This Red Velvet Cake Doctored Cake Mix Recipe belongs in your recipe file of favorites! It is amazingly moist, delicious, and has just the right amount of chocolate flavor.
Add a little cream cheese frosting, and it is pure heaven! It’s no wonder that Red Velvet Cake has long been a beloved classic southern dessert!
We have a Scratch Red Velvet Cake recipe that we love, but we were determined to find a doctored cake mix version that we loved just as much. This is it!
When I brought this leftover doctored cake mix version of Red Velvet Cake home to my family, they absolutely loved it, and couldn’t believe that it wasn’t a scratch recipe. This cake disappeared in record time!
We have experimented with using actual Red Velvet Cake Mix in doctored mix recipes in the past and were never happy with the flavor. This is why we chose to use Yellow Cake Mix as the base, and simply add red coloring.
**A note about the color: this Red Velvet Cake is not a vibrant red…it is more of a “chocolate red”. The lighting in the photo above makes it look a bit more red. Red Velvet cakes come in all shades of red depending on how much cocoa the recipe calls for, and of course the amount of red coloring used.
We loved the chocolate flavor of this cake so much that we didn’t want to remove any of the cocoa. However, if you’d prefer a deeper red, you can remove some of the cocoa and add more coloring. It’s up to you! (But we love it just as it is!)
We loved the chocolate flavor of this cake so much that we didn’t want to remove any of the cocoa. However, if you’d prefer a deeper red, you can remove some of the cocoa and add more coloring. It’s up to you! (But we love it just as it is!)
Red Velvet Cake and Cream Cheese Frosting go hand in hand. You can find our favorite Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe here!: Pipeable Cream Cheese Frosting.
Red Velvet Cake- A Doctored Cake Mix Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 box yellow cake mix, sifted (15.25 box mix) plus 6 Tablespoons (45g) flour ( I used Duncan Hines Classic Yellow Mix)
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 5 Tablespoons (24g) unsweetened cocoa powder ( I sift the cocoa , then measure or weight
- 1/2 cup (107g) vegetable oil
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons (8g) vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (121g) milk
- 1 cup (242g) sour cream
- 2 Tablespoons (24g) red food coloring ( if you want a brighter red color to your cake, add 3 Tablespoons)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Grease and flour 2 eight inch round pans
- In the bowl of your mixer, place the cake mix plus flour, sugar, sifted cocoa. Whisk to blend these ingredients together. Then add all the remaining ingredients. Begin mixing on low speed, increasing to medium speed for 1 minute. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Beat at medium speed for 1 more minute (longer if using a hand mixer.
- Pour into prepared pans and bake for 30 - 35 minutes (check at 30 minutes). The cake is done when a toothpick comes out clean or with a just a few crumbs attached. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes then turn out.
- Makes 6 1/4 cups batter
- Works well for cupcakes
- We frosted with our Pipeable Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
*You may like to try our fantastic Red Velvet Cake recipe from scratch as we mentioned above! Print this one out for later: Delicious Red Velvet Cake from Scratch
Don’t forget to check out our full collection of favorite cake and frosting recipes in our Recipes Section! Or, for free, fun, and simple cake decorating tutorials, don’t miss our Free Cake Tutorials Section!
Finally, if you’re interested in accessing our entire cake video tutorial library, we would love to have you as a member of My Cake School! You can find all of the joining details here: Join My Cake School!
Thanks for stopping by!
Hi Bebe,
Thank you or answering
Me!!!
I decided to make it easy on myself and do a half batch. I measure everything by grams, so dividing io in half was easy. It made 11 cupcakes.
I forgot to add the red color, but the plain one we tasted very good. I’m using up some of my cream cheese frosting in the freezer, which is great.
I’m going to deliver them to a few doctor offices tomorrow.
Hi!
Will this hold up under fondant?
Thanks!
Hi Allyson, Yes, it should hold up to fondant with no problem.
Hi instead of the sour cream can i use white chocolate pudding instead?
Hi Germaine, I think the recipe probably could be adjusted to use white chocolate pudding but I have not experimented so I can’t be certain of the the adjustments. Sour cream is often used in cake mix recipes using pudding. If you do not have sour cream, you can substitute with regular or greek yogurt.
Can you doctor up a box red velvet cake, instead of a yellow cake mix?
Also my daughter is getting married in September, can I make my cakes ahead of time and freeze them, and frost them day before her wedding?
Hi Debbie, Using yellow cake is our preferred method but I think you could use red velvet cake mix, just leave out the red food coloring. Yes, you can make your cake layers in advance and freeze until needed. We have frozen layers for two months and they were fine. After we bake the layers we cool in the pans about 5 minutes, then turn them out on a cardboard cake circle (wrap the cake circles in aluminum foil so they can be reused). Let them cool another 5 minutes or so then wrap individually in plastic wrap, then aluminum foil. It is important that they be kept air tight in the freezer. Freezing layers while still warm will give you a more moist cake. When you are ready to frost the day before the wedding, remove from the freezer. Place the wrapped layers on the counter top. When condensation forms on the aluminum foil, unwrap and allow to come to room temperature. You could frost the layers while partially frozen (you will have fewer crumbs). If you plan to smooth your frosting using the Viva towel method, the cakes will need to be fully thawed. Hope all goes well for the wedding. Best wishes!
Thank you for answering me back, I tried using the red velvet cake instead of the yellow, omitting the food coloring, I put the coco in it, I’m thinking I should omit that or cut back on it, it has too much of a chocolate taste instead of a red velvet taste, what is your opinion on it. Should I omit the coco or cut back on it?
Thanks
Hi Debbie, If you find the cocoa is too strong, I suggest cutting back to 3 Tablespoons instead of 5 T. I would not leave out the cocoa. Without cocoa it would taste like a yellow cake tinted red. The red food coloring does not add any flavor. I hope this adjustment will work for you.
I’m using a Duncan Hines red velvet cake mix, it also has cocoa in it, so 3tbs won’t be to much.
Hi Debbie, Sorry I overlooked that. I don’t know for sure but I would think the cocoa in the red velvet cake mix would be enough, so I would not add any more cocoa.
Hi I have a question about thawing the cakes. You mentioned that once condensation starts to build up on the cakes to unwrap the aluminum foil. Would I take the plastic wrap off as well or let the cake come to room temperature still wrapped in the plastic? Thanks
Hi T’Andrea, We also take the plastic wrap off. Below I will link you to freezing, settling, crumb coating questions and answers that I think you will find helpful. Let us know if you have other questions.
link to mycakeschool.com
Good afternoon
Can you use this recipe for a bundt cake?
Hi Cheryl, We have not baked the recipe in a bundt pan but I think you could do so with no problem. I think the recipe makes only 5 to 5 1/2 cups batter so a 10 cup bundt pan is the size you will need. A 10 cup bundt pan holds 10 cups water — if you are not sure the size you have….but holds 6 cups batter. Also, when we posted this recipe Duncan Hines was the brand we liked. Recently, Duncan Hines has a new package for its product. We do not know what has changed but the texture and flavor of the cake is not the same. We are now using Betty Crocker Super Moist yellow for this recipe. You may have another brand you prefer and that is fine. Hope you will enjoy the recipe.
Hi there, I’m making a wedding cake and they want purple velvet cake. Can I still use this recipe and substitute regal purple food coloring for the red food coloring?
Good Evening!
Can you use this recipe for a sheet cake?
Hi Melanie, Yes, it can be used for a sheet cake. For a 9×13 sheet pan, bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes. Check with a toothpick in the center for doneness. If using a pan with a dark interior, decrease the temperature to 325 degrees.
Thanks for answering back. I made it last night and I really love it! This will be my new go to recipe!
Good evening. If using a red velvet cake mix instead should I use the same ingredients plus cocoa powder? or should I leave cocoa out
Hi Sofia, Check the ingredients on your box of red velvet mix to see if it contains cocoa. If it does not, I would add cocoa. You also may not need to add as much red coloring.
Thank Mrs BeBe. how much cocoa should I add if it doesnt have?