These vegan red velvet bars of cake are some of the best baked treats I've ever made. The texture is the SOFTEST and they're topped with a creamy frosting and vegan white chocolate which is grated on top. They take less than 30 minutes to make and they are perfect for anyone who wants to satisfy their cravings for sweet bakes.
I like to serve this delicious and light vegan sheet cake with a hot coffee as they're a match made in heaven. It works perfectly mouth-watering on its own too. No matter how you choose to eat it, you'll adore this dessert!
If you also want to check out some more delicious cake recipes that are quite similar to this one, be sure to try my vegan carrot sheet cake, vegan blueberry almond cake & vegan lemon poke cake recipes which are all heavenly in their own way.
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Why You Will Love This Cake
- Amazing Texture - This cake is so soft and similar to my vegan mascarpone chocolate sheet cake bars in many ways. Fluffy and delicious making every mouthful heavenly.
- Delicious Toppings - It is topped with a creamy frosting, like the one featured on my vegan carrot cake with lemon curd, as well as dairy free white chocolate!
- Easy to Make - This sheet cake recipe takes less than 30 minutes to make.
- Visually Appealing - The red velvet cake itself has a vibrant, bright red colour.
- Allergy Friendly & Plant Based - These treats are completely vegan and dairy free.
Ingredients Notes
- Cocoa Powder - Use high quality cocoa powder. You only need to use a small amount, as using too much will ruin the red colour.
- Apple cider vinegar - This will react with the other cake ingredients to create a light and fluffy texture.
- Red gel food colouring - Use good-quality gel colouring which is different from general food colouring. With gel colouring, the red will be a bright red instead of the brown colour poor-quality red food colour often gives a cake. Another example of when I've used this colouring is in my eggless red velvet cake loaf with Oreos.
- Vegan cream cheese - For this recipe I used the vegan Philadelphia cream cheese like I did in my vegan chocolate cheesecake recipe. It always works so well.
- Vegan butter block - Make sure that you use a vegan block butter for the frosting, instead of a spread. This way it will be thick just like a frosting should be.
- Vegan white chocolate - If you have a dairy free white chocolate out there that you like, grate it onto the top of your frosting.
See recipe card for full information on individual ingredients and quantities.
Substitutions & Variations
- If the dairy free cream cheese frosting and vegan white chocolate isn't for you, why not try a chocolate ganache topping instead? You can make this by melting chocolate using the double-boiling (bain-marie) method until it is smooth and creamy, then stir in vegan double cream. Pour over the red velvet cake and set inside the fridge.
- Perhaps you like the cream cheese frosting but you'd like to replace the grated white chocolate? I also love to top the sheet cake with chopped nuts, giving them an ever so slightly healthier edge or sometimes even, Biscoff crumbs which also work really well.
How To Make A Red Velvet Sheet Cake
For the full method, please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
1: Line a large, square tin with parchment paper.
2: Combine the dry cake ingredients inside a large bowl.
3: Fold in the wet ingredients, including the red gel food colouring to create your batter.
4: Pour the red velvet cake batter into the lined tin. Bake inside the oven.
5: Let your red velvet cake cool completely.
6: Make the frosting.
7: Apply the vegan cream cheese frosting to the red velvet cake. Sprinkle on the grated dairy free white chocolate and serve.
Expert Tips
Use gel food colouring - If you are a big fan of great presentation and you want your cake to have a strong red colour, use gel food colouring, as opposed to ordinary liquid food colouring. This will make a big difference to how the cakes look.
Don’t over-mix the cake batter - This will make the cake dense. Folding the batter gently, however, will give the cake a light texture which everyone will love. I also used this method for my vegan chocolate banana bread and it turned out beautifully.
Recipe FAQs
Store these red velvet cake bars at room temperature or inside the fridge for up to 4 days. Wherever you decide to store the cake, make sure that it is inside an airtight container.
You can also use beet powder if you wish but this will not give you the same vibrant red colour that the gel food colouring will give you. The great thing about beet powder, however, is that it is a natural alternative.
This is most likely, down to the quality of food colouring that you are using. A good quality gel colouring will help you to avoid this.
More Vegan Cakes That You Will Love
If you tried this Vegan Red Velvet & White Chocolate Sheet Cake Bars Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you go in the 📝 comments below. I love hearing from you!
Vegan Red Velvet & White Chocolate Sheet Cake Bars
Ingredients
For the chocolate cake:
- 175 g all-purpose flour sifted
- 1 Tablespoon cocoa powder
- 125 g granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 225 ml soy milk
- 1.25 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 90 ml vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon red gel food coloring* see notes
Dairy Free Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 80 g vegan cream cheese room temperature
- 80 g vegan block butter room temperature
- 1.5 Tablespoons coconut cream can refrigerated overnight, you need the thick part on top
- 250 g powdered sugar sifted
Topping:
- Vegan white chocolate shavings to taste
Instructions
Preparation:
- Preheat your oven to 177 Celsius (350F) and also grease an 8-inch, square cake tin with vegan butter and line with parchment paper. Set aside.
Make the red velvet cake batter:
- Inside a large mixing bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, granulated sugar, baking soda and salt.
- Next, pour in your soy milk, apple cider vinegar, vegetable oil and red gel food coloring. Fold your dry cake ingredients into the wet cake ingredients. Don’t over-mix the batter has this can ruin the texture. Fold instead, patiently until there is no more flour.
Bake the cake:
- Pour the red velvet cake batter into the prepared cake tin and bake in the centre of the oven for 20-22 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
- When it’s baked, let the cake cool inside its tin for 15 minutes. After that, transfer over to a cooling rack.
Make the frosting:
- Add the whisk attachment to your stand mixer and this time, cream together the vegan cream cheese with the vegan butter and coconut cream on a high speed until the mixture becomes creamy and a little lumpy due to the coconut.
- Switch the stand mixer to a medium speed and pour in the powdered sugar in gradual increments. Once all the powdered sugar is combined, beat one more time on a high speed for 5 minutes until the frosting become creamy and thickens. The lumps will also disappear.
Assemble the cake:
- Spread the frosting over your red velvet cake, smoothing it out with a palette knife.
- Grate vegan white chocolate over the frosting. Slice and serve.
Video
Notes
- If you are a big fan of great presentation and you want your cake to have a strong red color, use gel food coloring, as opposed to ordinary liquid food coloring. This will make a big difference to how the cakes look.
- This will make the cake dense. Folding the batter gently, however, will give the cake a light texture which everyone will love. I also used this method for my vegan chocolate banana bread and it turned out beautifully.
Sammy says
Best red velvet cake ever. Made this evening and it’s so so so good 😍❤️
DJ says
Thank you!