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Red velvet cake
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5 from 26 votes

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Mousse

This Red velvet cake with cream cheese mousse a lighter version of the well known cake we all love! Bright red colour sponges filled with airy cream cheese mousse, adefinitely a must recipe for Valentine´s day but can be a showstopper dessert any time of the year!
Prep Time1 hour
Cook Time20 minutes
Waiting Time4 hours
Total Time5 hours 20 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 8
Calories: 738kcal
Author: Katalin Nagy

Ingredients

Red velvet sponges

  • 75 g Unsalted butter room temperature
  • 200 g Granulated sugar
  • 1 Egg room temperature
  • 1 Egg yolk room temperature
  • 200 g All purpose flour
  • 10 g Cocoa powder unsweetened
  • teaspoon Baking soda
  • teaspoon Salt
  • 160 g Milk room temperature
  • teaspoon White vinegar
  • Red food colouring use high quality concentrated gel

Cream cheese mousse

  • 5 Gelatine sheet 1.7g / sheet
  • 120 g Heavy Cream 36% fat
  • 130 g Granulated sugar
  • 10 g Lemon juice freshly squeezed
  • 400 g Cream cheese high fat, ex. Philadelphia tub
  • 360 g Heavy Cream 36% fat, use it very cold
  • 1 tablespoon Vanilla bean paste

Instructions

Red velvet sponge

  • Heat oven to 180 C / 356°F
  • Prepare a 2 x 18 cm/ 7 inch pan with parchment paper
  • With an Electric hand mixer cream room temp butter with sugar
  • Mix in egg and egg yolk
  • Sift dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, cocoa powder, salt) into a separate bowl
  • Mix wet ingredients (milk, food colouring, vinegar) into another bowl
  • Fold wet and dry ingredients into the butter egg mixture in the following steps: wet, dry, wet, dry
  • Divide the cake batter in between the two pans equally using a digital scale
  • Bake in 180C / 356F for 20-25 min or until skewer inserted comes out clean
  • Cool the sponges on Cooling rack
  • Once cakes are cooled, trim 1-2cm / 0.5inches off around the edges on one of them, keep the other one as it is. Pop them into the freezer for half an hour before assembling the cake
  • Keep the trimmed edge for later decorating the cake

Cream cheese mousse

  • Soak gelatin sheets into cold water
  • Heat cream (the first cream that is 120g) with sugar on low medium heat until simmering
  • Squeeze excess water from gelatin sheets and stir into hot cream then mix in the lemon juice. It won’t taste lemon but the lemon balances the flavors. Let it cool to room temperature. Do not place it into the fride as gelatin tends to form lumps if cools to quickly
  • In another bowl whip cream cheese with an electric hand mixer until light and fluffy then fold in room temperature (not warm) gelatin mixture with the help of a Rubber spatula
  • Whip heavy cream until soft peaks and very gently, using a Rubber spatula fold into the cream cheese mixture. It must stay light and fluffy

Assembling

  • Assemble the mousse ring and set it to 18 cm / 7 inch in diameter (Mousse cake ring (adjustable in size)) just as the size of the larger sponge
  • For a neat looking, smooth side surface use Acetate cake collar within the mousse ring
  • Start to build up the cake from bottom to top
  • Place the larger, 18 cm / 7 inch diameter sponge into the mousse ring then with the help of a Piping bag pipe some cream cheese mousse on top. Pop it into the freezer for 5 minutes to set
  • Place the smaller sponge on top, then pipe cream cheese mousse around and also on top and smooth the top of the cream cheese with an Offset spatula. Make sure you leave some mousse for later usage decorating the cake
  • Place the cake and the leftover mousse into the fridge to set for minimum 4 hours
  • Once cake fully set, carefully remove the mousse ring and cake collar
  • Take a Piping bag with French star nozzle tip and pipe decoration on top of the cake then decorate with red velvet cake crumbs

Nutrition

Calories: 738kcal | Carbohydrates: 67g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 49g | Saturated Fat: 29g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 13g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 204mg | Sodium: 394mg | Potassium: 201mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 45g | Vitamin A: 1882IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 125mg | Iron: 2mg