Red Velvet White Chocolate Cheesecake

I have a confession. One that I'm slightly ashamed to admit. Ok here goes: I've never baked an actual cake. (The mini ones don't count. Small ones are super easy to frost and decorate.)

There, I said it. Feels good to have gotten that one off my chest! lol.


As you all know, I have an obsession with cupcakes. I think that was a huge contributing factor. I've been thinking for a while now that I would try my hand at this cake baking thing, but I kept putting it off.

The thought of finally attempting to bake and decorate a cake was just so daunting. I mean, what if it turns out dry? And how the heck do you frost a cake so that it looks completely smooth and clean? Yes, it was fear of failure that kept me from attempting it. I thought that I would take a cake decorating class first. I looked up several classes in the area, but could never commit to an entire series. Hence, the procrastination.

But two things happened recently that acted as a catalyst to kick my butt into gear: (1) I had the most amazing Red Velvet Cheesecake at Cheesecake factory and (2) I convinced myself that a true domestic goddess would know how to bake and decorate a cake. I mean, the Queen Domestic Goddess herself, Martha, would never shy away from a baking task purely because it was daunting. No. In fact, I'm sure she would embrace it and triumph! True domestic goddesses would have some mad cake decorating skillz!

Ok, more about this new Red Velvet Cheesecake at Cheesecake Factory. At first, I was a bit skeptical about ordering it. It seemed like it would be super sweet and rich. But no, it was amazing. Simply divine. Hubby and I are rarely able to finish an entire order of cheesecake at CF, but every single time we've ordered it, we devoured the entire thing.

I couldn't stop thinking about it. So I made up my mind that my first cake baking experience would be to replicate this amazing beauty! It presented itself as a worthy challenge for an aspiring domestic goddess!

I researched recipes for Red Velvet cake and Cheesecake for literally a month, before even attempting to bake anything. I must've read several dozen recipes for each, before settling on a handful to test. I tested four recipes before finally finding the two winning ones. Of the four that I tested, two were cheesecake recipes, and two were red velvet. They didn't turn out to my liking- sometimes the cake wasn't moist enough, or didn't have enough flavor. The cheesecakes either turned out too soft in texture or was too rich and sugary.

But after tasting these two, I knew they were perfect: (1) a Red Velvet cupcake recipe from Martha's cupcake book, and (2) A heavily modified WS White Chocolate Cheesecake Recipe.

(1) The Red Velvet Cake

Combine the dry ingredients and mix together well. As I mentioned in a previous post, I always use a super high quality cocoa powder: Ghirardelli. It really makes a difference in the flavor of your end product.

Combine the wet ingredients: oil, eggs, vanilla....

...and of course, red gel-paste food coloring. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk. Lastly, stir together baking soda and vinegar in a small bowl- they will fizz and bubble, add it to the batter and mix well.


Divide the batter evenly between two parchment paper-lined 9 inch spring form pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. When done, set aside to cool completely.

(2) The White Chocolate Cheesecake

Melt 2 oz of white baking chocolate. Set aside to slightly cool.



Beat sugar and cream cheese until smooth and creamy.

Mix in flour, eggs, vanilla, and the melted white chocolate. Beat until completely smooth and well blended.

Pour all the batter into a single parchment lined 9 inch spring form pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until the center has set. Allow the cheesecake to cool completely. (At Cheesecake Factory, they have two layers of Red Velvet and two layers of cheesecake, but I decided to do one thick middle layer of cheesecake, as opposed to two thinner ones. Feel free to double the recipe if you'd like four layers total.)

(3) The Cream Cheese Frosting

Ok so, I toyed with what kind of frosting to use for a good long while. Traditionally, Red Velvet cake is paired with cream cheese frosting, as did the one at Cheesecake Factory. I really dislike super sweet frosting, so I thought about using a lighter-on-the-sugar-and-palate Swiss Meringue Buttercream. But since I was replicating the one at Cheesecake Factory, I decided to stick with the original frosting. However, as a good compromise, I cut down the sugar by a lot. The cake and cheesecake layers already has sugar in it, so I didn't want to add a super sweet cream cheese frosting to drown out the flavors of the cake itself.


Usually you use about 2-3 cups of powdered sugar for one 8 oz package of cream cheese. However, in my recipe, I used a 1 to 1 ratio (3 cups of powdered sugar w/ 3 packages of cream cheese). If you are a big fan of cream cheese frosting, I suggest tasting the frosting as you're making it to adjust it to your liking. You might want to add more sugar than I did. Feel free to use your favorite cream cheese frosting recipe if you have a go-to one. =)

(4) The Daunting Task of Frosting and Decorating the Cake

This was the part that I was afraid of the most! I was totally stressing over whether or not I could decorate a cake and make it look flawless.

I bought a cake leveler and tried to trim the cake as best as I could. I ended up wasting a lot of it! My cake layers turned out to be way thinner than the actual cake when I pulled it out of the oven. Oh well, practice makes perfect, I guess. At least it was level! hehe.


I took a deep breath and went for it. First up: a bit of frosting on the first layer, before applying the cheesecake layer.


Alright, so far so good. Got all the layers together and frosted the middle between each layer! That was the easy part, but...


...it proved to be super difficult to get the icing around the cake to be smooth. How do people do it?? Tips anyone? I kept picking up pieces of red cake, which stuck out like a sore thumb on my white frosting! I had to layer it on thicker and thicker to try to get rid of them and to try to smooth out the "wrinkles!" It was hard work. Took me forever. I bet Martha could frost a perfect cake in couple of minutes..


Ta-DA! My very first cake!! I think it turned out quite well! I piped some flowers around the edges and garnished them with some cute white chocolate chips. Not bad for an amateur, eh?


The cake was so gorgeous when we cut into it! This would be a beautiful dessert to have for a holiday party or a Christmas dinner! Wow! I was so proud of myself for pulling this one off! Took me all day to do it, but it turned out fantastic! What do you guys think? =)

Ok, here are a few things about the cake:

(1) SO incredibly delicious! Everyone who tried it was amazed by the fantastic flavor of the red velvet with the white chocolate cheesecake. The cake was super moist and flavorful, while the cheesecake was subtly sweet and had a really nice, dense and creamy texture. The flavors complimented perfectly! It doesn't taste exactly like the one at Cheesecake Factory, but it was still pretty damn good- as delicious as the original one. =)

(2) When the cake is fully assembled, refrigerate overnight. The cheesecake needs time to set- that's when you'll get the best texture and flavor. Serve immediately after taking it out of the fridge. This is one of the rare times when cake tastes the best when it's chilled.

(3) So about the cream cheese frosting... it wasn't super sweet, so it didn't over power the cake like a normal cream cheese frosting would. However, next time when I make this, I will definitely try using a lighter, more mild Swiss or Italian Meringue buttercream. Since the flavors of the red velvet and the white chocolate cheesecake are so delicious and unique, the buttercream that goes with it should be muted, so that you can really enjoy the flavors of the cake itself. But if you're a big fan of cream cheese frosting, please try it with this cake! Some of my friends who tried this cake loved it with the frosting- I think it was because they were fans of cream cheese frosting in general.

Anyway, all in all, this cake adventure from beginning to end was a huge success! Aside from the cake being super beautiful and photogenic, it was also incredibly delicious, which is all that matters in the end anyway. It's me and Hubby's new favorite cake! Give this a try and let me know how you like it! I'm so excited to be sharing this super unique recipe with all of you! =)


Recipes from this entry:

Red Velvet Cake
White Chocolate Cheesecake
Cream Cheese Frosting

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