Red Velvet Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Filling
This Red Velvet Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Filling takes the classic flavor of red velvet cake and cream cheese frosting and gives it a twist. We put cream cheese frosting on the outside and cheesecake filling on the inside!
Red velvet cake is a classic dessert for any special occasion, especially the holidays. With its sweet chocolate and tangy cream cheese icing, this red and white cake is loaded with flavor and holiday color. We took it up a notch on the flavor side by adding cheesecake filling to the cake in addition to topping it with frosting. Y-U-M.
Table of contents
❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Basic Ingredients: The cake, filling, and frosting are all made with basic ingredients found in any kitchen or grocery store.
- Easy: There are several steps to this recipe, but they’re all easy to do.
- Moist, Tender Cake: The cake is moist and tender, thanks to the addition of buttermilk and vinegar.
- Classic Flavor: The chocolate cake, cream cheese frosting, and cheesecake swirl create classic flavor in every bite.
- Festive: The classic red and white color gives a shot of festiveness to any table.
🛒Ingredients
Everything you need to make this cake is either in your pantry or at your local grocery store. We’ve listed all the ingredients here, but you can find their exact amounts in the recipe card the end of the post.
Cheesecake Filling
- Cream cheese – softened
- Powdered sugar
- Egg
- Vanilla
- Sour cream
Red Velvet Cake
- Butter – melted
- Sugar
- Vegetable oil
- Eggs
- Vanilla
- Flour
- Cocoa powder
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Buttermilk
- Vinegar
- Red gel food coloring
Frosting
- Cream cheese – softened
- Butter – softened
- Powdered sugar
- Vanilla
Sugared Cranberry Garnish (Optional)
- Cranberries
- Butter – softened
- Water
- Sugar
More Garnish Options
- Gold sugar beads
- Fresh rosemary sprigs
🔪 How to Make Red Velvet Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Filling
Making this recipe might seem daunting at first. However, when you look past the number of steps, you’ll see that it’s really nothing more than traditional red velvet cake with added cheesecake filling. Which, by the way, is very easy to make!
Step 1: Prep
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a 10-cup capacity bundt pan with cooking spray containing flour. Set aside.
Step 2: Make the Cheesecake Filling
Beat the cheesecake filling ingredients with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth and creamy. Set aside.
Step 3: Combine the Wet Cake Ingredients
Beat the melted butter and sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl. Then, add the oil and an egg and beat again. Finally, add the remaining egg and vanilla and beat until combined.
Step 4: Combine the Dry Cake Ingredients
Whisk the dry ingredients in a small bowl.
Step 5: Mix the Cake Batter
Alternate mixing the flour and buttermilk to the wet ingredients, mixing after each addition. Be sure to add the vinegar during one of your buttermilk additions. Mix until the batter is combined, then add the red food coloring until the desired color is reached.
Step 6: Fill the Bundt Pan
Spoon half the cake batter evenly into the bundt pan. Then, carefully spoon the cheesecake batter on top of the cake batter, being sure to keep it in the center and away from the edges. Finally, spoon the remaining cake batter over the cheesecake batter.
Step 7: Swirl
Swirl a butter knife through the mixture a few times to create a swirl pattern in the finished cake.
Step 8: Bake
Bake until a knife comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cake.
Step 9: Cool
Remove the cake and let it cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes. Then, turn it out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Step 10: Make the Sugared Cranberries
Mix the water and sugar, then bring it to a boil in the microwave. Stir to dissolve the sugar and let it cool. Then, add the cranberries and stir to coat them. Let the mixture sit for about 5 minutes. Finally, lay the cranberries on a paper towel and let them sit for about 20 minutes before rolling them in sugar to coat the outside.
Step 11: Make the Frosting
Beat the cream cheese and butter in a large bowl until smooth and creamy. Then, add the powdered sugar and vanilla and beat again until the frosting is smooth and creamy.
Step 12: Decorate
Place the frosting into three piping bags with 2D, 9FT, and 336 tips, respectively. Then, pipe swirls and dots over the crown of the cake. Decorate with the sugared cranberries, gold beads, and rosemary sprigs as desired.
📝Variations
- Plain: You can omit the filling and make a delicious, traditional red velvet cake.
- Colored Frosting: Add food coloring gel in a Christmasy color of your choice for an even more festive look.
- Cake Flour: Use cake flour for an extra-tender cake.
- Gluten-Free: Use a 1:1 gluten-free flour in equal amounts to create a gluten-free cake.
If this wasn’t enough holiday cake goodness for you, try our humming bird bundt cake!
🥄 Equipment
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Electric mixer
- Mixing bowls
- Microwaveable bowl
- 10-cup bundt pan
- Piping bags
- Piping tips
🥫 Storage
Refrigerate this cake for up to 4 days, covering it as tightly as possible.
What to Serve with Red Velvet Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Filling
Crank up the holiday flavor by serving this cake with a cup of gingerbread coffee, snowman hot cocoa bombs for the kids, or RumChata hot cocoa bombs for the grownups.
This also makes a wonderful, festive addition to any holiday table alongside other Christmas treats like Santa meringue cookies, gingerbread man cheesecake bars, or snowman truffles.
💭 Tips
- Be sure your butter and cream cheese are fully softened to achieve the best texture for your cake, frosting, and filling.
- An electric mixer is the way to go for this recipe unless you want the best arm workout of your life.
- Be sure you use a microwave-safe bowl when making the simple syrup for the sugared cranberries.
- Mix your red velvet cake batter until just combined. Don’t over-mix it, or it could get dense.
- You only need to give your batter a few swirls to achieve a pretty look. Overdoing it will just make mud.
⁉️ FAQ
Do you have questions about this recipe? Here are the answers to the most commonly asked questions.
Red velvet cake looks fancy, but it’s really just chocolate cake with added red food coloring!
If your cream cheese isn’t fully softened, you could end up with tiny flecks of raw cream cheese in the frosting, giving it a grainy texture.
The usual culprit for dry cake is using too much flour. It’s easy to do if you scoop the flour out directly with the measuring cup. Instead, loosely spoon the flour into your measuring cup and level it off with a knife.
🍽 More Recipes
Do you enjoy red velvet? Then these delicious recipes.
🧾Recipe Card
Want to make this recipe? Print the recipe card below, or pin this recipe so you can find it later.
Red Velvet Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Filling
Equipment
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
- Electric mixer
- mixing bowls
- Microwaveable Bowl
- 10-cup bundt pan
- piping bags
- Piping tips
Ingredients
Cheesecake filling:
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- ¼ cup sour cream
Cake:
- ½ cup melted butter
- 1 ½ cup sugar
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 cups flour
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon vinegar
- ½ teaspoon red food gel color
Frosting:
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- ¼ cup butter softened
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
Optional garnish options:
- ¼ cup cranberries
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ cup sugar
- Gold sugar beads
- Fresh rosemary sprigs
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 10 c capacity bundt pan with cooking spray containing flour. Set aside.
- In a medium sized bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese, powdered sugar, egg, vanilla and sour cream until smooth and creamy. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and sugar.
- Add in the oil and 1 egg. Whisk well. Add in the remaining egg and the vanilla (you may want to switch to an electric hand mixer at this point).
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Start alternating adding the flour and the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour until all the cake ingredients are incorporated (add in the vinegar to the buttermilk in one of the additions).
- Once the batter is fully mixed, start adding red food coloring until desired color is reached, about ½-¾ tsp is sufficient.
- Spoon about ½ of the cake batter into the bundt pan.
- Carefully spoon the cheesecake layer into the center of the cake batter, trying to keep it away from the outer edges.
- Spoon the remaining batter over the top of the cheesecake layer and take a butter knife and give a few swirls through the batter to distribute the cheesecake.
- It only takes a few passes, so don’t overdo it and completely mix the cheesecake into the batter.
- Place the cake in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a knife comes out cleanly.
- Remove from the oven and let rest in the bundt pan for 10-15 minutes before turning the cake out onto a cooling rack to come to room temperature.
- To make the sugared cranberries, combine ¼ c water and ¼ c sugar and bring to a boil in a microwave safe cup/bowl. Stir to dissolve the sugar.
- Once the simple syrup has cooled, add in the cranberries and stir to coat with the syrup for about 5 minutes (you don’t need to stir that entire time, just let them soak).
- Remove the berries and lay them on a paper towel for about 20 minutes before rolling in extra sugar to coat the outside of the cranberries.
- To make the frosting, beat the cream cheese and butter together in a large bowl until smooth and creamy, about 1-2 minutes.
- Add in the powdered sugar and vanilla and continue to beat until you have a smooth frosting.
- Place the frosting into 3 piping bags (tips used #2D, 9FT, 336) and create swirls and dots over the crown of the cake as desired.
- Decorate with the sugared cranberries, gold beads and rosemary sprigs as desired.
Disclaimer
Any nutritional data I provide is an approximation and actual dietary information can vary based on ingredients and proportion sizes.
