Three layers of moist Red Velvet Cake with a cream cheese frosting and blood red ganache make this the ultimate gory Halloween Cake. But don’t let the spooky look fool you. This is one delicious cake.
I really can’t take credit for it though. I saw this cake from Say It With Cake on Pinterest and new I had to make my own. Now that my kids are teenagers I don’t quite put the effort into Halloween that I used to, but I still have a little fun.
I used a Red Velvet Cake batter that I’ve used several times before and a delicious cream cheese frosting.
Red Velvet Cakes tend to be very crumbly. In order to get a clean cut, I had to freeze my frosted cake. But if you’re not going to take pictures who cares about how crumbly it gets when you stab it…. I mean slice it.
The messier it is, the more gruesome it looks.
And I think a bloody knife is mandatory.
Now here’s the tricky part. In order to make the blood, you need oil-based food coloring. The kind that is made to be mixed with chocolate. Most of the food colorings sold at the grocery store are water based, and they will immediately cause the white chocolate to seize up into a red glop. I used Chefmaster Liquid Candy Color
.
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Bloody Red Velvet Cake
Ingredients
Cake Batter
- 3¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1¾ cups buttermilk
- 1¼ cups vegetable oil
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
- 1 (1-ounce_ bottle liquid red food coloring
Frosting
- 1 pound cream cheese,, room temperature
- 1 cup butter,, softened
- 4 cups confectioners' sugar
Bloody Ganache
- 12 ounces white chocolate bark
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- red food coloring,, needs to be oil-based
Instructions
- To make cake, preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray 3 9-inch cake pans with baking spray with flour. (Or butter pans and then lightly coat with flour.)
- In a large mixing bowl (one that fits an electric mixer) combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together buttermilk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vinegar.
- With the mixer on low, add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture. Once all buttermilk mixture has been added, turn to medium speed and beat until smooth.
- Add food coloring and beat until mixed evenly.
- Divide batter evenly between the prepared pans and bake about 22 to 25 minutes. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes and then remove to wire rack to cool completely.
- For frosting, beat cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer until smooth. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar.
- Spread frosting between layers of cakes and on top and sides. If you are having trouble with red crumbs from the cake showing through the frosting, spread a thin layer of frosting to cover the cake and place the cake in the refrigerator until the frosting firms up. Then go back and put a thicker layer of frosting on. Refrigerate cake to firm up frosting before adding bloody ganache.
- Melt white chocolate bark with cream cheese in a heavy-bottomed pan over low heat, stirring continuously.
- Once melted, add food coloring to get desired color. Drizzle on top of cake to resemble blood.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe adapted from Say it with Cake
More Fun Halloween Foods
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How fun is this! Totally perfect for the Halloween table. As gruesome as it looks, I totally want to dig in ! : )
What a fun cake, Christin! I absolutely love this. This would be perfect for a Halloween party!
This looks so messy in a good way! I stink at cake decorating, but I feel like I could handle this as it doesn’t require too much of a steady hand! Love the styling with the knife stuck in it too!
How much cream cheese do I use for the frosting?
So fun! A surprise for Halloween. Thank for your repice.!
You always have the most fun Halloween recipes, Christin! This looks frightening AND delicious!
Such an awesome Halloween dessert! Love the decor with the knife haha 🙂
This cake is so perfect and simple for Halloween! I was looking for something that looks gross but not too gross lol if that makes any sense. Thank you for the great recipe!
This cake is just too fun!! So creative for Halloween! And the red velvet doesn’t hurt either – one of my favorite flavors for cake!
Bloody red velvet cake looks perfectly gruesome. Love this awesome dish.
Really cool cake for Halloween.. or Valentine’s Day 😀