Red Velvet Bread

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Red velvet bread is an easy bread recipe to make a home that features swirls of red velvet and vanilla cake that’s topped with a cream cheese frosting. This red velvet loaf is a great option for a touch of chocolate during breakfast or throughout the day.

Recipe Highlights

• How does it taste: Red velvet bread is a copycat to the discontinued Starbuck’s red velvet loaf and the bread slices sold in most grocery stores. But it’s made at home, and you can enjoy it freshly baked whenever you’d like. The swirls of red velvet and vanilla work great together by allowing you to get the flavors of the vanilla and red velvet parts. The optional cream cheese icing adds an extra level of sweetness and tang that we typically get with red velvet recipes.
• Skill level: If you’re a beginner baker, no worries! You will have to swirl the batters together but that’s not difficult at all. All the ingredients and directions are very simple and easy to follow. If you have a good understanding of your personal oven temps then you’ll fine.
• Storing: The red velvet bread is perfectly fine on the counter if you aren’t using the optional glaze. On the counter the loaf will last about 2 maybe 3 days. In the fridge, you can keep it up to a week. The red velvet loaf also freezes very well.

Ingredient tips

• Flour: The red velvet bread uses all-purpose flour only. If you want to change the flour, you will change the actual recipe and I can’t guarantee good results. Bread flour will be entirely too much gluten and will result in a more bread-like texture than the soft crumb this recipe has. Subbing with whole wheat or any gluten-free flour will also change the recipe drastically.
• Cocoa powder: Regular unsweetened cocoa powder is used for the bread recipe. But, there is also dutch processed cocoa that is much darker in color and richer in taste. You can swap between those with good results.
• Buttermilk: A key component that is overlooked in red velvet recipes is buttermilk. Yes, you can swap it for milk but the notes that the buttermilk brings are what separates a good red velvet recipe to a mediocre one.
• Food coloring: The food coloring can be skipped if you’d like to avoid dyes. But for some reason when the color isn’t red it messes with our brains. When I personally made red velvet recipes at home, I skip the food coloring. However, it does serve a purpose in the experience of the red velvet bread recipe.

Chef’s tips

• When making the main batter, only mix up until everything is evenly combined. The red velvet portion gets extra mixing and you want to avoid over-mixing the red velvet bread.
• Don’t overthink separating the batter. The more even the batter is great but you don’t have to weigh it out. Simply use your eyes and the loaf will turn out fine.
• Line the loaf pan with parchment paper. Most pans are non-stick nowadays but the parchment paper makes things so much easier with clean up and lifting the loaf from the pan.
• Allow the bread to cool properly before lifting it out of the loaf pan. Moving the bread too quickly while it’s hot can throw off the crumb and the bake itself.

How To Make Red Velvet Bread

1. For the base batter combine the dry and wet ingredients.
2. Next, separate the batter into two parts. One portion is done, but for the other portion, add in cocoa powder and red food coloring.
3. In a lined loaf pan, add in the batters alternating them one by one. When both the batters are in the loaf pan, give the batters a swirl using a butterknife.
4. Place in the oven and allow to bake for 40-45 minutes.
5. When finish, remove from oven and allow the red velvet loaf to sit for about 15 minutes.
6. Add the optional glaze before serving and enjoy.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Quick bread recipes to try next

• Lemon Blueberry Bread
• Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread
• Cinnamon Crunch Banana Bread
• Lemon Zucchini Bread
• Chocolate Strawberry Banana Bread

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