black velvet cake

This black velvet cake is rich, deep, and not too sweet. It's the perfect Halloween cake recipe, decorated with starry white paint splatters and flying bats.

Black Velvet Cake

(60 grams) black cocoa powder

(250 grams) all purpose flour

(300 grams) granulated sugar

tsp salt

tsp baking soda

(325 milliliters) vegetable or canola oil

(235 milliliters) buttermilk*, room temp

tbsp white vinegar

eggs, room temp

tsp vanilla extract

(220 grams) unsalted butter, room temp

(210 grams) vegetable shortening

sugar

(150 grams) black cocoa powder

White food coloring

3/4″ flat paint brush

White nonpareil sprinkles

Flying paper bats

26 gauge floral wire

Preheat the oven to 350F and spray (3) 6&#8243; round cake pans with nonstick spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper. I also recommend using cake strips if you have them. See notes for different cake pan options.

In a large bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder, flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, buttermilk, vinegar, eggs, and vanilla.

Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients as you whisk to combine. Switch to a rubber spatula about halfway through as the batter thickens. Fold the batter until smooth.

Pour into your cake pans and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.

Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for about 20 minutes. Then turn them out onto a cooling rack and peel off the parchment paper. If you plan on decorating the cakes the same day, place them into the refrigerator uncovered to chill for about 1 hour. If you will be decorating at a later day, allow the cakes to cool completely at room temperature, then wrap each in plastic wrap and chill for up to 2 days.

In a large mixing bowl using a hand or stand mixer with the whisk attachment, cream together the butter and shortening until smooth and combined.

Mix in the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, and then the black cocoa powder. Finally add in the vanilla.

If the batter is still too thin, add another cup of powdered sugar.

Black Cocoa Buttercream

Once the cakes have completely cooled, level off the tops if needed.

Spread an even layer of buttercream between each cake and then allow the cake to chill for about 20 minutes. Doing so locks the layers in place, so the cake doesn&#8217;t slide around when you frost the sides.

Once set, use the remaining frosting to cover the entire cake. Place the cake back in the refrigerator once more to let the frosting set.

While it chills, prepare the decorations. For the splatters, combine 1 teaspoon of white food coloring with about 1/2 tsp of water in a small dish.

For the bats, cut 6 pieces of wire about 6-7 inches long. Using the adhesive strips that came with the bats, stick them on to the ends of each wire.

Now that the cake is chilled, begin by adding the white splatters. Lightly dip the tip of your brush into the white food coloring and place the brush about an inch away from the cake. Use your finger to run it across the tip of the brush, flicking the food coloring onto the cake. Repeat this process all around the cake.

Next, toss little pinches of the white sprinkles against the sides of the cake. These can be a bit more random, but work with small pinches to prevent the sprinkles from rolling everywhere.

Finally, stick the bats into the top of the cake. I find it&#8217;s best to make a small loop at the ends of each wire (kind of like you do with tree ornament hooks) and then slide it into the cake. This prevents the wires from tipping over. But if you plan on storing the cake and serving the next day, stick in the bats before serving as it&#8217;s more difficult to store the cake with the bats on top.

Assemble and Decorate

HELP please - Looks wonderful. I'm planning to make it for this Halloween. The directions confuse me though. Once cakes are baked, sit in pans for 20 minutes, right? And then remove from the pans and chill for 1hour, on wire rack, in the fridge?
Thanks.

I love your recipe for black velvet cake. Can I use this batter to make 3 layers cake? I’m planning use “9” round cake pans, how long should I bake the cake?

This cake recipe it delicious!  I was worried about the amount of oil going into it and because I live at high altitude I added 1/4 cup more flour! I made these into 22 cupcakes.  I baked at 450° for 5 min turned down to 350° and baked another 10 min!! The cake has a subtle sweetness to it as does the frosting, so it is not an overly sweet cake!  For the frosting I added another 3/4c powdered sugar and only 1 cup of black cocoa powder!! I might only add 1/2 cup shortening next time just to see if there is more flavor in the frosting!  Over all very tasty!! I made these into venom cupcakes for my sons 9th birthday!  Wish I could add a picture!

Love the cake! Thank you for introducing me to black cocoa! Made a cake for a customer last week using your recipe! Am I able to double the recipe?
 Thank you again for sharing, Frances Christian (cpc)

Im not a very experienced baker so I was pleased how easy it was to make this cake with good results.  I used walnut oil instead of vegetables oil and because I didn't have time to order black cocoa powder I added black food coloring to give that halloween effect.  I used chocolate extract instead of vanilla. Also Ieft the dome on the top layer and added a witch hat decoration. (which I find a way to use every year)

I just made it today, its amazingly good! 👏  i used the black dutched cocoa  trader bcos thats what i have and it still came out super black even though i put a little bit less cocao. 
I did cream cheese with whipped cream filling  on the other side of my cake and its also turn out sooo delicious 😋. Thanks for this recipe i love black velvet now than red.

The ultimate black velvet layer cake with black cream cheese frosting and chocolate coconut pecan filling.

unsalted butter (softened at room temperature)

granulated sugar (or caster sugar)

eggs (ideally at room temperature)

all purpose flour (or plain flour)

cornstarch (in the UK called cornflour)

1½ tsp baking soda

salt

black cocoa powder

buttermilk (or soured milk)

water

condensed milk

tbsp all purposed flour (or plain flour)

pecans

coconut

unsalted butter (softened at room temperature.)

sugar (or icing sugar)

spreadable cream cheese

tsp full fat milk (or whole milk)

Start out by preheating your oven to 350ºF, grease and line your cake tins. Even if you&#39;re using silicon cake pans, I&#39;d recommend lining the base with parchment paper. This is an extremely light and delicate cake and prone to sticking to the bottom.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together your sugar and butter until light and fluffy.

Next add the vanilla and eggs one at a time. Mix until just combined into a smooth batter.

In a small bowl, mix together the cocoa powder and vinegar. This will create a paste and help to activate the cocoa - making this deeper in color and richer in taste. Add this paste to the cake along with the buttermilk.

Sift the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. This should be the flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Mix this until just combined.

Slowly add in the warm water, stirring until combined and smooth.

Pour the batter into your prepared cake tins and bake in the center of your pre-heated oven until a toothpick comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool until you are able to handle the pan. Gently remove the cake from the pans - any bits that fall apart can always be stuck together with some of the handy frostings!

Instructions for Black Cocoa Cake Layers

Start by heating the condensed milk, flour and cocoa in a small saucepan over a medium low heat. Whisk until thick and reaches a deep black shade. This is quite quick as the condensed milk will already be fairly thick. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

In a large bowl beat together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy (about 2-5 minutes).

Add the condensed milk mixture to the butter mixture and beat to combine. Your goal is a thick consistency, a bit like a whipped cream.

Finally add in the chopped nuts and coconut, folding to combine. The filling is now ready for adding to your cake!

Instructions for Chocolate, Coconut and Pecan Filling

Cream the softened butter and cream cheese to loosen it up until smooth.

Sift the dry ingredients on to the butter. This is the cocoa powder and powdered sugar. You can do this is a couple of additions to prevent the powders erupting from the mixing bowl!

Add the vanilla and a splash of milk, beating until smooth. You can add more milk if necessary for the sake of consistency, but do so sparingly as adding too much will make this runny.

Instructions for Black Cocoa Cream Cheese Frosting

To assemble this cake, start off with a layer of cake. Place this in the center of your cake plate - you can secure it to the plate with a dollop of cream cheese frosting if you&#39;re worried about slippage.

Spread a thin layer of the cocoa cream cheese frosting over the surface and the pipe a ring of frosting around the outer rim of the top of the cake layer. This will act as a border for your filling.

Fill the ring of cream cheese frosting with about one third of the filling mixture. Spread as evenly as possible.

Add another layer of cake on top of the filling and repeat the process of frosting and filling.

Add the top layer of cake on and frost the top and sides in a layer of chocolate cream cheese icing. Reserve some of the icing to pipe a border around the top edge of the cake. For this one I tend to make a slightly more decorative finish than the inner borders. Spoon the rest of the filling on top.

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Black Velvet Cake

Top 2 black velvet cake recipes from across the web

The most viewed black velvet cake recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

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Black Velvet Cake

Black Velvet Cake

The most viewed black velvet cake recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine