousin to the pound cake. Lightly flavored with cocoa powder and colored a vibrant red, it’s perfect topped with a whipped dairy topping and shared with friends.
*For helpful tips and how-to’s, be sure to read the whole post.
Red Velvet Loaf Cake is the first Book Club Bake to grace the blog and I couldn’t be more excited about it!
This red velvet loaf cake recipe was inspired by Red London in V.E. Schwab’s “A Darker Shade of Magic” (this is an affiliate link with Bookshop.org – if you decide to make a purchase from that link, I will make a commission), which makes it perfect for your book club. Because of that, I’ve definitely been calling it Red London Loaf Cake.
But don’t limit this cake to a book club! It can be made for any reason 🙂
It uses a simple method to combine the ingredients. If you’ve made a boxed cake mix, you can make this red velvet loaf cake! And if you don’t want to use the red food dye, this cake will still have a mauvy hue.
What You’ll Find in This Post
- What You’ll Need (Ingredients & Tools)
- Helpful Tip: Gently Combine Your Ingredients
- Helpful Tip: Getting the Perfect Bake
What You’ll Need to Make Red Velvet Loaf Cake
Ingredients for Red Velvet Loaf Cake
- All-Purpose Flour
- Cocoa Powder
- Baking Soda
- Kosher Salt
- Granulated Sugar
- Unsalted Butter
- Vanilla Extract
- Large Eggs
- Milk
- Distilled White Vinegar
- Red Food Coloring
Equipment Needed to Make Red Velvet Loaf Cake
All you need to make this recipe is two mixing bowls (one for dry ingredients and another for wet ingredients), a whisk, a spatula, and a bread pan.
Keeping things nice and simple!
Gently Combine Ingredients for a Delicate Crumb
When it comes to things like cakes and breads, the “crumb” refers to the holes and structure of the baked good once it’s been baked.
A delicate crumb is what we’re looking for when it comes to this red velvet loaf cake, gently mixing your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients will make that happen. If you mix the batter too much, you run the risk of your finished cake being tough and dense.
Perfecting the Bake to Avoid Dry Cake
No one likes dry cake – especially if it’s a chocolate cake. There is a sweet spot for when to take this cake out of the oven to avoid having a dry cake.
You can tell your cake is done by inserting a knife or chopstick into the very middle of your cake if you’re viewing it from the top – pushing it down far enough to reach the middle of the cake depth-wise. If the knife or chopstick comes out clean, the cake is done.
You want to perform this test for the first time after the cake has been in the oven for 55 minutes. Depending on how the knife comes out, you may need to redo your test every few minutes until it comes out clean.
Be careful not to leave your oven door open for too long when running this test – ovens can cool down very quickly when left open for too long.
If you make this red velvet loaf cake, let me know how it turns out by leaving a review! And if you post on Instagram, be sure to tag me @ficklebea. I can’t wait to see what you make – happy baking!
If you are new to baking or nervous about spending time in the kitchen, check out My Kitchen Commandments for some helpful tips!
PrintRed Velvet Loaf Cake
A dense red velvet loaf cake that feels like a cousin to the pound cake. Lightly flavored with cocoa powder and colored a vibrant red, it’s perfect topped with a whipped dairy topping and shared with friends.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cooling Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 60 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 10 slices 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
2 cups All-Purpose Flour
2 teaspoons Cocoa Powder
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/4 teaspoon Kosher Salt
1 cup Granulated Sugar
11 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter – melted
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
2 large eggs
1/2 cup Whole Milk *
2 teaspoons Distilled White Vinegar
1 Tablespoon Red Food Coloring (not the gel kind)
Whipped Topping (to serve)
Instructions
preheat your oven to 350 fahrenheit or 177 celsius and grease a bread pan
make the batter
- In a large mixing bowl, add the all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and kosher salt. Whisk until everything is combined – about 1 minute.
- In a separate large mixing bowl, add the granulated sugar, melted butter, vanilla extract, eggs, milk, distilled white vinegar, and red food coloring. Whisk everything together until you get a homogenous mixture and the food coloring is evenly distributed.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently fold everything together with a spatula until just combined and you have a smooth batter.
bake the loaf
- Pour the batter into the greased bread pan.
- Bake the loaf for 55-65 minutes or until a knife can be inserted into the middle of the loaf and comes out clean.
- Once baked, allow the loaf to cool until the bread pan can be handled with bare hands – about 20-30 minutes.
- When the pan is able to be touched, gently slide a knife between the loaf and edges of the pan so that it will release easily. Flip the pan over and gently tap the bottom of the pan until the loaf slides out.
Top individual slices with Cool Whip or a whipped topping and enjoy 🙂
Notes
* though the recipe calls for whole milk, you can use whatever milk you have available
To help with your grocery shopping, I’ve put together a list of where each ingredient is generally located in the store.
Dairy:
- Unsalted Butter
- Large Eggs
- Whole Milk (see note above)
Pantry:
- All-Purpose Flour
- Cocoa Powder
- Baking Soda
- Kosher Salt
- Granulated Sugar
- Vanilla Exract
- Distilled White Vinegar
- Red Food Coloring
Frozens:
- Whipped Topping (for serving)
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