Red Velvet Cake Mix Brownies are simple to make with boxed cake mix. Top off with cream cheese frosting for a quick and easy dessert recipe. If you’re a big chocolate fan, then you’ll love this kitchen hack for quick and tasty brownies!

 

We love using all sorts of different kitchen hacks and shortcuts to make some quick tasty dessert recipes like these Red Velvet Cake Mix Brownies. We’ve made many easy dessert recipes that call for a cake mix.

You can use cake mix to make up all sorts of different desserts that aren’t cake. We’ve used cake mix to make up some Funfetti Donuts as well as some Strawberry Cake Mix Cookies. We even use it to make up one of our favorite cake mix dessert recipes: Red Velvet Cake Mix Brownies.

Red velvet flavor is so good and works in so many different desserts. Just check out red velvet dessert recipes like our Red Velvet Poke Cake or Cake Mix Red Velvet Cookies. It’s no wonder why making Red Velvet Brownies with cake mix works out so well!

These wonderfully rich chocolate treats would be good enough on their own, but we love topping them. With just a few extra ingredients, we were able to make this easy cream cheese frosting that tastes just like cheesecake! Thrown on top of these tasty Red Velvet Brownies, it makes for a delicious dessert you’ll keep coming back to.

Why you’ll love this easy Red Velvet Brownies recipe

• Making brownies with cake mix is an easy kitchen shortcut whenever you’re craving brownies and need them fast! You could use chocolate cake mix but these Red Velvet Cake Mix Brownies are an easy upgrade that’s worth making.
• They are a perfect cake mix dessert year round but especially great for holidays like Valentine’s Day and Christmas.
• Whether you cook brownies up more cakey or more fudgey, these brownies are tasty enough on their own. They only get better when you top them with our quick and easy cheesecake frosting!
• Once you’ve baked a batch of these tasty brownies up, they’ll keep really well. They’ll last up to a week in the fridge and you can even freeze them!

Red Velvet Cake Mix Brownies Ingredients

What’s great about this Red Velvet Cake Mix Brownies recipe is that it’s the perfect easy dessert recipe- especially if you’re a big dessert person. You’ll probably have a lot of these ingredients on hand in your fridge or pantry, so take a quick peek before running to the store. In case you need to run out and grab something, here’s all you need:

• Red Velvet Cake Mix – We went with this Duncan Hines Red Velvet Cake Mix but there’s plenty of other brands out there. You could use a Betty Crocker Red Velvet Cake Mix or Pillsbury cake mix if you prefer those instead.
• Vegetable Oil
• Egg
• Milk – We’ll use this for our cake mix brownie batter and for thinning out frosting later on.
• Cream Cheese – Let this soften before using, along with the butter.
• Butter – Mixing the cream cheese with butter makes it more like a cream cheese buttercream frosting. We think it tastes great!
• Vanilla Extract – Just to add a little extra touch of vanilla flavor to the Cream Cheese Frosting.
• Powdered Sugar

See recipe card for quantities.

How to make Red Velvet Brownies from Cake Mix

These Red Velvet Cake Mix Brownies are going to be some quick and easy to make- mostly thanks to that cake mix that gives the red color! Whenever you’re ready to make a batch of brownies for yourself, here’s all you’ll have to do:

• Briefly mix cake mix, oil and egg together in a large mixing bowl. Once mixed, slowly add milk and mix until a dense batter just comes together. The denser our batter, the more brownie-like our Cake Mix Brownies will turn out.

• Transfer the batter to a greased 8×8 baking pan (or pan with parchment paper) and set in an awaiting 350 degree oven. Let bake for 24-26 minutes before pulling from the oven and letting cool at least 60 minutes. If you’d like a more fudgy brownie, check out the variations section near the end of the post for some tips!

• While our cake mix brownie cool, start on the cream cheese frosting. Add softened butter and cream cheese to a large bowl and beat together until fluffy and mixed.

• Briefly mix in some vanilla extract before beating in powdered sugar in batches. This will help us get a well-mixed and perfect frosting! If your frosting is a little too thick or hard to work with, add just enough milk to thin it out to where you need it.

• After letting cake mix brownies cool, the gooey center should’ve finally set, so we’re good to frost and cut into it!

• Spread an even layer of cream cheese frosting over top the brownies. You could optionally garnish with a bit of red sugar if you have any on hand for a little extra color.

Substitutions

If you love making homemade dessert recipes, chances are you already have a lot of these fridge and pantry staples on hand. Just in case you don’t, here’s a few quick substitutions you can make in a pinch:

• Red Velvet Cake Mix – A lot of people wonder “is red velvet cake just chocolate cake?” The answer is… sort of. When it comes to cake mix flavors, then that answer is probably yes, so you can use chocolate cake mix instead of red velvet cake mix for this recipe. Just consider adding some red food coloring to get some of that color back.
• Vegetable Oil – A lot of cake mix box instructions will call for vegetable oil but, really, they just need a neutral oil with no flavor. If you don’t have any vegetable oil on hand, reach for something like canola oil or grapeseed oil instead. You can even use a melted butter if you want the extra buttery flavor added in!
• Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting – We understand if you don’t have all the ingredients for frosting on hand… or you’re just feeling a little lazy today. You can substitute the frosting ingredients out for any of your favorite frosting recipes or use canned frosting instead.

Variations

Making these Red Velvet Brownies from Cake Mix helps speed up the process but it does limit ways you can change the recipe up. Still, we’ve got a couple ideas you can try if you want to shake things around a little:

• Red Velvet Brownies with White Chocolate Chips – Here’s a tasty brownie idea! Add anywhere from 1/4 cup of white chocolate chips to a full 1 cup of white chocolate chips into your brownie recipe. You’ll want to fold most of these into the cake mix batter but you can also spread some across the top of the cake mix brownies before they go into the oven too.
• Doctored Red Velvet Cake Mix Brownies – There’s plenty of ways to make cake mix better and you can use them in this cake mix brownies recipe too! Add in an extra egg, used melted butter instead of oil, or even add a little exta cocoa powder to amp up the chocolate flavor.
• Fudgy vs Cakey Brownies – If you’re willing to mess around with the cooking times, you can either more fudgy brownies or more cakey brownies. If you want fudgy, try baking for 18-24 minutes and, if you want cakey, stick with baking around 24-26 minutes like we say in the recipe.

Storage / Freezing

Storage: On the off-chance you don’t eat up all your Red Velvet Cake Mix Brownies, you’ll want to save the leftovers. Tightly wrap the whole tray of brownies in plastic or transfer individual brownies to an airtight container. Keep in the fridge for up to a week.

Freezing: You can also give freezing cake mix brownies a shot too for more long-term storage. Tightly wrap the tray with plastic wrap and/or aluminum foil or transfer individual brownies to a freezer-safe container. This will keep your brownies good for up to 3 months- just note that the cream cheese frosting might be a bit “grainy” after thawing.

Other Red Velvet Recipes

Looking for other Red Velvet Cake Mix Recipes? Try these:

• Red Velvet Cake Mix Cookies
• Red Velvet Poke Cake
• Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies
• Red Velvet Truffles

Brownie Recipes to Try

Here are some more of our favorite brownie recipes to try next: