High Altitude Red Velvet Bundt Cake
This red velvet bundt cake is soft, moist and easy to make, with a subtle cocoa flavor, frosted with tangy and sweet vanilla bean cream cheese buttercream.
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
Ingredients
Cake
- 3 cups cake flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
- ¼ cup unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa powder (Rodelle)
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 ⅔ cups whole buttermilk, room temperature
- 1 tbsp white distilled vinegar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp "super red" gel food coloring
Buttercream
- 4 oz (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 4 oz (1/2 block) cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- ¼ cup vegetable shortening
- 3 - 3 ¼ cups powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp meringue powder, optional
- ⅛ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 325 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Thoroughly grease a standard 12-cup bundt pan with non-stick baking spray.
- In a bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla and super red gel food coloring.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and whisk briefly, just until combined and smooth; don’t over-mix.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for about 55-60 minutes, until a cake tester or sharp knife inserted comes out clean.
- Set the pan on a wire cooling rack, and cool for exactly 15 minutes. Invert the pan onto the cooling rack, remove the pan, and cover the cake loosely with a clean kitchen towel to cool completely before frosting.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the butter, cream cheese and shortening for several minutes until smooth.
- Add the powdered sugar and meringue powder by spoonfuls, mixing on low to combine. Add the salt and vanilla, and whip on medium speed for 3-4 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally, until very light and fluffy. If the frosting is too stiff, add a small amount of milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, but be careful not to thin the frosting too much, as cream cheese buttercream is softer than all-butter buttercream.
- Place the cooled cake on a serving plate or cake stand, and frost with the buttercream.
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