halloween cakes

Forget the name, Nigella's devil's food cake is heavenly. The crumb is tender, the filling and frosting luscious. 

Nigella's devil’s food cake

cocoa powder, sifted

100 grams/4 ounces dark muscovado sugar

250 milliliters/8fl oz boiling water

125 grams/4½oz soft unsalted butter,

caster sugar

flour

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

tsp vanilla extract

free-range eggs

125 milliliters/4fl oz water

dark muscovado sugar

175 grams/6 ounces unsalted butter,

300 grams/10 ounces best-quality dark chocolate, finely chopped

Pumpkin Spiced Cupcakes

vegan butter

pumpkin puree

non dairy milk

apple cider vinegar

GF self raising flour

tsp baking powder

salt

pumpkin pie spice

vegan stick butter

icing sugar

cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 180c and line a cupcake tray with cases.

Combine your milk and cider vinegar and set aside for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, cream together the butter, pumpkin puree and sugar. Whisk in the milk mixture, then fold through your dry ingredients.

Divide the mixture between the cupcake cases and bake for 22 minutes, then allow to cool.

For the frosting, beat the butter with an electric mixer, then gradually incorporate the icing sugar and cinnamon.

Pipe the frosting onto each of the cakes and decorate with some halloween chocolates or toppings of choice!

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

(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.

These delicious toffee apple muffins take no time to make and are perfect for baking with children. 

Toffee apple muffins

eggs,

80 grams/2¾oz caster sugar

240 milliliters/8½fl oz milk

grams/3½oz butter, melted

300 grams/10½oz plain flour

eating apples, peeled, cored, finely chopped

shop-bought toffee pieces

Halloween food doesn't have to be icky. These cute ghost cupcakes are great for younger kids' Halloween parties.

Top 5 halloween cakes recipes from across the web

The most viewed halloween cakes recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine

Top Tags

Nigella's devil’s food cake

Pumpkin Spiced Cupcakes

Black Velvet Cake

Toffee apple muffins

Halloween ghost cupcakes

Top 5 halloween cakes recipes from across the web

The most viewed halloween cakes recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Nigella's devil’s food cake

Pumpkin Spiced Cupcakes

Black Velvet Cake

Toffee apple muffins

Halloween ghost cupcakes

The most viewed halloween cakes recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine