The Best Red Velvet Cake (Red Velvet Cookie Cake)
Tender and moist red velvet cake layers, with a silky smooth and slightly tangy chocolate cream cheese frosting and chocolate chip cookies.
The Perfect Valentine’s Day Cake
With Valentine’s Day around the corner, you know I’ve got your back with the best cake recipes! For me, that list, of course, includes red velvet cake! It’s one of my favorite cake flavors, but I usually only bring it out around this time.
Have you tried my Red Velvet Cake? It’s the perfect Valentine’s Day dessert. Before we get into this new recipe, make sure to take a look at some of my other favorite Valentine’s Day Cakes:
- Red Velvet Bundt Cake
- Flourless Chocolate Cake
- Red Velvet Cake with Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting
- Pink Velvet Cake
- Raspberry Chocolate Truffle Cake
- Strawberry Chocolate Truffle Cake
Now that I’ve hopefully got your mouth watering, let’s talk about my new Red Velvet Cookie Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting.
Red Velvet Cookie Cake
My new red velvet based cake is paired with a chocolate chip cookie layer and chocolate cream cheese frosting.
What is Red Velvet Cake?
Red velvet cake is made with just a little bit of cocoa powder, vinegar, baking soda and buttermilk. The chemical reaction between these ingredients create an incredibly moist cake, as well as the deep maroon color that is often enhanced by extra food coloring, or in this case, red velvet emulsion.
Ingredients You’ll Need for the Cake
- Unsalted butter
- Granulated sugar
- Brown sugar
- Eggs
- Red Velvet Emulsion
- All-purpose flour
- Salt
- Sour cream
- Buttermilk
- Vinegar
- Baking soda
What is Red Velvet Emulsion?
Red velvet emulsion is an artificial flavoring that enhances the flavor of this cake. I highly recommend you get THIS brand. It will take the flavor and color of this cake to the next level.
You can also find it at Michael’s craft stores.
What if I can’t get the emulsion?
If you can’t get the emulsion, I recommend adding 1 tablespoon of vanilla extra, an extra tablespoon of cocoa, and 1 to 2 teaspoons red food coloring.
Ingredients You’ll Need for the Cookie
- Unsalted butter
- Granulated sugar
- Brown sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Mini chocolate chips
NOTE: for the cookie layer, it’s super important that you slightly undercook it. We want to be able to cut through the cookie easily when we slice the cake.
Ingredients You’ll Need for the Frosting
- Cream cheese
- Unsalted butter
- Dark chocolate chips
- Heavy whipping cream
- Powdered sugar
- Vanilla
- Salt
How to Make Red Velvet Cake
- To make the red velvet cake layers, you’ll start by beating together the butter and sugars. Beat these three ingredients together for a couple minutes to create a smooth and slightly fluffy texture.
- Once the mixture reaches a fluffy consistency, you’ll add the emulsion and eggs. Make sure to mix on medium-high speed for another couple minutes. We want the volume of the batter to nearly double.
- At this point, turn your mixer to low and alternately add the flour, cocoa powder, and salt with the buttermilk.
- Fold in the sour cream, and then combine the vinegar and baking soda in a small bowl before adding the mixture to the cake.
- You’ll bake this batter in two 8-inch cake pans at 325 degrees F for about 30 to 35 minutes.
How to Make the Best Buttercream Frosting
For this silky, smooth and incredibly delicious buttercream frosting, you’ll want to make sure you follow the steps written in THIS blog post. I’d even bookmark that page to come back to as you’re mastering the art of buttercream.
We’ve been eating this cake nonstop since I made it. It’s been a huge hit and I hope it is in your family too!
Enjoy!
Red Velvet Cookie Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
FOR THE CAKE
- 1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup (165 g) light brown sugar, packed
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp red velvet emulsion (I use LorAnn Oils Emulsions)
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 1/4 cups (270 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp (14.75 g) cocoa powder
- 1 tsp (6 g) salt
- 1 1/2 cups (360 g) buttermilk, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup (60 g) sour cream, at room temperature
- 1 tbsp (14.37 g) vinegar
- 1 1/4 tsp (5 g) baking soda
FOR THE COOKIE
- 1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter, slightly cold.
- 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (110 g) brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 tsp (2.1 g) pure vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 1 3/4 cups (210 g) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp (2 g) baking powder
- 1/2 tsp (2 g) baking soda
- 1/2 tsp (3 g) salt
- 1 cup (85 g) mini chocolate chips
FOR THE BUTTERCREAM
- 1/4 cup (60 g) heavy whipping cream
- 8 oz (150 g) good quality dark or semi sweet chocolate, chopped, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 1/2 cups (339 g) unsalted butter, slightly cold
- 5 cups (625 g) powdered sugar, measured and then sifted
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 1 teaspoon (4.2 g) pure vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
- *This buttercream recipe makes enough to cover your cake. If you want to add additional piping you’ll want to make an extra ½ batch.
Instructions
FOR THE CAKE
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Spray the bottom and sides of two 8-inch pans with nonstick spray, line the bottom with parchment paper, and spray again with the nonstick spray. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and red velvet flavor. Beat the ingredients on medium-high speed for about 5 minutes, until the mixture is light in color and slightly increased in volume.
- Lower the speed and add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until each egg is incorporated before adding the next. Continue to beat on medium-high until smooth and nearly double in volume.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and cocoa powder. Sprinkle the salt on top of the dry ingredients and whisk until combined.
- With the stand mixer on low speed, alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk into the butter mixture, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Mix until just incorporated. Fold in the sour cream.
- In a small bowl, combine the vinegar and baking soda until it fizzes and then add to the batter. Stir gently until blended.
- Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans (about 20 to 22 oz. of batter in each).
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out with a few moist crumbs on it.
- Let pans cool on wire rack for about 10-15 minutes before inverting the cakes onto racks. Let cool completely.
- Level cakes if needed. Chill the cakes for at least an hour before using. Can be stored the freezer for up to one month wrapped well in plastic wrap and foil.
FOR THE COOKIE
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray one 8-inch round cake pan with nonstick spray, line the bottom with parchment paper and spray again. Set aside. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, as well. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars together until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the vanilla and eggs and beat until combined.
- With the mixer on low speed, stir in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Using a cookie scoop (about 2 teaspoons in size), scoop 12 cookies onto the baking sheet.
- Put the remaining dough into the 8-inch cake pan and press firmly into place to create one large cookie.
- Place the baking sheet and the cake pan into the oven. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes and the large cookie for 12 minutes. We want the large cookie to be slightly underdone so it cuts easily.
FOR THE BUTTERCREAM
- Combine the heavy cream and the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Heat the mixture for a minute and stir to melt the chocolate chips to create a ganache. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and cream cheese for about 2 minutes on medium-high speed.
- Gradually add the chocolate ganache, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as you go. Stir the mixture until smooth and silky.
- With the mixer on low, gradually add the powdered sugar, followed by the vanilla and salt. Turn the mixer to medium-high speed and beat the frosting for about 5 minutes.
- Before frosting the cake, use a wooden spoon to mix the frosting by hand to push out air bubbles and create a smooth and silky texture.
ASSEMBLY
- Spread a small dollop of frosting on your cake board or cake plate. Place your first cake layer top-side up. Evenly spread about a cup of buttercream over the cake layer.
- Place the cookie layer on top of the buttercream and cover with another cup of buttercream, followed by the second cake layer (top-side down) Crumb coat the cake with a thin layer of chocolate frosting. Freeze the cake for about 10-15 minutes to set the crumb coat.
- Continue to frost and decorate the cake with the remaining chocolate frosting and cookies
Is it normal for this cake to not rise a lot after baking? I made it and haven’t tried it yet, but it looks more dense than any other cake I’ve made.
Red velvet is a little more dense yes!
This was by far in our top 1/2 cake recipes I’ve ever had in my life. It’s even better the next day after!! Oh my gosh! Trust me you must bake this cake. You’re welcome in advance.
AMAZING!! I made this for my little girl’s birthday last week! I want to make this cake weekly! Thank you Courtney!!
Thank you so much!!
Why is this cake recipe only make 2 -8″ round red velvet cakes when it’s the same recipe as your Red velvet cake with chocolate sour cream frosting and that one makes 3- 8″ cakes?
They are thicker layers and you have the cookie layer.
Planning to make this cake for my son’s birthday next Saturday. Can I freeze the cookie cake as well? What do you recommend? Thanks in advance!
Yes you can!
Not bad for a first timer…Not sure how to post a picture, but will Ellen I figure it out!😊
Send it to [email protected]. I’d love to see it!
I know you say we’ll need extra buttercream for decoration, but does this current amount include the piping to hold up the cookies? Or will we need extra for that?
You’ll want about 1/4 of a recipe extra.
I love the idea of this cake, but the frosting was so gloopy. I followed the recipe and I am not new to baking so I am not sure why it is so runny. Even chilling it, it won’t set. Any idea of why this happened?
It can get a little soft with the melted chocolate, especially if it was a little warm when you added it. I would try refrigerating it a bit longer to help set the butter.
Could you substitute the chocolate for white chocolate in the cream cheese frosting 1:1? I know white chocolate can be less stable than regular chocolate, so just concerned that substituting will make the frosting sloppy.
I would just do a regular white chocolate frosting recipe like this one https://cakebycourtney.com/biscoff-cake/
Hi there! Is it possible to use dairy free ingredients as well as plant based milks with this recipe? Thanks!
It should work ok, but I haven’t tested it so I don’t have a recommendation on which things to use exactly. I did write a post for a dairy free, egg free vanilla cake that suggests some products I like for dairy free for that cake that you could try in this one.
Hey! Would love to make this. Can I substitute the flour for GF flour in the cake? I know how to adapt the cookie
Thanks!!
Hello! I am making this cake for Valentine’s Day this week! I have made my cookie layer and frosting, both great!!
However as my cakes were baking in the oven, the batter spilled out of the sides of the tins! It was so messy and sad. I am totally confused as to why this may have happened. I have checked the recipe over and over and have no idea what went wrong. Any ideas? Thank you!
What size were your pans?
So good!! If I’m making a 10 inch, 3 layer cake, would you recommend just doubling the recipe?
Yup!