Red Velvet Cream Cheese Bundt Cake

This red velvet bundt cake is supremely moist with a rich cheesecake-like swirl inside. It’s so incredibly easy to make that the red velvet cake comes together in ONE-BOWL and finished with a light simple dusting of powdered sugar!

Lately I’ve been feeling as though there simply isn’t enough hours in the day to accomplish x, y, and z. I mean, if you’ve been following me for some time now, then you know that I also have a full-time job outside of this website. While I’m incredibly grateful for my job and everything in between, ya girl does not have the same hours in the day as Beyoncé.

I’ve got to get this done, follow-up with that thing, reply back to such and such person, make quality time for this one, take my vitamins, drink hella water, eat some spinach or other leafy green, make sure I get those daily 10,000 steps in, get at least 8 hours of sleep (umm yeah right!), create content that I love, make sure I look halfway decent when I leave my house, and so on. Please tell me that you feel me on this. We’re all just trying to make it through each day, right?

But I’ll tell you what helps me to feel more centered, more calm, more grounded and ready to handle this thing we call life. That singular thing is baking. Plain and simple, there’s something to be said about taking basic ingredients and transforming them into an endless array of tasty creativity. I take out my measuring cups, flour, butter/oil, sugar, and get to baking. It’s basically therapy in the most cost-effective form, ha! Consequently, my recent baking therapy session led me to developing this insanely delicious red velvet bundt cake.

Now, I’ll be honest, I really do love me a good layer cake. I came *this close* to developing this specific recipe into a layer cake version instead of a bundt cake. Although, I think there is something magical, headache-free, and Southern-esque about a good ole bundt cake. Red velvet cake has a lot history within both the Black community and Southern culture; if you know me then you already know how much I love those two things. So, let’s talk about this cake already!

How To Make This Red Velvet Bundt Cake:

Remember when I said that I ditched the layer cake version? Yeah, so on top of this beauty being an easy bundt cake, she’s also made in ONE BOWL. Yes, yes, and even more yes.

In fact, the only tedious thing I’ll have you do is sift your flour. This is to ensure the flour is free of any lumps for a soft, delicate, and tender cake crumb. Then, in a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients together except the red food coloring. The batter should be somewhat runny and a pale-ish brown color. The addition of cocoa powder adds a slight chocolatey taste to deepen the overall flavor. Lastly, the final step is to add the red food coloring to give us that gorgeous signature red velvet cake color.

Fun fact, red velvet cake gets its name because when the vinegar activates with the baking soda, it creates a velvety sort of texture. For the vinegar, you could use either white distilled vinegar or apple cider vinegar, both work just fine.

How Do I Make That Cheesecake Swirl Tho?

Oh, that part? It’s super easy to make. The cheesecake-like swirl comes together quickly with softened cream cheese, sugar, an egg, and vanilla extract. You can mix this together in your stand mixer or with a handheld electric mixer. It’s important to make sure the cream cheese is free of any lumps, so working with a super soft cream cheese brick is important. The cream cheese addition adds a nice contrast to the red velvet cake and a really nice flavor on the palate.

Next, you’ll add half of the red velvet cake batter into the bundt pan. Then add the cheesecake mixture directly on top of batter. Lastly, pour the remaining red velvet cake batter on top. That’s it!

A Few Notes On This Recipe:

• My recipe calls for a full tablespoon of red food coloring to give this cake that vibrant red-ish color. Anything less than that did not give me the color that I wanted to achieve but feel free to use less to your desired preference in color.
• In the end I chose to leave this cake unfrosted and with a simple dusting of powdered sugar. I originally opted for a cream cheese kind of glaze but found that the cake had some elements that already made it rich and decadent. Therefore, I wanted to showcase that and leave it somewhat bare. However, you could add a cream cheese glaze, simple vanilla glaze, or maybe even a chocolate glaze.
• The red velvet bundt cake recipe will also make great cupcakes, layer cakes, or sheet cake. You’ll just need to adjust your baking time and measurements for those options.
• Thanks to the cake flour, buttermilk, and oil in the red velvet cake batter, this cake is incredibly moist with not a dry crumb in sight! The use of cake flour yields a super soft and tender cake crumb. In addition, buttermilk adds some acidity to the batter ensuring a moist cake by breaking down the gluten. And lastly, the use of all oil as the fat, to me, yields an even more moist cake than with the use of butter.
• When I originally tested this recipe, I did so without the cheesecake-like filling. But then I asked followers on my social media to vote on whether or not they felt this cake should have that element. An overwhelming amount of you said heck yes! So here we are. However, feel free to leave it out if it’s not your thing and adjust your baking time to around 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Gahhh, I really do love me this red velvet cream cheese bundt cake, ya’ll! I sincerely hope you try it and love it just the same. Don’t forget to tag me on social media with your creation if you do!

Until next time…love and butter,

Q.

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