Heart and Skull Cake
A creepy black-frosted raspberry jelly-filled Red Velvet cake that 'bleeds' when you cut into it!
Equipment
- Plastic ‘skull’ glass (I've seen these at every craft store and the ‘seasonal’ section of almost every grocery store near me around Halloween! This is the closest glass I could find on Amazon)
Ingredients
Red Velvet Cake Layers
- 3 cups flour
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 2 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks, room temperature
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 5 eggs
- 1 ½ cups buttermilk room temperature
- 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- Red gel food coloring - to desired color
Black Cocoa Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese (one package, softened)
- 1 cup butter (two sticks, softened)
- 5 ½ -6 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup black cocoa powder
- 2-3 Tablespoons milk
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt (if using unsalted butter)
- 2-3 drops black gel food coloring (optional)
Cake filling
- 1 cup red raspberry jam
- crumbled center from one of your cake layers
Black Chocolate Ganache Drip
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (6 ounces)
- 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream (6 ounces)
- 2-3 drops black gel food coloring
Red ganache drip (optional)
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup whipping cream
- Red gel coloring (to make a deep red colored glaze)
Instructions
Red Velvet Cake Layers
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare three 8 inch round pans with baker's floured spray (or grease and line with parchment rounds).
- Mix together all dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, and salt) in a stand mixer with a paddle until fully combined. Mix chunks of room-temperature butter slowly into the dry mix, on a low speed. Continue to mix until no large chunks of butter remain, and the mixture becomes crumbly.
- Pour in eggs, and mix on low until just incorporated. Mix in the buttermilk in two installments, on a low speed. Add in vanilla, oil, and red gel food coloring, and mix at a low speed until fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula, then beat on medium high for about 30 seconds.
- Divide evenly between prepared cake pans. Allow cake layers to cool for 10-15 minutes on a wire cooling rack before removing from pans. Cool completely before frosting. Set in the fridge or freezer to accelerate the cooling process if desired. (This is a great time to make your frosting!)
- Once your cake layers have cooled, level them and use a glass or medium-sized biscuit cutter to remove the center from two of the three cake layers.
Black Cocoa Cream Cheese Frosting
- Beat together softened cream cheese and butter; slowly add in powdered sugar alternating with cocoa powder and milk until frosting reaches desired consistency. Add vanilla, food color, and salt if needed and beat until well combined.
- Note – frosting’s color will deep if left to sit for several hours or overnight – this lets you get a deeper color with less gel food coloring!
Assembly time!
- Your two cored cake layers will be your bottom two – center your first layer on your cardboard cake circle, and spread a layer of frosting over it. Fill with raspberry jam and add crumbled cake crumbs – the most cake crumbs you add, the more solid your center will be and the slower it will drip out of your cake. If you want it to run out quickly, leave the cake crumbs out.
- Add a layer of frosting over the second cake layer, repeat the filling process, and put the final layer on top!
- Now you're ready to crumb-coat . If you're unfamiliar with crumb-coating, it's just what it sounds like - a thin layer of frosting over the entire outside of the cake to keep crumbs out of your final layer.
- Once your crumb coat has set (this takes about 5-10 minutes in the fridge), add your final layer of frosting and smooth. I like to use an offset spatula and bench scraper for this part. Once your cake is covered, place it into the fridge or freezer to set the frosting.
- Okaaaay......on to the drip(s)!
Black Chocolate Ganache Drip
- Place chocolate chips in a heat-proof bowl. Place whipping cream in a small saucepan and bring almost to a boil over medium/low heat. Pour over chocolate chips and let rest for 2 minutes, then stir until smooth and silky. Add gel food coloring and stir until color is even.
Red ganache drip (optional)
- Place heavy cream and white chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl, and microwave on 50% power in 30-second intervals until smooth, stirring in between. Stir in gel food coloring.
Decorating
- Allow ganache mixtures to cool to a moderate temperature - they should still be liquid but feel only lightly warm. Use a squeeze bottle or spoon to drizzle black chocolate ganache around the upper edge of your cake, pausing every inch or so to let more ganache fall in a drip down the side of the cake. Return cake to the fridge or freezer to set the drips.
- The fun part!! Turn the glass upside down, and press it into the top of your cake – it should be in deep enough to stay upright in the top of the cake, but leave at least a bit of the glass rim above the cake top so you can drizzle the red drip mixture underneath it. With a squeeze bottle or spoon, drizzle red ganache mixture under the rim of the glass and away from the glass toward the edge of the cake, letting it fall over the edge to make another set of drips.
- Stand back and admire your work! Refrigerate until ready to serve – this cake is *super* fun to cut for a big group so they can watch all the jam ooze out everywhere!
Video
Notes
Please note nutrition information is an estimate and may not be exactly accurate.
Nutrition
Serving: 1servingCalories: 778kcalCarbohydrates: 103gProtein: 8gFat: 38g
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