In honor of the spookiest season of all, I’ve whipped up a cake recipe that’s sure to satisfy all the Halloween lovers: black velvet. The cake layers are pitch black, super moist and decadent, naturally colored, and taste just like the delicious shell of an Oreo cookie! Paired with my favorite dye-free black buttercream recipe and lambeth piping, this black velvet cake is a real stunner. It’s elegant and a little eerie all at the same time, which makes it the perfect Halloween party cake!
You’ve probably heard of red velvet cake (which could also be a very cool Halloween-themed cake depending on how you decorate it!), but you don’t really see black velvet cake any other time of year. It’s so delicious that I would totally eat this cake year round. I’m actually planning on using it in an Oreo-inspired cake recipe since it tastes so much like the cookie part! The color and the flavor both come from black cocoa powder, which I’ll explain more about below.
First, look at how stunning these cake layers are with this black buttercream. The whole thing together tastes like if you sandwiched chocolate buttercream between Oreo cookie shells instead of creme filling. If you’re a chocolate lover like I am, you are going to love this black velvet cake.
What is Black Cocoa Powder?
Black cocoa powder is basically an ultra Dutched cocoa powder, meaning it’s been treated with an alkaline solution to reduce its acidity. It’s very dark in color and while it isn’t as chocolatey as regular cocoa powder, it does have amazing flavor. It’s the main ingredient in Oreo cookie shells, and that’s basically what the cake layers end up tasting like. The best part about black cocoa powder is it gives the cake layers a rich black color without having to add any additional food coloring! That means it won’t turn your mouth crazy colors.
I use this extra dark black cocoa powder in the frosting portion of this recipe, which makes it possible to create black buttercream without adding food color gel. The frosting ends up being a super dark brown color after you mix it up, but after 24 hours it darkens to a rich black color like magic! It won’t stain your mouth or kick off any startling bathroom experiences, plus it tastes like Oreo cookie butter so I’m in love.
Where to Find Black Cocoa Powder
You probably won’t be able to buy black cocoa powder at your local grocery store, but you might have some luck at a dedicated cake decorating supply shop. There aren’t many of those around me, so I get my black cocoa powder on Amazon. If you don’t want to get it online, you can substitute it with an equal amount of Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder, which can be found at most grocery stores. It’ll make the cake batter dark brown, so if you’re going for a black colored cake you’ll need to add a squirt of black food color gel to take it all the way.
What Makes it a Velvet Cake?
The term “velvet cake” dates back to the 1800’s. The term was used to describe the soft, delicate texture of the cakes served at fancy dessert parties. Today, there are recipes for virtually every color of velvet cake – red velvet and white velvet being the most popular. The common denominator between all of the velvet cake recipes of today is the use of buttermilk. This ingredient helps give the cakes their velvety texture.
How to Make a Lambeth Cake
After making these cake layers, I couldn’t stop imagining black lambeth piping as the final decoration. Turns out that lambeth was the perfect choice to turn this black velvet cake into a spooky showstopper. The thing about lambeth is you can add as many layers of piping as you want, so feel free to go overboard. Here’s how I decorated mine:
I used the black buttercream to fill and stack the cake, crumb coat it, and frost it with a smooth buttercream finish. After chilling the cake until the frosting was firm, I made a template for the garlands using this same parchment paper technique from my cherry chip cake recipe. Then, I used the following piping tips to decorate:
- Wilton Tip 6B for the shell border around the bottom + top edges
- Wilton Tip 4B for the shell border above the bottom 6B shell
- Wilton Tip 104 for the ruffle garlands
- Wilton Tip 32 for the overlapping shells below the garlands
My cherry chip cake recipe shows these piping techniques in more detail. I finished the look by placing a few round black sprinkles to accent the ruffle garlands and overlapping shells.
I whipped up a quick video to walk you through this cake recipe and decorating from start to finish:
If you love recipe videos like this one, be sure to check out my YouTube channel! I’ve got a growing collection of cake recipes, decorating tutorials, and Cake Basics over there. Hit the subscribe button on my page so you never miss a new video.
Black Velvet Cake
Ingredients
Black Velvet Cake
- 2 Cups (265g) all purpose flour
- 1 2/3 Cups (340g) granulated sugar
- 2/3 Cup (80g) black cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 Cup (120ml) vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 Cup (240ml) full-fat buttermilk*, room temperature DIY recipe in notes
- 1 Cup (240ml) hot coffee or hot water
Dye-Free Black Buttercream
- 2 Cups (452g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 5 Cups (600g) powdered sugar
- 1 Cup (112g) black cocoa powder**
- 4 Tbsp whole milk, room temperature
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt, or to taste
Instructions
Make the Black Velvet Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and prepare three 6-inch or two 8-inch cake pans by spraying the sides with cooking spray and fitting the bottoms with a wax paper or parchment cake circle.
- Place all of the dry ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer and stir on low for 30 seconds to fully combine them. Add the vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk and mix on low until just combined. With the mixer still on low, add the hot water in a slow stream, then turn the mixer to medium and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes. The batter will be very thin.
- Pour into prepared cake pans no more than 2/3 full and bake for 32-36 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.
Make the Black Buttercream
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, whip the butter on medium speed until creamy and light in color, about 4 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and paddle, then add half of the powdered sugar. Mix on low speed until just incorporated, then add the rest of the powdered sugar. With the mixer still in the off position, sift in the black cocoa powder and add the vanilla, milk, and salt. Mix on low until all ingredients are thoroughly combined, about 2 minutes, scraping down the bowl and paddle as needed.
- The buttercream will look dark brown at this point, but the color will darken significantly over the next several hours. See the recipe notes for storage instructions if you're not planning on frosting the cake the same day.
Assembly
- Once the cake layers have cooled completely, level them to your desired height. Fill and stack the layers with black buttercream, then crumb coat the cake with more black buttercream. Refrigerate the crumb coated cake for 20-30 minutes to let the frosting firm up.
- To create the design pictured, use the black buttercream to create a smooth finish on the cake, then refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes. Use the rest of the black buttercream to create lambeth piping (feel free to use this tutorial as guidance). Accent the lambeth piping with round black sprinkles where desired.
Notes
- The Black Velvet Cake layers can be made ahead and stored at room temperature, covered tightly in plastic wrap, for up to two days. Alternatively, you can cover with plastic wrap and store in the freezer for up to two months before thawing to room temperature.
- The Black Buttercream can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day. Alternatively, you can store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. When you’re ready to use it, bring it back to room temperature and rewhip with your stand mixer to bring back to frosting consistency.
This black velvet cake recipe is so perfect for any Halloween gathering! I hope you love it as much as I do. Let me know what you think in the comments below and feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram if you post a pic! I love to see what you create.
Made for a friend’s gothic themed birthday. It was a HUGE HIT! Everyone loved it. Cake was (and still is 3 days later) super moist. Tastes like a double chocolate cake with an Oreo cookie vibe to it because of the dark cocoa. I used dark (not extra) for both cake and icing and it was delicious.
Cooked in two 8” pans for 36 mins. I also added a red white chocolate ganache on top to create a “blood” drip effect and then more icing on top. I also appreciate that the measurements for the icing were accurate and appropriate for the size of the cake-a lot of others recipes call for far too much that ends up being left over.
10/10 would absolutely make again!!!
Yay, Merreck! I’m so happy to hear this cake was a hit.
This recipe is devine! I pretty much never bake and have never done piping before but it turned out awesome (well not my piping ability ). It’s so moist and not too sweet. Thank you for the recipe!!
Yay, Alana! So happy you love this one as much as I do!
This cake was a huge it! It was moist and delicious. It was perfectly black too!
Oh my gosh I made this for my 25th birthday and it turned out amazing! Everyone loved it even my mom who had her doubts about the cake. Funnily enough this recipe popped up on Instagram right after my mom said I couldn’t have a black birthday cake because “no one is going to eat a cake with all that dye in it” so this recipe was literally my savior. So thank you for making a black cake with no dye! This was so easy to follow and genuinely delicious. It definitely tasted more cookies and cream/oreo than chocolate which I loved
Yay, Susan! Happy birthday, I’m glad it was such a hit!!
on you-tube you reversed the baking powder and the baking soda i followed the recipe and it took about 25 more mins to bake and it did not rise at all, i also made 3 cupcakes and they just sunk couldn’t figure out what i did wrong so i went to your you-tube to see step by step and you were saying the ingredient and then you said 2 tsp of baking powder and 1 tsp of baking soda!! well in your recipe that i followed it says 2 baking soda and 1 baking powder so that’s were i went wrong i will try again cuz i love everything you make! hopefully you will change the error for the others that want to make this!!
Oh no, Sandy! I’m so sorry that there was an error on my youtube video. I will look into that. If you make this again please use this blog version!
The error was in the recipe, not on your youtube video.That one was spot on and I did make it again, and it turned out great.So it’s two teaspoons of baking powder and one teaspoon soda.Thank you hun
I made this cake for my partner’s birthday yesterday and oh my stars! It came out amazing! I’m a home baker so the finished product was a little lopsided but the taste was incredible! I found the recipe super easy to make (so much so I was afraid i was missing steps :D) and the cake was scrumptious, both cake layers + buttercream together as well as s by themselves. The only thing that didnt come off as per your descripton was the depth of colour in the buttercream. Mine settled for a muted grey but I added some gel colour and was quite happy with the “graveyeard marble grey” I ended up with. The cake layers were dark as a ravens wing and perfect. Thank you so much, I can’t wait to try your other recipes!
I’m so happy to hear that you loved this recipe, Rute!
I made this cake for my daughter’s birthday last year and it was fantastic. So much so that she requested it again this year. I shared a few slices with friends at work and one of them told me it was the best slice of cake she had ever had in her life! Love, love, love this recipe (and the black color) and won’t wait a year again to make it. Super light with a nice flavor.
I just made the 2 8” layers. I. I normally like to torte my cakes to make more layers. I’m worried that this cake might be too delicate. I don’t want the layers to break. What do you think?
Hi Stephanie! As long as you wait until the layers are room temperature they will torte just fine 🙂
Is this recipe enough for 3 8inch pans?
Hi Bethany! For three 8-inch pans, you’ll need to make 1.5x the recipe (multiply each ingredient by 1.5). Hope that helps!
This looks amazing! Would any adjustments be necessary to make this cake gluten free? I’d like to make for Halloween at work but a coworker is gluten intolerant.
Hi Marissa! I’m excited for you to make this cake! If you want to make it GF you can use an equal amount of GF all purpose flour in place of the flour in the recipe. Enjoy!
Thank you for sharing this recipe!!
Have you tried this cake with a less amount of the black cacao? If so, does it still give the black color? The 16oz. packet of cacao yields enough for two cakes with icing. How much would you say it cost to make this cake?
Hi LaShawn! I haven’t made this recipe with any less black cocoa powder, so I can’t recommend it. I use this brand of black cocoa powder to get the darkest black color: https://amzn.to/4mY1xW4 it’s currently $17 for one pound. You need 192g total for one cake, so that would cost about $7 per cake for the black cocoa powder. The other ingredients are super variable depending on where you live so it’s hard for me to calculate the total cost of the cake.
Thank you! Best cake I ever made myself!!!
I made this cake for my niece’s boyfriend‘s birthday absolutely one of the best cakes I’ve made the taste the texture super moist and delicious. I purchased the black cocoa powder. I will never use black food coloring again literally taste like an Oreo cookie.
I look so forward to trying this cake! Do you use the coffee or water when making it? Is there an advantage on using one over the other? Thanks.
I love using coffee! It helps amplify the chocolate flavor and you can’t taste coffee flavor in the baked cake. Hot water works and the results will still be delicious, but coffee makes it next level.
So Valentine’s is definitely not my favorite holiday (quite the opposite) but I wanted to have a day of self love. This recipe is the cake I chose and it came out fantasticly!! I am a novice at baking from scratch so I give most of the credit to the recipe itself. Thanks so much!!!
Hi, I only have 1 deep 8 inch cake tin rather than two sandwich tins. Could I put the the mixture in there then slice through it to fill with butter cream? Thanks
Hi Claire! Yes, you can bake it in a deep 8-inch pan and torte it into 2 layers. The only thing I’m not sure of is the baking time/temp. I would bake the cake at the time/temperature you’re used to baking other recipes in a pan that size.
What is the difference between the black velvet cake recipe and the cupcake recipe? I’m making 30 cupcakes so I figure I can use the cake recipe.
Hi Sheila! There isn’t a difference, the cupcake recipe is just scaled down to yield less cupcakes. You can certainly use the cake recipe as cupcakes.
This cake was absolutely delicious and came out gorgeous like midnight. I actually was able to pipe some pretty swirls and on the inside I made a well and filled it with white chocolate ganache dyed with red gel food coloring to look like blood when cut into. Thank you for this delicious and beautiful recipe.
I followed this recipe exactly for cake, cupcakes and icing and it turned out fabulous!! I filled the cupcakes with raspberry curd to give them a bloody looking inside, and the cake with salted butter caramel. The cake made the most perfect centerpiece for the funeral themed party.
I used this recipe for a birthday cake and made it heart shaped. I ran out of icing and had to make a little extra, most likely because I made the cake a different shape. As for the recipe, it tasted way better than i expected! I’d be interested to see more recipes that use black cocoa powder since I have extra.
I made this cake for Thanksgiving but I added homemade cranberry sauce between the 2 cake layers. It was a masterpiece!! Everyone enjoyed it!
Hiya, I’m planning on making this next week and I’m just wondering how deep your 6 inch pans are as I’ve got a collection of random depth sizes so not sure what to go for? Thanks!
Hi there! My pans are 2 inches tall. Hope that helps and enjoy the recipe!
Hi! Excited to make this for my daughter for her birthday. She’s requesting spooky/Halloween/skeleton. When you say hot water or coffee (this may be a silly question) but how hot do you mean? Thanks!
Just boiled!
This cake was easy to make, turned out perfectly, and was so moist. The frosting was delicious and easy to pipe. I sprinkled some red disco dust on top which looked really cool with the pitch black background. Thank you!
Yay, Stacey! I’m so happy you loved this recipe and the red disco dust sounds so pretty! I want to try that now!
Excited to make this cake for a Halloween party this weekend! If I were to make a 3-tier cake, would any adjustments need to be made? I have a 4”, 6”, and an 8” round pan, would the cake and buttercream recipes be enough to make it?
Hi Chrissy! For a 3-tiered cake, you’d need almost 3 batches of the cake and buttercream recipes. Here’s a chart I made that shows how much batter you need per cake size: https://sugarandsparrow.com/cake-serving-guide/ and here’s another chart to help you calculate the buttercream: https://sugarandsparrow.com/how-much-buttercream-do-i-need/
Hi Whitney!
My cakes turned out very dense – almost like flourless choc cake- any ideas on what I may have done incorrectly? It was delicious still!
Thank you!
Hi Angela! This cake should be soft and moist but not as dense as a flourless chocolate cake. It does sound like something went wrong in the baking process. A couple questions to figure out what happened: 1) do you live at high altitude? 2) did you make any substitutions? 3) do you have a conventional oven or a convection (fan-assisted) oven?
Same thing happened with mine, no to high altitude, no substitutions and I have a fan forced oven x
Hi Megan! My only thought is that you’re using a fan forced oven (my recipe is written with conventional ovens in mind). Fan forced ovens tend to run hotter than conventional ovens, and more often than not you’ll need to decrease the oven temp by 25ºF for best results. When cakes are baked in an oven that’s too hot, the cake will set too quickly on the outside and trap steam inside, which results in a dense crumb. Next time, try decreasing the temp by 25ºF and see if that makes a difference!
This cake is beautiful! I can’t wait to try it. I’ve seen a black velvet cake that was decorated with ballet pink icing and it was absolutely gorgeous, but the black icing takes it to another level! Love all your recipes and stand in awe of your decorating skills!
Thanks so much! I hope you get a chance to try this recipe!
Also, what’s the bake time on a 10 or 12 cup Bundt pan?
Will it change the texture of the cake if I add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients?
Hi Katrina! I have never tried it that way but I don’t think it would make much of a difference. This recipe is pretty fail proof!
Thanks for responding, what’s the bake time on a 10 or 12 cup Bundt pan?
I just made this in a 10 Cup bundt pan and it was only 30 min at 350F
I made this cake for a preschooler who insisted on a “black cake with white frosting” for their birthday. The cake was moist and delicious with the perfect crumb. Definitely a keeper. Thanks for this wonderful recipe – I’ll be making it again (maybe with your black frosting next time)!
Yay, Josie! I’m so happy it was a hit!
Hi Whitney,
May I use unsalted butter instead of vegetable oil? We’re trying to avoid those types of oils.
Hi Connie! I’ve never tried that before but feel free to experiment! My hunch is that it would work.
Hi Whitney,
This cake sounds delicious and I’m planning on making it for a Pirates of the Caribbean Party. Do you have a recommendation regarding measurements and baking time for a layered 10in cake? I was thinking of 2 layers.
Hi Laura! What a fun party theme! I’m excited for you to make this cake. For a 2-layer 10-inch cake, you’ll want to double the recipe and bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes. Hope that helps!
Hi! I was just thinking of this cake and remembered that I hadn’t replied to your answer. The cake turned out perfect and everybody loved it!
Thank you so much for the quick reply/help and this amazing recipe!
Yay, Laura! I’m so glad this recipe was a hit!
Hello! I was wondering what size rectangle or square tin you would recommend to use this recipe as is. I’m wanting to use this recipe to make a coffin cake.
What a fun idea! The pan size will depend on how large you want the coffin to be. You could bake this recipe as-is in a 9×13 casserole dish (at 350 for about 40-45 min) and then carve the coffin shape out of that. Hope that helps!
Hi Josie! There is a flavor difference! You can absolutely use all black cocoa powder instead of half regular cocoa powder, but it tastes more like dark chocolate frosting because the black cocoa is more bitter. Supplementing with regular cocoa powder gives it more of a balanced chocolate flavor in my opinion. If you like dark chocolate though, feel free to use all black!
Thank you so much for your reply! I’m thinking of doing a raspberry chambord filling in between the layers. Would you recommend I do all black cocoa or keep the recipe as is? I’m worried it will be too sweet- maybe the bitterness of all black cocoa would help?
That sounds delicious! If you like the taste of dark chocolate, I’d go with the all black cocoa powder. It’s a little less sweet and you won’t have to add as much food color gel if you use all black cocoa powder, so keep that in mind too.
Wow this is hands down the most delicious cake I’ve made! So easy to make and still perfectly moist two days later! Can’t wait to make it again around Halloween time.
That’s so amazing, Maggie! I’m so happy to hear it was a hit!
If I wanted to make a two layer 9×13 cake, how much would I need to alter this recipe?
Hi Erika! You’ll want to either make 2/3 of the recipe, or make the recipe as-is and fill the pan no more than 1/2 full. Bake at 350F for an additional 5-10 minutes from what the recipe states, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Hope that helps!
Hi. I will be trying this recipe on Saturday for my daughters birthday. I was just wondering what the measurements will be for a 13×9 sheet cake.
Hi Nancy! You’ll want to either make 2/3 of the recipe, or make the recipe as-is and fill the pan no more than 1/2 full. Bake at 350F for an additional 5-10 minutes from what the recipe states, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Hope that helps!
Wow absolutely moist and delicious made the cake with vanilla buttercream turned out to be a crowd pleaser. Great recipe excited to try your other recipes as well
Yay, Hanna! I’m so happy this was a hit!
do you sift your powdered sugar and cocoa powder into the butter for the frosting or just add as is?
Hi Nicole! I usually only sift the powdered sugar and cocoa powder if there are visible lumps, otherwise I just add them in as-is. You can never go wrong with sifting – I just get a little lazy sometimes 🙂
Is the cake supposed to be dense? Mine seems a little dense. The toothpick came out clean. It’s still going to be fabulous.Thank you for any help.
Hi Sheila! This cake should be moist but not overly dense. Did you taste it yet?
Is the indicated portion of buttercream enough for only one cake? or for how many?
Hi Akira! The specified buttercream amount is enough to fill, frost, and decorate one 3-layer 6-inch cake or one 2-layer 8-inch cake in the style pictured.
Hi, I have a question, in my country I can’t get the full-fat buttermilk, do you have a recipe or what can I exchange it with?
Hi Akira! The best substitute will be the DIY buttermilk in the notes of the recipe: add 1 Tbsp of white vinegar (lemon juice works too) into a jar and top it with 1 Cup of whole milk. Stir and let sit for 15 minutes before using in the recipe.
So excited to try this! Can you suggest any alternative to Vegetable oil? Thank you!
Hi Amanda! Any flavorless cooking oil should do. Canola, safflower, grapeseed, etc.
What adjustments could I make to turn this recipe into cupcakes? So excited to try it out
I’m so excited for you to try this recipe, Kelsey! To make it as cupcakes, fill the tins no more than 2/3 full and bake at 350F/177C for 15-18 min. They’re done when a toothpick inserted comes out clean. This recipe should make about 35-40 cupcakes as-is. Enjoy!
I was just going to ask the same question as Sravanthy! It doesn’t seem much flour even though there is quite a lot of black cocoa. This looks delicious and I would like to make it next week but need to know about the flour first please! Thanks a lot.
That was a typo! It’s 265g of all purpose flour. Thanks for catching that!
Hi Whitney!
Did you mean 265 g all purpose flour or is it supposed to be 165 g?
Yes I did! Thanks so much for catching that typo. I corrected it on the recipe 🙂
My husband is a type 1 diabetic, how much would I have to adjust the recipe to be safe for him?
Hi Lily! I’m not sure – I’ve never made a cake diabetic friendly before. My hunch is to swap the flour for GF flour and use a sugar substitute that’s meant for baking in place of the sugar. The frosting might be harder to tweak since I’m not sure what a diabetic friendly alternative to powdered sugar would be. Hope some of those suggestions help though!
Type 1s need to eat in moderation not sugar free, but they also want to celebrate like everyone else. They use insulin based on carbs. Learn to really read labels. If you compare the label of SF candy to its counterpart you will see they both contain almost the same number of carbs due to sweeteners containing sugar alcohols, often SF contains more carbs & the side effects are unhealthy. Extra fat, in pizza & frosting, can slow the metabolic rate in digestion, but sometimes there is too much sugar in cake for that to come into play. I would bolus ahead of eating & recheck my numbers in an hour+. Enjoying my cake the way it’s supposed to be. Adding fake sugar stimulates your cravings & you only end up overeating. I’m a mom of TD1 twins & a chef w/ degree in culinary nutrition so I understand how challenging eating for life can be.
For diabetic frendly cake you can use jaggery (natural product ) by replacing powder sugar or you can also use sugar free capsules in form of powder (industrial product). Hope so this info will help you.
Monk fruit is what I use. Im T2 diabetic. It comes in granulated and powdered. Ratio is 1:1.
That’s awesome to know, Angela! Thanks!
When using Monk fruit in place of sugar do use the same measurement?
Hi Dana! I’ve never tried this recipe with monk fruit, so I’m not sure what the results would be. A quick Google search suggested to sub 1/4 of the amount of sugar in the recipe with monk fruit, which works out to be somewhere between 1/3 to 1/2 Cup of monk fruit. That’s where I’d start if you want to experiment. Hope that helps!
A friend requested a gothic cake for her baby shower and I used this recipe. It came out amazing both in taste and look! It didn’t turn anyone’s mouth black, either. It doesn’t look as dark as first but gets more black as it sits I think, which dye does as well. Anyway, thank you for this!
Where’s the vinegar? Where’s the chemical reaction you said it was a black velvet cake though the cakes have a chemical reaction from the vinegar in the cocoa.
Hi Cynthia! I’m not sure where you read that there needs to be vinegar in this cake recipe. The buttermilk is very acidic (the DIY version in the notes does call for vinegar) and aids in that chemical reaction that takes place in the oven.
Hi,
This looks awesome! My son is having a goth themed wedding and this would be perfect I want to make this for the bottom tier of a 3 tiered cake. How could I convert this recipe to make a 10″ cake, my tins are 3″ high. Also, is this buttercream suitable or stable enough to use under fondant icing? Great recipe can’t wait to try it!!!
Hi Jessica! That’s such a fun wedding theme! One batch of this cake recipe makes enough for one 10 inch cake layer (6 Cups of batter). You’ll need to multiply the cake portion of this recipe by the number of layers you’re making to get the right amount. Here’s a more detailed blog post I wrote about scaling recipes to fit different pan sizes: https://sugarandsparrow.com/cake-serving-guide/. And yes, the buttercream is stable enough for under fondant. Enjoy!
Hello! I need a little clarification. So the cake (i already made) uses black cocoa, but I now see the buttercream needs extra dark black coco. Can I use the black cocoa I used in the cake for the buttercream? I didn’t realize I needed black and extra dark black cocoa.
My exact same question lol
Hi Teresa-Ann! Yes, you can use the same black cocoa for the cake and buttercream. And if you don’t have extra black cocoa powder then you can use this recipe for the buttercream and double it: https://sugarandsparrow.com/black-buttercream-recipe/
Does this cake turn your tongue & teeth black when eating?
Hi Alyce! This recipe doesn’t use any food color gel, so it won’t tint your mouth black!