Red Velvet Crepes With Cream Cheese Drizzle Recipe

Red velvet cake is a classic dessert, beloved for its vibrant color, subtle chocolate flavor, and tangy cream cheese frosting. In this recipe from developer A.J. Forget, we bring those classic flavors (and looks) to the table but in crepe form, and in just half an hour, without ever needing to turn on the oven. In a timeframe much shorter than that of making an actual red velvet cake, you can have a whole stack of beautiful, bright red crepes, just waiting to be drizzled with sweet and tangy cream cheese sauce and rolled or folded into perfect little bundles.

While the flavor of red velvet cake is wonderful, it is unlikely that it would have reached the same level of popularity were it not for its color. Those vivid hues of red, set against the stark white of cream cheese frosting, are hard to resist. Fortunately, those lovely red hues look just as lovely in a rolled crepe, stuffed with whipped cream and chocolate sauce, as they do in the classic cake. Whether you choose to make these red velvet crepes for a decadent breakfast or a stunning dessert, they are sure to impress, both with their subtle sweetness and their striking coloration.

Gather the ingredients for red velvet crepes with cream cheese drizzle

For the crepes in this recipe you will need flour, sugar, salt, cocoa powder, milk, eggs, vanilla extract, and red gel food coloring. For the cream cheese drizzle you will need cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and milk. Once you've brought these ingredients together, you are ready to start cooking.

Step 1: Mix the dry ingredients

Add the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, and salt to a mixing bowl and stir together.

Step 2: Add the wet ingredients

Pour in the milk, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla, and whisk until well mixed.

Step 3: Make the batter red

Whisk in the food coloring, and set the batter aside for now.

Step 4: Start the cream cheese sauce

In a separate mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla, and mash together with a fork or whisk.

Step 5: Whisk until smooth

Using a hand mixer, whisk the cream cheese mixture until smooth.

Step 6: Heat the skillet

Bring a large skillet to medium heat and add a sliver of butter.

Step 7: Pour in the batter

Pour in ¼ cup of crepe batter and swirl around. Cook until the edges are done but not crisp, around 45 to 60 seconds.

Step 8: Flip

Flip the crepe and cook for 30 seconds more. Remove to a plate and repeat the cooking process until all crepes are cooked and set aside.

Step 9: Dress and serve

Serve the crepes rolled or folded, filled with whipped cream and a thin drizzle of chocolate sauce (if desired), and topped with a good drizzle of cream cheese sauce.

Red Velvet Crepes With Cream Cheese Drizzle Recipe
4.9 (7 ratings)
These decadent red velvet crepes come decked out with an essentially tangy cream cheese icing - just like the iconic cake.
Prep Time
15
minutes
Cook Time
15
minutes
Servings
6
Servings
red velvet crepe on plate
Total time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
  • For the crepes
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt
  • 1 ¾ cups milk
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 2 tablespoons melted butter
  • ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 teaspoons red gel food coloring
  • For the cream cheese sauce
  • 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Optional Ingredients
  • Whipped cream, for serving
  • Chocolate sauce, for serving
Directions
  1. Add the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, and salt to a mixing bowl and stir together.
  2. Pour in the milk, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla, and whisk until well mixed.
  3. Whisk in the food coloring, and set the batter aside for now.
  4. In a separate mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla, and mash together with a fork or whisk.
  5. Using a hand mixer, whisk the cream cheese mixture until smooth.
  6. Bring a large skillet to medium heat and add a sliver of butter.
  7. Pour in ¼ cup of crepe batter and swirl around. Cook until the edges are done but not crisp, around 45 to 60 seconds.
  8. Flip the crepe and cook for 30 seconds more. Remove to a plate and repeat the cooking process until all crepes are cooked and set aside.
  9. Serve the crepes rolled or folded, filled with whipped cream and a thin drizzle of chocolate sauce (if desired), and topped with a good drizzle of cream cheese sauce.
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How should I serve these red velvet crepes?

One of the best things about a stack of crepes is that each one is its own blank canvas, waiting to be perfectly tailored to your tastes. The slightly sweet, chocolatey flavor of these red velvet crepes is perfect with just a drizzle of the sweet and tangy cream cheese sauce, but there are also lots of options for making them your own. 

Our first suggestions are the optional ingredients in the recipe: whipped cream and chocolate sauce. A tender crepe filled with pillowy whipped cream is a wonderful treat, and a thin drizzle of chocolate sauce accentuates the cocoa in the crepe itself, adding another layer of chocolate decadence. 

Another great way to customize sweet crepes is by adding a bit of fruit. Thinly sliced strawberries are a perfect flavor pairing for the delicate chocolate of a red velvet crepe. Beyond flavor, the color works wonderfully as well, in keeping with the classic red-and-white color scheme. Raspberries and cherries also work beautifully for these same reasons, providing both complementary tastes and hues. 

To add a touch of contrast, you could also include a bit of mint. Mint, chocolate, and cream go together beautifully, and the verdant green stands out against the red and white, adding an elegant flourish.

What can I use instead of cream cheese in this recipe?

Without cream cheese icing, red velvet cake just isn't the same. While the cake itself boasts a touch of tangy flavor, the cream cheese icing really brings that flavor home, creating the perfect balance of sweet, rich, and tangy that we all so adore. To recreate that beloved flavor combination in this recipe, we created a drizzle-ready cream cheese sauce, like a thin cream cheese icing, which you can use to fill the red velvet crepes or to drizzle over the top of a crepe stuffed with all of your favorite fillings. But can you make that delicious sauce without cream cheese? While it might not taste exactly the same, there are certainly options.

The first is neufchâtel cheese. You've probably seen neufchâtel in the cheese aisle and wondered what it is. It comes in the same packaging as cream cheese, and is usually set right next to it. American neufchâtel has a very similar texture and flavor to cream cheese and the two can be used interchangeably. It is important to note, though, that American neufchâtel cheese is quite different from the French neufchâtel cheese it is named after. In fact, Philadelphia cream cheese was first created by a botched attempt to recreate neufchâtel.

There is also a growing market for non-dairy cheese substitutes, and plant-based cream cheese is one of the most reliable of these products. Because of cream cheese's mild flavor and soft texture, it is one of the easiest to replicate using plant-based ingredients.