What makes red velvet cake red?

The traditional red velvet cake is made with red food coloring. Some people add beet juice for the red coloring, but that is not how the traditional red velvet cake is made. Some people think red velvet is a chocolate cake, BUT it is not. In fact it only has about 2 tbsp to 1/4 cup cocoa powder and this is to make the color darker and not appear bright red.

All a red velvet cake is is a chocolate cake with an immense amount of red food coloring in it.

a boat load of food coloring.

Its just red food coloring.

Usually red food coloring or sometimes even red beet juice I believe.

Food coloring. Red velvet cake is basically chocolate cake, but with cream cheese frosting and dyed red.

In every recipe I've seen for Red Velvet Cake, there's a whopping dose of red food coloring (like, a whole bottle of it). This combines with cocoa powder to make the cake's characteristic dark red color. Traditionally, a white fluffy frosting provides color contrast.

Dye