It’s been a few years since I’ve had a real red velvet cake. While there’s a high-quality plant-based version of most traditionally non-vegan things nowadays, I haven’t been so lucky to find a vegan version of red velvet cake worth celebrating. That said, I can always imagine making a fake version from modeling dough, stoking a desire for the real thing done right—hint to my culinarily gifted sister, Anna.

This tiny version of a red velvet cake makes me think of all things December, happy and (you guessed it), fun. Heads up, if you want to get a deeper red color like in the video, a little dough mixing is required so prepare for some extra squishing.

Here’s the short ingredient list on which a few affiliate links are included and if clicked will yield me a tiny commission.  

Supplies:

• Red dough
• Brown dough
• White dough
• Fake plate
• Slicer (library or expired bank card)
• Circular cookie cutter
• Roller

Instructions:

1. Mix a little brown dough with the red dough until you have a maroon color
2. Roll some of the maroon dough into a ball, roll it until it’s about 1/8″ thick, then cut press out a disc shape with the cookie cutter. Repeat this until you have three discs. Set the maroon discs aside.
3. Roll some white dough into a ball between your hands, then lay it flat and roll it with your roller until it’s flat (not as thick as the maroon discs) and wide enough to cut two white circles with the cookie cutter. Set the two white circles aside.
4. Stack your discs. Lay one maroon disc on your tiny plate, then center one white disc on top of it. Repeat these steps until you’ve centered your final maroon disc on top. It should look like a cylindrical tower.
5. Roll another piece of white dough into a ball between your hands, lay it flat, and roll it with your roller until it’s flat and wide enough to cover all three layers.
6. Lay the big white flat piece of white dough over your tower, gently pressing it down to the shape of your tower. Use your slicing tool (library or bank card) to trim the access white off the bottom to make it neat.
7. Finally, use your slicing tool to cut a wedge out of the red velvet cake replica. Be careful not to use too much pressure. Use a gently saw-like motion to avoid smearing the colors or damaging the shape.

Done deal! You are officially a fake cake maker.