Julie Clark
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Bloody Halloween Cake
Haunt your friends this fall season with this fun Bloody Halloween Cake! White cake with white frosting, chocolate drip and fruit filling. Use a homemade cake or a box mix to keep things easy! Love Halloween? Check out our collection!
Halloween is a great excuse to eat delicious food and get crazy with it! We’ve got lots of pictures for you today…because this easy layer cake is just too much fun.
Halloween Cake Idea
So let’s take a look at the outside of this cake:
- Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- Black Chocolate Ganache Dip
- Meat Cleaver (Don’t skip this fun part!)
You can use a real knife if you’d like, because then you can just cut the cake with it! If you don’t want to use a real meat cleaver, you can buy a plastic one on Amazon or at your local Halloween shop.
Easy Cake Recipe
We chose to use a box cake mix for this cake because ya know what? They’re good. You can make it as the box directs. You can use butter instead of oil…and milk instead of water for a more “homemade” flavor. Or….you can use our white cake recipe or gluten free cake recipe for this delicious cake. We do box mix, semi-homemade and from scratch at our house depending on how much time we have. And it’s cake so it’s all good!
Fruit Filling for Cake
So the really fun surprise in this cake is the fruit filling. For the filling of this cake we keep it simple and use jam. Use your favorite type of jam…raspberry…strawberry…and beautiful red jam will work. If you’d like to make a homemade fruit filling, here are recipes for raspberry filling and strawberry filling. Delicious! If you choose to make homemade, be sure you make it in advance so it has time to cool completely before you build the cake.
To keep the filling inside the cake, pipe a circle of buttercream around the top of each layer, then fill in the circle with the fruit filling as shown:
Vanilla Buttercream
We chose to use white frosting for this cake so there was a nice black/white/red contrast. You could red frosting if you’d like more of a pop or red on the outside. This is a traditional homemade buttercream. Make sure the butter is softened and at room temperature so it whips easily, but don’t melt it!
Black Chocolate Ganache
Chocolate ganache is one of my favorite things to make. Heat heavy cream, add chocolate (remember…not mini chocolate chips!), cover the bowl to allow time for the chips to melt. Then put in a few drops of black food coloring and mix. You can add a few more drops if needed as you are mixing. Mix it until it is shiny and smooth.
Make the ganache in advance so that it has time to cool off before you drizzle it on the cake. If the ganache is too hot, it may end up melting the buttercream which will give you a mess everywhere. You want the ganache still runny, but not too warm.
How to Store Cake
This cake will be fine stored at room temperature until you cut into it. The buttercream will crust over the cake keeping the cake moist and fresh. After the cake is cut you’ll want to store it in an airtight container.
Other Drip Cake Recipes
- Caramel Apple Layer Cake
- Blackberry Chocolate Cake
- Chocolate Blackout Cake
- Chocolate Turtle Cake
- Almond Joy Layer Cake
TOOLS TO MAKE THIS CAKE
- KitchenAid Stand Mixer: The best mixer for cakes, cookies and frostings!
- Beater Blade with Scraper: The best invention ever!
- 6″ Round Cake Pans: You’ll need 3 for this recipe.
- Cake Spatula: To get that frosting nice and smooth.
- Wire Cooling Racks: This will help your cakes cool more quickly.
- Cake Plate: I have this cake plate and everyone loves it! It comes with the cute server too.
- Parchment Paper: To easily remove cakes for cake rolls.
- Fake Meat Cleaver: A plastic knife so no one gets hurt! 🙂
- Black Food Coloring: This coloring works the best!
Bloody Halloween Cake
Haunt your friends this fall season with this fun Bloody Halloween Cake! White cake with white frosting, chocolate drip and fruit filling. Use a homemade cake or a box mix to keep things easy!
Servings 12
Prep Time 35 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Ingredients
VANILLA CAKE
- 1 box white cake mix (plus the ingredients on the back of the box)
- 12 ounces red jam (raspberry, strawberry, etc)
BUTTERCREAM
- 3 cups powdered sugar (sifted)
- 1 cup unsalted butter (softened)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2-3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream (at room temperature)
BLACK CHOCOLATE GANACHE
- 4 ounces chocolate chips
- ½ cup heavy cream
- Black food coloring (several drops)
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 3 6-inch cake pans with a round of parchment, then spray with non-stick spray.
- Prepare cake according to box instructions. Divide batter evenly into prepared pans, then bake 22-25 minutes.
- Cool in pans 10 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.
- Wrap cooled cakes in plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze.
For the buttercream:
- Whip butter until creamy.
- Reduce speed to low and add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until well blended.
- Increase speed to medium and beat for 3 minutes until fluffy.
- Add vanilla and cream and continue to whip on medium for 1 minute.
- Add more cream as needed until desired consistency is reached. Whip until the frosting is smooth and silky.
For the ganache:
- Prepare the ganache so it can cool while you are putting the cake together.
- Bring heavy whipping cream just to a simmer then pour over chocolate chips, making sure the chocolate is fully covered.
- Let set for 5 minutes.
- Whisk gently to combine cream, chocolate, and food coloring. Set aside to cool.
To assemble the cake:
- When ready to assemble, trim the dome off of all cake and reserve for another use (or eat it!)
- Place one layer of cake on a cake stand or serving plate. Pipe a ring of buttercream around the edge, then spoon in jam filling.
- Repeat with remaining layers.
- Apply a thin coat of frosting all over the cake. Chill for 20 mins. Use the remaining frosting to coat the cake.
- Use freshly made ganache for drips (make sure your cake is very cold so ganache sets quickly).
- Using a spoon, spoon the ganache around the top edge of cake allowing it to drip down the sides.
- Serve with a meat cleaver if you'd like!
Notes
The calories shown are based on the cake being cut into 12 pieces, with 1 serving being 1 slice of cake. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate. **We are not dietitians and recommend you seek a nutritionist for exact nutritional information.**
Nutrition
Calories: 583kcal | Carbohydrates: 91g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Cholesterol: 59mg | Sodium: 321mg | Potassium: 60mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 67g | Vitamin A: 675IU | Vitamin C: 2.5mg | Calcium: 124mg | Iron: 1.1mg
