I have a wedding cake to do for next weekend and my bride wants Red Velvet Cake with buttercream icing. Is there a pound cake recipe for red velvet or how do I make a RV dense enough to stack 12's, 10''s and 8's? Help!!! I've read so many recipes my eyes are crossed LOL I need something that has a great track record. Thanks bunches.

If you are not dedicated to a scratch recipe, here is a doctored cake mix recipe that I have used in tiered cakes and carved cakes and cakes made in the Wilton 3D Skull pan. (Note: I am a hobby baker. I do not sell cakes.)

I recently did an anonymous taste test with 12 members of my Cake Club. Each of these members has many years of experience in the cake decorating community or bakery business. Each of them has tasted or made LOT of cakes!

I asked them to rate 4 of my most popular cakes (along with 5 buttercreams and 9 fillings/ganaches) from 1 to 5 stars. The instructions were as follows:
Please circle 1 to 5 stars for each tasting.
1 star = poor
3 stars = appropriate to sell to custom cake clients
5 stars = Best you've ever tasted

The results for this exact Red Velvet recipe were:
1 person gave it 1 star
2 people gave it 2 stars
5 people gave it 3 stars
1 person gave it 4 stars
2 people gave it 5 stars

So....3 people said it was not appropriate to be sold as a "custom cake" recipe. And....8 people said it was "appropriate to sell to custom cake clients" or BETTER. (1 person didn't like Red Velvet and didn't taste it.)


Courtesy of BlakesCakes from CakeCentral.comDOCTORED RED VELVET CAKE:

1 Duncan Hines Red Velvet Cake Mix (18.25 oz)
1 box white chocolate (hard to find) or chocolate instant pudding mix
4 eggs
1/2 c. sour cream
1/2 c. buttermilk
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract

BlakesCakes: Hand mix all ingredients until incorporated and then mix on medium with a hand mixer for 1:30 to 2:00 minutes. Bake at 325 until a toothpick comes out clean. The cake is tasty and sturdy. I often ice with a 50/50 mixture of homemade buttercream and canned cream cheese icing so that the cake can stay at room temp for long periods.
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I strongly suggest that you make a recipe up immediately, then taste it/carve it and see what you think.

Thank you so much for responding. I will bake that recipe today. I am looking at a recipe for a cream cheese butter cream icing that is white and will crust. This was my first time to post so I was really excited to get a response. Thank you!!!!!

Welcome to the forum! I was in your shoes a couple of years ago when I put my first post on CakeCentral. So many lovely people have shared tips, techniques, and recipes with me over the past 2-1/2 years. This is just a tiny bit of trying to pay back all that kindness and knowledge.

What is your skill level? It's hard to tell without any photos for reference. Have you done a stacked wedding cake before?

Since most of my red velvet cakes end up in situations where they may not be refrigerated, I've used the icing combination mentioned above: 50/50 mixture of homemade buttercream and canned cream cheese icing. This combination is ok to leave out of the refrigerator for hours (even days).

I have done many many wedding cakes but stopped doing them for a while, several years. The last one I did (white box cake) my mom baked the layers for me. I made my icing like I always have, not knowing that Crisco changed their recipe and it turned out more like fondant. Thick, heavy, etc. and my cake broke all to pieces.

Now I'm a little gun shy. I feel sure the icing weight was mostly the problem, however, I'm not sure and am horrified of that happening again. I have never had to do a red velvet for a wedding so that made me even more nervous. I used to do all this stuff with my eyes closed (lol), but now I'm freaking out.

Does the icing 50/50 buttercream and canned cream cheese crust? I have to transport about an hour and the weather here in Alabama is expected to be hot and damp, so I'm nervous about melting and sliding. Most cream cheese icing I have made before slides.

Man, I used to throw wedding cakes in my van and never think a thing about it and now you would think I had never done this before. I guess I am just looking for reassurance more than anything else.

Thanks for replying and for any words of wisdom

If you already have a red velvet recipe that you like, use it. You don't need to make it any denser. Cake doesn't support cake when stacking, the support system (boards and dowels or straws, SPS, whichever you prefer) is what holds up the cake in stacking. Theoretically, you could stack an angel food cake since it is not the cake that supports the upper tiers.

You are obviously building your first 3 tier cake.

Read EVERYTHING on the Wilton website on making tiered cakes as there are pics attached www.wilton.com. Even if you don't buy the brand, read the info...as you so clearly don't know anything about what you need to do next weekend.

Then get onto google and do a search for "building tiered cake" to get more info...as you might need a tutorial instead of still pictures.

Thanks Apti for the encouraging words. I DO know tiered cakes have a support system, just got a little shaky from the last catastrophe. I am headed to kitchen right now and will report back.

Thanks

Cool! Can't wait for your next report!

Trying this one right now. Can't wait!