It’s October 1st, which means that Halloween is only 30 days away! Besides dressing up, spooky decorations, and so many other things I love about Halloween, one of my favorite things is – of course – making creepy cute treats! One of the perfect recipes for this time of year is black velvet cake, so I knew I had to share it as the first Halloween treat of the 2021 spooky season! Pair it with a pumpkin cheesecake filling, and you have a super tasty (and festive!) spooktacular dessert!

I also made a video featuring this recipe, so make sure to check it out!:

Disclosure: There are Amazon affiliate links provided in the post below. If you click on any of the Amazon links and make a purchase, I do get a small percentage of the sale which helps me pay for my ingredients and my website. I genuinely use anything that I link, and I want to make it easy for you to find these ingredients and kitchen tools, too, if you want to utilize them!

Equipment:

• Measuring cups
• Liquid measuring cups
• Measuring spoons
• Large mixing bowl (x2)
• Sifter
• Whisk
• Hand mixer or stand mixer
• Spatula
• Cake pans or Cupcakes pans
• Cooking spray or butter + flour
• Cake tester
• Cooling rack

If you’re looking for a hand mixer, I recommend this KitchenAid mixer:

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups (350 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup (25 grams) unsweetened dark cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated sugar
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 – 1/2 ounce black food gel
• 1/2 cup (119 milliliters) vegetable oil
• 1 cup (208 grams) mayonnaise
• 1 cup (237 milliliters) buttermilk, room temperature

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C).
2. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and unsweetened dark cocoa powder into a mixing bowl. Whisk the mixture to make sure the dry ingredients are well combined. Set the dry ingredients aside for now.
3. Add granulated sugar, room temperature eggs, distilled white vinegar, vanilla extract, and black food gel into a separate bowl. Using either a stand mixer or a hand mixer, mix on a medium-high speed until the ingredients lighten in color, which will take approximately 3-4 minutes.
4. Add the vegetable oil, mayonnaise, and buttermilk and mix on medium speed until well combined, approximately 1-2 minutes.
5. Add either one-half or one-third of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined (do not overmix!). Repeat until all dry ingredients and wet ingredients are just combined. Add the cake batter to your desired cake or cupcake pans.
6. Bake 6” round cakes for approximately 40-45 minutes, regular cupcakes for approximately 16-20 minutes, or mini cupcakes for approximately 10-12 minutes. Baking times will vary depending on what you are making, but you will know when your sponge is done when a cake tester (such as a toothpick) inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
7. Remove pans from the oven and let the cake or cupcakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Next, remove the sponge or cupcakes from the pans and let them completely cool on a wire rack or baking sheet.
8. Fill and decorate with your favorite fillings and buttercream. Enjoy!

Thank you so much for checking out this post! Let me know how you enjoy it!