I first made a red velvet cake for my friend’s daughter who was turning 13. I thought it would be a suitably impressive cake to celebrate this milestone birthday and becoming a teenager. It’s bright, rich and sweet, and for me resembled everything great about this young girl.

Red velvet cakes have an exquisite texture, they are smooth and, well, velvety! Traditionally red velvet cakes are layered, but a single cake tin version is just as good and really simple to make. Of course, this classic chocolate cake is best paired with cream cheese icing. To me this in non-negotiable!  I like to lather a thick layer of cream cheese frosting all over the cake, so when you cut a slice, the texture is unexpected and super vibrant!

Note: The below recipe make one standard single tiered cake.

If you would like to make the large show stopper version as it appears in these photos, be sure to triple all elements of the ingredients and recipe below. You can then stack three separate cakes and add a layer of cream cheese icing between each layer if desired.

Red velvet cake ingredients. Teacup from Mud. Recipe by Cassandra Morris of Fig and Salt. Styling – Lucy Feagins, styling assistant – Nat Turnbull, photo – Eve Wilson for The Design Files.

Red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. Large white platter by Anchor Ceramics. Recipe by Cassandra Morris of Fig and Salt. Styling – Lucy Feagins, styling assistant – Nat Turnbull, photo – Eve Wilson for The Design Files.

Red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. Large white platter by Anchor Ceramics, white bread plate from Mud, Cutipol gold cutlery from Francalia, wine glasses and candle sticks from The Establishment Studios. Recipe by Cassandra Morris of Fig and Salt. Styling – Lucy Feagins, styling assistant – Nat Turnbull, photo – Eve Wilson for The Design Files.