Mary’s Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

Southern Red Velvet Cake

1 c. (4.5 oz) brown rice flour
3/4 c.(3.5 oz) sorghum flour
3/4 c. (3.5 oz) tapioca starch
1/2 + 1/8 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. xanthan gum

1 1/2 c. (10.5 oz) sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 3/4 c. canola oil
2 eggs, large (4.0 oz)

1 c. buttermilk (or 1 Tbsp cider vinegar and 1 c. milk substitute)

1 tsp. vanilla
1 oz. red food coloring (this is one of the McCormick’s bottles)
1 Tbsp. cocoa

Frosting Ingredients:
1 lb. confectioner’s sugar
8 oz. cream cheese (can sub vegan cream cheese)
1 stick butter (room temp)
1 c. chopped nuts (optional)
1 tsp vanilla

Cake Instructions:
1. Place an oven rack in the lower third of the oven. Place a baking stone on it and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Start by mixing the flour, xanthan gum and baking powder in a large mixing bowl. Whisk by hand with a fork for 1 minute or at medium speed on a hand mixer for 30 seconds. Set the flour aside.

3. Use a mixer to beat the oil and sugar. With the mixer still going, add one egg at a time and beat until the eggs are incorporated.

4. Add the flour to the oil and sugar mixture in four parts. Alternate the flour with the buttermilk. You should begin and end with dry ingredients and each part should be mixed in completely before you add the next. Total mixing time for this step should be approximately 5 minutes.

5. Make a paste of the cocoa, red food coloring, and vanilla and gently stir it into the batter.

6. Pour the batter into one 9″ x 13″ cake pan or two 9″ cake pans. Be sure to grease and flour the pans first; or grease the pans and then line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper. Drop the pan onto the counter from a height of 4″ to remove any large air bubbles.

7. Place the cake in the oven on the stone and bake until the cake reaches an internal temperature of 209 degrees Fahrenheit (approximately 25 minutes). If you do not have a digital baking thermometer, the cake should spring back when touched and a toothpick inserted into the middle should come out clean, but moist. The cake should not pull away from the sides until after it is out of the oven.

8. Removed the cake from the pan(s) and let them completely cool on a cooling rack before icing.

Frosting Instructions:
1. Cream the confectioner’s sugar, cream cheese, and butter.

2. Mix in the vanilla and chopped nuts.

3. Spread over cooled cake.

Back to Cooking Class: A Beginning Class in Gluten Free Cakes.

2 Responses to “Mary’s Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Icing”

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  1. maria s fernandes simas fernandes says:

    Can i use toasted rice flour instead of brown rice flour?
    Here in Brazil, this is what i found. The toasted is still white, i dont know why.

    Thank you!
    Lurdinha

    • Mary Frances says:

      @maria. I’m not familiar with toasted rice flour and I’m not sure if it would act the same way as brown rice flour. Sometimes cooking a flour changes how it acts (e.g. masa harina vs. corn flour) and flour made from different kinds of rice can also act very differently (sticky rice flour vs. brown rice flour). Perhaps you could cut the recipe in half (or more) to test the flour and make cupcakes instead of a cake.

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