Red Carpet Layer Cake Recipes

RAINBOW LAYER CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 3 (8-inch) round cake pans with cooking spray.
• In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil and eggs with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Divide batter evenly among 6 small bowls, about 1 1/3 cups each.
• Using food colors, tint batter in 1 bowl blue, 1 bowl red, 1 bowl green, 1 bowl yellow, 1 bowl orange (using red and yellow) and 1 bowl purple (using blue and red).
• Refrigerate 3 colors of batter until ready to bake. Pour remaining 3 colors of batter into cake pans.
• Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until cake springs back when touched lightly in center and begins to pull away from side of pan. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pans to cooling racks; cool completely.
• Wash cake pans. Bake and cool remaining 3 cake layers as directed.
• In large bowl, beat shortening and butter with electric mixer on medium speed until light yellow. On low speed, gradually beat in powdered sugar. Beat in vanilla. Add milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until frosting is smooth. Beat on high speed until light and fluffy.
• Trim rounded tops off cakes to level, if needed. On serving plate, place purple cake layer. Spread with frosting to within 1/4 inch of edge. Repeat with blue, green, yellow, orange and red cake layers. Spread light coat of frosting on top and side of cake to seal in crumbs, then frost with remaining frosting.

RED VELVET CAKE WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease two 9-inch cake pans, line with parchment paper, then grease the parchment paper. Parchment paper helps the cakes seamlessly release from the pans.
• Whisk the flour, baking soda, cocoa powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
• Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on medium-high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the oil, egg yolks, vanilla extract, and vinegar and beat on high for 2 minutes. (Set the egg whites aside.) Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.
• With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients in 2-3 additions alternating with the buttermilk. Beat in your desired amount of food coloring just until combined. I use 1-2 teaspoons gel food coloring. Vigorously whisk or beat the 4 egg whites on high speed until fluffy peaks form as pictured above, about 3 minutes. Gently fold into cake batter. The batter will be silky and slightly thick.
• Divide batter between cake pans. Bake for 30-32 minutes or until the tops of the cakes spring back when gently touched and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If the cakes need a little longer as determined by wet crumbs on the toothpick, bake for longer. However, careful not to overbake as the cakes may dry out. Remove cakes from the oven and cool completely in the pans set on a wire rack. The cakes must be completely cool before frosting and assembling.
• In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a whisk or paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter together on medium-high speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to high speed and beat for 3 minutes until completely combined and creamy. Add more confectioners' sugar if frosting is too thin or an extra pinch of salt if frosting is too sweet. Frosting should be soft, but not runny.
• Using a large serrated knife, slice a thin layer off the tops of the cakes to create a flat surface. Discard or crumble over finished cake. Place 1 cake layer on your cake stand or serving plate. Evenly cover the top with frosting. Top with 2nd layer and spread remaining frosting all over the top and sides. I always use an icing spatula and bench scraper for the frosting. I used Wilton piping tip #12 for decoration around the top.
• Refrigerate cake for at least 30-60 minutes before slicing. This helps the cake hold its shape when cutting.
• Cover leftover cake tightly and store in the refrigerator for 5 days. Frosted cake or unfrosted cake layers can be frozen up to 2-3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before decorating/serving.

RED VELVET LAYER CAKE

Steps:

• Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9-inch-round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper; butter the parchment. Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
• Beat the granulated sugar, 12 tablespoons butter and the vegetable oil in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 4 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Beat in the food coloring, vinegar and vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low; add the flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour, until just combined.
• Divide the batter between the prepared pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes on racks, then turn the cakes out onto the racks to cool completely. Using a long serrated knife, carefully slice each cake in half horizontally to make 2 even layers.
• Make the frosting: Beat the cream cheese and butter in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment on medium-high speed until fluffy. Add the confectioners' sugar, lemon juice, vanilla and salt; beat until smooth.
• Put 1 cake layer on a platter; spread 1 1/4 cups frosting on top. Repeat to make 4 layers, ending with the cake. Cover the top and sides with a thin layer of frosting (this is the "crumb coat"; it doesn't have to be perfect). Chill 15 minutes, then cover with the remaining frosting.

RED CARPET LAYER CAKE

Steps:

• Other Special Equipment You'll Need:.
• 1-2 wooden skewers, paintbrushes, gel food coloring; set of nine round cookie cutters in graduated sizes; piping bag; any small or medium petal-shaped piping tip; extra-tall cake scraper (10" at least-you can also use a quilting ruler!); a candy thermometer.
• Make the Topper:.
• Roll a small amount of gum paste out to 1/8th inch thickness.
• Use an exacto knife to cut out a shape inspired by the Oscars trophy, plus a smaller shape for the little cake it's holding. Allow to dry at least overnight.
• When dry, paint with edible gold paint and outline and detail your shapes with an edible ink pen in black, or with a thin paintbrush dipped in black edible paint.
• Using a bit of melted white chocolate (or water or piping gel), attach the cake to the figurine and draw in hands.
• Use a skewer or popsicle stick dipped in white chocolate to give the figurine something to stick into the cake so it can stand up on top.
• Bake Your Red Velvet Cake:.
• Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C). Prep four 3" deep 6" round pans by greasing and flouring, using a parchment round at the base of each if you want to be sure the cakes don't stick.
• In a medium bowl, whisk dry ingredients together to combine. Set aside.
• Place the oil and butter into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium for about one minute to combine. Add the dry ingredients, sour cream, and milk and mix on low until the mixture is moistened throughout. Raise to medium speed and beat 1-2 minutes to help build up the structure of the cake.
• Add the egg whites in two additions, beating on medium for 30 seconds after each addition. Finally, add the food coloring and vanilla and beat on medium until completely combined.
• Divide the batter between your prepped pans and bake for 30 minutes, at which point you should check every three minutes or so until the cake springs back when you poke it right in the middle. Allow to cool to room temperature, wrap in plastic, and cool in the refrigerator for at least a couple hours before de-panning.
• Bake Your Black Chocolate Buttermilk Cake:.
• Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C). Prep four 3" deep 6" round pans by greasing and flouring, using a parchment round at the base of each if you want to be sure the cakes don't stick.
• In a medium bowl, whisk dry ingredients together to combine. Set aside.
• Slowly melt your chocolate in the microwave, stirring often and stopping when there are still a few small chunks of chocolate left. Stir until the chunks disappear, and set aside to come to room temperature.
• Place your butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, and cream at medium speed until well blended. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each.
• On low speed, alternate adding your dry mixture and buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix in the cooled chocolate, vanilla, and black gel color, adjusting the amount of coloring to create a black batter.
• Divide the batter between your prepped pans and bake for 40-45 minutes, at which point you should check every three minutes or so until the cake springs back when you poke it right in the middle. Allow to cool to room temperature, wrap in plastic, and cool in the refrigerator for at least a couple hours before de-panning.
• Mix Your Buttercreams:.
• Add your melted and cooled chocolate to most of your buttercream, being sure to set aside 1 cup of white buttercream for your red piped swags. Take about 1/4 cup of your chocolate buttercream and melt it in the microwave. Squeeze in about a tablespoon of black gel coloring, and mix it inches Combine your soupy black buttercream with the rest of the chocolate buttercream, and adjust further if more black coloring is needed.
• Mix that reserved 1 cup of buttercream with red food coloring gel using the same melting technique listed above.
• Prepare Your Cake Layers:.
• Trim your cakes into layers as thin as you can get them using a serrated knife.
• Use concentric round cookie cutters to cut out the centers of your black cake layers and replace them with red rounds of the same size. Each cutter should be used to create one two-toned layer, so that by the time you're finished, you have as many layers as you do cutters (I had nine total) and each has a different sized red circle in the middle.
• Pro tip: rather than cutting out your red circles from the middle of 9 red layers, you can fit up to three cutters on a layer since we only need the circles, not the full layer like we do with the black cakes. Use as few red layers as possible, saving the whole ones that are left over to stack at the bottom of the cake to give more height!
• Stack Your Cake:.
• Start with the full red velvet layers left over from cutting out circles earlier. Keep your buttercream layers super thin, to help give the staircase illusion.
• Now begin to stack your two-toned cake layers, starting with the largest red velvet circle and working your way down to the smallest.
• Trim, crumb coat, and ice your cake in leftover black chocolate buttercream.
• Decorate:.
• Using your petal tip, pipe layers of ruffles along the top of the cake to give the look of a luxe red curtain. Insert your topper into the top of the cake to finish.
• Grab some snacks, dim the lights, and slice to reveal your glamorous red carpet!

RED, WHITE AND BLUE MINI LAYER CAKES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Make the cakes: Spray two 9-by-13-inch baking pans with cooking spray; line the bottoms with parchment paper and spray the parchment with cooking spray. Combine the cocoa powder and hot water in a small bowl and whisk until smooth; let cool slightly. Whisk the flour, salt and baking soda in a large bowl. Combine the vegetable oil, granulated sugar, buttermilk, eggs, vanilla and vinegar in another large bowl, then add the cocoa mixture and whisk until very smooth. Add the flour mixture and whisk until smooth.
• Divide the batter evenly between 2 medium bowls. Whisk 2 teaspoons red food coloring into one bowl until combined. Whisk 2 teaspoons blue food coloring into the other bowl until combined; add more blue food coloring, 1/4 teaspoon at a time, to make the batter royal blue.
• Evenly spread the red batter in one pan and the blue batter in the other. Bake until the cakes spring back when gently pressed and a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Transfer to racks and let the cakes cool 10 minutes in the pans; carefully turn out the cakes onto the racks to cool completely. Remove the parchment.
• Transfer one cake to a cutting board. Starting at the very edge of the cake, use a 3-inch round cutter to cut out 12 rounds. (Do not leave any space between the rounds when cutting.) Repeat to cut out 12 rounds from the other cake.
• Make the frosting: Beat the cream cheese and butter in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until well combined. Add half of the confectioners' sugar and the salt and beat on low speed to combine. Beat in the remaining confectioners' sugar, then increase the speed to medium high and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla and beat until combined, about 30 seconds.
• Assemble the cakes: Spread about 2 heaping tablespoons frosting on the top of each cake round. Stack them in tiers of three, alternating red and blue layers (some cakes will have 2 blue layers and some will have 2 red). Top with sprinkles.

RED, WHITE AND BLUE LAYERED FLAG CAKE

Steps:

• To make red cake layers: Heat oven to 350°F. Grease or spray two 8-inch round pans; place 8-inch round piece cooking parchment paper in bottom of each pan. Grease or spray parchment paper. In large bowl, beat red cake layer ingredients with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, then on high speed about 2 minutes or until smooth. Spread in pans. Bake 29 to 34 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched. Cool 10 minutes; run knife around sides of pans to loosen cakes. Gently remove from pans to cooling rack; remove parchment paper. Cool completely, about 30 minutes. Flatten cake layers by trimming off rounded tops. Cut layers in half horizontally to make 4 thin red layers. In 1 layer, cut small round out of center, using 4-inch biscuit cutter. Wrap and freeze 1 thin layer and the layer that was cut out of; save for another use.
• To make blue cake layer: Heat oven to 350°F. Grease or spray 8-inch round pan; place 8-inch round piece cooking parchment paper in bottom of pan. Grease or spray parchment paper. In medium bowl, beat all blue cake layer ingredients except sprinkles with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, then on high speed about 2 minutes or until smooth. Fold sprinkles into batter. Spread in pan. Bake 29 to 34 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched. Cool 10 minutes; run knife around side of pan to loosen cake. Gently remove from pan to cooling rack; remove parchment paper. Cool completely, about 30 minutes. Flatten cake layer by trimming off rounded top. Do not cut in half horizontally. Cut small round out of center, using 4-inch round biscuit cutter. Wrap and freeze 4-inch round; save for another use.
• To make white cake layer: Heat oven to 350°F. Grease or spray 8-inch round pan; place 8-inch round piece cooking parchment paper in bottom of pan. Grease or spray parchment paper. In medium bowl, beat white cake layer ingredients with electric mixer on high speed about 2 minutes or until smooth. Spread in pan. Bake 29 to 34 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched. Cool 10 minutes; run knife around side of pan to loosen cake. Gently remove from pan to cooling rack; remove parchment paper. Cool completely, about 30 minutes. Flatten cake layer by trimming off rounded top. Cut layer in half horizontally to make 2 thin white layers. In 1 layer, cut small round out of center, using 4-inch biscuit cutter. Wrap and freeze the layer that was cut out of; save for another use.
• To assemble cake: Place 1 red cake layer on cake stand or serving platter; spread 1/3 cup frosting on top. Top with 1 white cake layer; spread 1/3 cup frosting on top. Top with second red cake layer; spread 1/3 cup frosting on top. Gently top with blue layer. Carefully spread thin layer of frosting on cut edge inside of blue cake layer. Gently insert white 4-inch cake round; top with frosting and then red 4-inch cake round; press slightly. Frost side and top of cake using remaining frosting. Top with sprinkles. Store loosely covered in refrigerator.

EASY SIX-LAYER RAINBOW CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease six 9-inch round cake pans and dust with flour.
• Sift together the flour, baking powder, and baking soda.
• Beat 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter, milk, sugar, egg whites, and vanilla extract in a large bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Stir in flour mixture and mix until just combined.
• Divide cake batter evenly between 6 bowls. Mix in different food coloring to each bowl, creating 6 different colored batters. Start with just 1 to 2 drops of food coloring in each bowl, then mix; you can always add more.
• Bake each cake in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes. Set aside to cool.
• Beat cream in a chilled glass or metal bowl with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Stir together confectioners' sugar and mascarpone cheese in a separate bowl, then fold gently into the whipped cream until smooth.
• Spread frosting on each layer of cooled cake, placing one on top of the other. Cover the top and sides with the remaining frosting. Refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.

18 LAYER RED VELVET CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 3 (8-inch) round cake pans with cooking spray. Line bottom of each pan with cooking parchment paper. Spray parchment paper with cooking spray.
• In large bowl, beat White Cake ingredients on low speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Loosely cover and refrigerate.
• In another large bowl, beat Red Velvet Cake ingredients on low speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.
• Spread 1/2 cup red velvet batter in bottom of each pan. Loosely cover and refrigerate remaining batter. Place all 3 pans on oven rack positioned in center of oven. Bake about 8 minutes or until cake is set when lightly touched in center.
• For next cake layer, spread 1/2 cup white batter evenly over each baked red velvet layer. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until cake is set when lightly touched in center.
• Repeat steps 4 and 5, twice, baking 9 to 12 minutes per layer or until top of cake layer is set when lightly touched in center.
• Cool 10 minutes. Remove cakes from pans; remove parchment paper from bottoms of cakes. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in large bowl, beat marshmallow creme, butter, vanilla and 1 tablespoon milk with electric mixer on medium speed until blended. Beat in powdered sugar until fluffy. If necessary, beat in more milk, a few drops at a time until spreading consistency.
• To assemble, stack cake layers, spreading 1/2 cup frosting between each layer. Spread thin layer of frosting over side and top of cake to seal in crumbs. Refrigerate cake 30 to 45 minutes to set frosting. Spread remaining frosting on side and top of cake.