You can enjoy the creaminess and tanginess of a red velvet cake in latte form. You don’t even need caffeine for this red velvet latte! It has red velvet milk topped with a homemade cream cheese cold foam for that extra tang. This drink looks like a slice of red velvet cake itself, and it’s so easy to make.

Here’s how to make this red velvet latte at home!

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• It’s an all-natural way of making red velvet flavor.
• The drink is beautiful and delicious!
• It’s easy to follow to make a cafe-quality drink at home.
• Experiment with different flavors to make a unique beverage.
• Use this as a base for iced lattes, matcha lattes, or even milk tea.

What is Red Velvet?

People often don’t know what red velvet cake exactly is or assume it’s just chocolate and vanilla cake mixed with red dye. However, red velvet cake is different from chocolate cake.

Red Velvet is a cake flavor made from cocoa powder, buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla, and red food coloring. It is often paired with ermine or cream cheese frosting.

The red velvet cake was famously started at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, also known as the Waldorf-Astoria cake. Around the same time, Adams Extract marketed its red food coloring with red velvet cakes, which landed on tables across the United States. However, similar cakes have been around since the 1800s, with velvet referring to the soft cake texture, which was a luxury.

How? Bakers add vinegar and buttermilk, preventing gluten formation, making the cake soft. This gives it a tangy flavor and reddish color thanks to cocoa’s anthocyanins, which change color according to the pH.

What Makes Red Velvet Red?

As mentioned, cocoa powder, vinegar, and buttermilk make a chemical reaction that turns the anthocyanins in cocoa powder red. Back then, cocoa powder was unprocessed and alkaline with anthocyanins. These days, cocoa powder is processed to improve its quality, which removes much of the anthocyanins in cocoa powder. So you won’t get much of a natural red color unless you find natural cocoa powder.

Now, many bakers use red food coloring to get that iconic red color, either with synthetic or natural food dyes. Beetroot is also commonly used, but it may give the cake a slightly different flavor.

What Does a Red Velvet Latte Taste Like?

It tastes veryyyy similar to a red velvet cake! It’s slightly cocoa-y, creamy, slightly tangy, and vanilla-y. The softly whipped cream also gives it a nice soft texture that red velvet cake has.

For a really accurate flavor, I would add a little buttermilk to really give it a creamy and tangy taste. With beet powder, you get a slightly sweeter, more earthy flavor. But it definitely adds an earthy taste, so the red velvet tastes a little more… healthy. So whether you want to use beets versus food coloring is up to you!

How to Add Red Color Naturally

During World War II, when bakers used beetroot juice to make cakes red due to sugar rations. Beetroot is naturally bright fuchsia and a strong natural dye for culinary uses. The powder form is the best for coloring frostings, drinks, and other foods because it’s concentrated and doesn’t impart a lot of beet flavor.

I use beetroot powder in this drink, and it makes the milk turn a beautiful, bright pink. With cocoa powder, it turns into a ruby chocolate color, which is a gorgeous pink brown. It’s not as bright red as food coloring, but its being natural makes you feel better.

Does it taste like beets?

While there is a tablespoon of beet powder in this drink, you can’t realllllly taste the beet! Cocoa powder is great at covering up a lot of flavors, so it tastes like a slightly more earthy chocolate. And with vanilla and cream cheese cold foam, it’s not offensive, but there’s definitely a hint of it.

Red Velvet Latte: What You’ll Need

Equipment:

• A handheld frother

Ingredients:

• Red Velvet Latte
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp beetroot powder
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 1-2 tsp sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup ice
• 1-2 shots of espresso (optional)
• Cream Cheese Cream
• 1 tbsp cream cheese
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• 1 tsp sugar

Red Velvet Latte Recipe

1. Make Red Velvet Paste. Add cocoa powder, beetroot powder, vanilla extract, and a little hot water into a glass. Mix with a spoon or stir stick until a paste forms.
2. Make Red Velvet Lette. Add milk to the red velvet paste, then mix until well combined. If there are clumps, strain them out with a strainer, or use a spoon and smash the bits against the side of the glass. A muddle stick would work as well.
3. Whip Cream. Add heavy cream, sugar, and cream cheese to a glass, then whip with a handheld frother until soft and fluffy. Stop when the cream is thick but still pourable. You could also make whipped cream for a scoopable option.
4. Assemble Drink. Add ice and red velvet milk to a separate glass, then top with the cream cheese foam. Garnish with a dusting of cocoa powder.
5. Mix and Enjoy!

Tips for the Best Red Velvet Latte

• Use Room Temperature Cheese: Let the cream cheese come to room temperature before whipping it into the cream. This will make the cream smoother and easier to whip.
• Sift the Powders: Sifting the powders gets rid of any pesky clumps that are hard to get out while mixing. Use a tea sift to gently sift the powder into the cup. Beetroot powder tends to form pebble-like clumps, so sifting it makes it much easier to work with.
• Garnish Nicely: This drink’s red color is so beautiful, so naturally the garnish should be just as pretty! I like to dust with cocoa powder, but for even more red, you can use red velvet cookie crumbles, beet powder, or red sprinkles.
• Use a Creamy Milk: I personally like this drink with a creamier finish, so whole or oat milk tastes best here. You can even add a little evaporated milk or condensed milk for extra flavor.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this have caffeine?

Nope! This red velvet latte does not have caffeine, but you can definitely add a shot or two of espresso. It will add a nice coffee flavor and lean towards a creamy mocha with a subtle tangy flavor. The vanilla also rounds out the flavor!

Is a red velvet latte just a mocha with red food coloring?

It depends on how the cafe makes it! Some cafes will use a mocha base with some sort of red syrup or coloring, but most will use a red velvet-flavored syrup. Usually, the syrup will have chocolate and cream cheese flavoring in it to give it that signature tang.

Can I make this hot?

Yes! Just steam or warm up the milk before adding it to the red velvet paste you make. You can mix the paste with espresso for a true latte, and even steam the milk to make latte art!

Other Dessert-Inspired Recipes to Try

Red velvet is such a delicious latte flavor that is basically a dessert in drink form. If you like sweet beverage flavors, then you need to try these other dessert-inspired recipes next:

• Tiramisu Latte
• Sweet Potato Casserole Latte
• Butter Pecan Matcha Latte
• Tres Leches Latte
• Banana Pudding Matcha Latte