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Home › Recipes › Recipe

Updated on June 8, 2020 by Liz Marek · This post may contain affiliate links · 7 Comments

Bright Red Cake (for Carving)

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Bright red cake recipe that can be modified for any color!

This bright red cake recipe is based on my yellow cake recipe with some added food color. You can replace the color with whatever color you would like and get the same results. If you want to make a blue cake though I would replace the egg yolks with egg whites so it doesn't turn out green. This recipe is great for making gender reveal cakes

Bright red cake recipe for lumberjack cake tutorial

I use this bright red cake recipe for my lumberjack tutorial. It's the perfect shade of red. I didn't use my red velvet cake recipe because the cocoa powder dulls down the bright color.

This recipe is perfect for making a rainbow cake if you like to bake from scratch like me. Paired with my easy buttercream, it's a match made in cake heaven!

rainbow-cake

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Cups of Batter Needed

8 cups

Cups of Frosting Needed

5 cups

Note: measurements are estimated based off the vanilla cake recipe using standard US cake pans and sizes. Measurements used are for 2" tall cake pans only. Your results may vary. Do not overfill cake pans above manufacturer's recommended guidelines.

Recipe

bright red cake

Bright red cake recipe (for sculpted cakes)

This is a great basic yellow cake recipe (vanilla cake using whole eggs instead of just the whites) and has a great texture for carving. I add in yellow, orange and red food coloring to get a nice bright red cake. This recipe is enough to make two 10" rounds
Print Recipe Rate Recipe
Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 10 cups
Calories: 732kcal
Author: Liz Marek

Ingredients

  • 12 oz unsalted butter room temperature
  • 19 oz granulated sugar
  • 6 large eggs room temperature
  • 19 oz AP flour
  • 4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 12 oz whole milk room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 2 oz vegetable oil
  • 2 teaspoon egg yellow food coloring
  • 1 tablespoon Super red food coloring
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

  • NOTE: It is SUPER IMPORTANT that all the room temperature ingredients listed above are room temperature and not cold so that the ingredients mix and incorporate correctly. 
  • Heat oven to 335º F/168º C.
  • Add butter to stand mixer and beat at medium-high speed until smooth and shiny, about 30 seconds. Gradually sprinkle in the sugar, beat until mixture is fluffy and almost white, about 3-5 minutes. 
  • Add eggs one at a time, fully combining each egg before adding the next. Add in your yellow and red food color and combine until color is evenly mixed through. 
  • Combine dry ingredients and whisk together. Set aside
  • Combine wet ingredients and set aside
  • With the mixer at the lowest speed, add about a third of the dry ingredients to the batter, followed immediately by about a third of the milk mixture, mix until ingredients are almost incorporated into the batter. Repeat the process 2 more times. When the batter appears blended, stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
  • Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Smooth the tops with a rubber spatula. Bake cakes until they feel firm in the center and a toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs on it, about 35-40 minutes.

Nutrition

Calories: 732kcal | Carbohydrates: 84g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 40g | Saturated Fat: 24g | Cholesterol: 188mg | Sodium: 665mg | Potassium: 378mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 58g | Vitamin A: 1065IU | Calcium: 207mg | Iron: 2.5mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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About Liz Marek

Liz Marek is a professional cake artist and recipe developer who has been teaching baking and cake decorating since 2008. She founded Artisan Cake Company in Portland, Oregon in 2009 and now runs Sugar Geek Show, where she publishes kitchen-tested recipes, food science explanations, and step-by-step tutorials.

Liz is best known for sculpted and hyperrealistic cakes. She won Netflix's Is It Cake? Holiday 2 in 2025 with a hyperrealistic Santa cake, and has competed on and won Food Network cake competitions. Cake Masters Magazine named her one of the top 10 cake artists in 2017. She is the author of Artisan Cake Company's Visual Guide to Cake Decorating and a graduate of the Oregon Culinary Institute.

Her focus is on explaining not just how a recipe works but why it works, so bakers can troubleshoot instead of guess. Every recipe on this site is tested before it's published.

Liz teaches full-length cake tutorials, including sculpted and hyperrealistic cakes, at Sugar Geek University.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Anastasia Andrew says

    May 28, 2020 at 1:24 am

    Is the amount of colour applies for smaller batch as well? or do i have to reduce it?

    Reply
    • Elizabeth Marek says

      May 31, 2020 at 1:29 pm

      If you reduced the size of the batter then you would also reduce the color

      Reply
  2. Tracey says

    January 15, 2020 at 6:43 am

    Did you use gel or liquid food coloring?

    Reply
    • The Sugar Geek Show says

      January 15, 2020 at 1:02 pm

      Americolor super red gel is my preferred

      Reply
  3. lina o says

    November 03, 2019 at 10:59 am

    I just want to make sure that the recipe is good for tiering cake

    Reply
    • The Sugar Geek Show says

      November 03, 2019 at 5:58 pm

      Yes it is

      Reply
  4. Emily says

    August 29, 2019 at 11:46 am

    5 stars
    Great recipe! Worked perfectly for a rainbow cake that I made!

    Reply
5 from 3 votes (2 ratings without comment)

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Hi, I'm Liz! I'm a cake artist and recipe developer, and I won Netflix's Is It Cake? Holiday 2 with a hyperrealistic Santa. I write foolproof recipes that explain why things work, not just how.

I also teach full-length cake tutorials, including sculpted cakes, at Sugar Geek University.

More about me →

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