Black Cat Cake for a Festive Halloween

Halloween is not complete without the classic Black Cat so let’s turn that into a fun and festive Halloween cake! 

This time of year is perfect for baking and creating fantastic cakes. Today I’ll show you how to make this Spooky Black Cat Cake that’s perfect for any Halloween gathering. 

This Black Cat Cake is made with tender vanilla cake layers filled with black chocolate buttercream and fondant decorations. 

The light and fluffy vanilla cake layers are colored with green, orange, and purple food color. The bright cake colors are the best surprise when cutting through the black buttercream. 

The black buttercream starts by making a creamy chocolate buttercream that you will color with super black gel food coloring. Black buttercream is typically the hardest color to make in buttercream. Usually, you need a ton of food coloring that ultimately affects the buttercream’s taste and texture. 

When it comes to picking out the food coloring, I prefer to use Americolor gel food color. Make sure you are using gel food coloring because it’s a more concentrated color, so you’ll use less in the long run. You’ll notice that I add cocoa powder to the buttercream before the gel food color. Starting with chocolate buttercream, this creates a base color that’s easier to start from instead of bright white. Plus, it counters the bitter taste from the gel food color. Important note: food coloring gets darker over time, so it’s best to gradually add the gel food coloring. 

I’ll show you step by step how to make cat eyes, ears, nose, and whiskers out of fondant to complete this perfect Halloween cake! 

Tips for Success: 

• Read through all the ingredients and instructions so you can get a better idea of how much time and what you need to make this cake.
• A single batch of this cake recipe makes three, 6-inch round cake layers or two 8-inch round cake layers. Double the cake recipe to make enough cake batter for three, 8-inch cake layers.
• In this cake recipe, you need 1 cup buttermilk; if you don’t have any buttermilk on hand, you can easily use 1 cup whole milk mixed with 1 Tablespoon lemon juice or white vinegar to make your own. 
• To make cake flour at home, mix 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour and ¼ cup cornstarch. Sift or whisk together to get rid of any lumps. 
• Be careful not to overmix this cake batter, or else the cake will come out dense. Mix until all ingredients are well incorporated.
• You can bake the cake layers ahead of time. Wrap the cake layers in plastic wrap and freeze up to one month. 
• You can make the black chocolate buttercream a day ahead and refrigerate it overnight. Then take them out to come back to room temperature. Make sure the buttercream is at room temperature before re-whipping (the color will lighten after being re-whipped, but it’ll darken again the longer it sits). 
• If you want to get ahead, you can make the fondant decorations up to one week in advance and store onto a parchment-lined baking tray until ready to use. 
• If fondant gets too sticky, then use cornstarch or if it’s cracking, then use vegetable shortening to smooth out fondant. 
• Serve at room temperature and use a hot knife to make clean cake slices.  

What Tools You’ll Need to Make This Cake: 

• 5-quart, Stand Mixer with mixing bowl & paddle attachment
• 3, 6-inch cake pans or 2, 8-inch cake pans
• Offset spatula 
• 8-inch or 10-inch white cake board 
• Serrated knife or cake leveler 
• Turntable 
• Cake scraper or bench scraper
• Whisk or sifter
• Rubber Spatula
• Non-Stick Cooking Spray and Parchment Paper
• Ice Cream Scooper with Trigger Release (for dividing cake batter evenly)
• Piping Bags (I use reusable silicone bags)
• Cake Stand, optional
• 4 ounces Black Fondant
• 2 ounces Neon Green Fondant 
• 2 ounces White Fondant 
• 2 ounces Pink Fondant 
• Small paintbrush 
• 18-gauge covered wires 
• Wire cutters
• X-acto knife
• Silicone mat
• Small rolling pin
• Vegetable shortening and cornstarch 
• Baking tray with parchment paper
• Super Black gel food coloring 
• Orange gel food coloring 
• Neon Brite Green gel food coloring 
• Neon Brite Purple gel food coloring 

Here’s how to make this spooktacular Black Cat Cake! 

Let’s Get Decorating! 

Black Cat Fondant Decorations

On a silicone mat, roll the black fondant to 1/4 inch thick then use a sharp x-acto knife to cut out two ears. 

Insert a covered wire halfway into each fondant ear. Then roll out a thin piece of pink fondant to make the inner ear and attach it to the black fondant with water. 

Next, roll out 1/8 inch thick piece of neon green fondant. Cut two medium circles then use the same cutter to create ovals. 

Roll out black fondant for the middle of the eyes and attach to the green ovals with water. 

Roll out two small pieces of white fondant for the whites of the eye. Use water to attach the white fondant to the black fondant. 

Roll out two black fondant ropes for the eyelashes that will be attached to the green eyes. 

Roll out a small piece of pink fondant and cut a little heart for the nose. Set aside to dry. 

Finally, knead and roll out a thin rope of white fondant for the whiskers. Cut out 6 thin whiskers. 

Set aside to dry up to 2-3 hours on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. 

How to Make Homemade Vanilla Cake 

Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Spray three 6-inch round cake pans with non-stick spray, line the bottom of each pan with parchment paper, and spray again. Set aside.

In a medium-size bowl, whisk and stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. 

In the stand mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, oil, and sugar on medium-high for 5 minutes.

Add the eggs, one at a time, to the stand mixer bowl and beat on medium until well incorporated.

Turn the mixer on low and add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until fully incorporated. 

Pour in the buttermilk and vanilla extract. Mix on medium for another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides of the bowl. 

Evenly distribute the cake batter among the three mixing bowls, color one bowl of batter with orange gel food coloring, one with neon green gel food coloring, and one with brite purple gel food coloring. 

Pour in each colored cake batter into a pan and bake for about 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs.

Remove cakes from the oven and let cool in pans for 10 minutes before inverting onto cooling racks to cool completely. Wrap cakes in plastic wrap and place them into the freezer to chill for 30 minutes to 1 hour. 

How to Make Black Chocolate Buttercream 

In the stand mixer bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Turn the mixer to low and add the salt and vanilla. 

Add dark cocoa powder. 

Next, gradually add powdered sugar, followed by the cream. Mix on medium-high speed for about 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. 

Add 5-6 drops of super black gel food coloring. 

Before using, turn the mixer on low and mix for 2 minutes to push out any air bubbles or use a rubber spatula to push out the air bubbles. (You may need to repeat this step when frosting the outside of the cake). 

Let the buttercream sit for 15 to 30 minutes to darken in color and add black food color. 

Putting It All Together

Remove the cake layers from the freezer and unwrap the cake layers. Next, use a serrated knife to cut off the cakes’ dome to make the layers flat and even. 

Add a small amount of buttercream onto the center of the cake board. Layer the purple cake layer, cut side up onto the cake board. Pipe ⅔ cup of black buttercream and use an offset spatula to smooth the buttercream layer.  

Place another green cake layer cut side down over the top. Repeat the process for the orange layer — Crumb coat with black buttercream and freeze for 30 minutes. 

Add a thicker layer of black buttercream to the cold cake. Use an offset spatula and cake scraper to make the sides and the top as smooth as possible. 

Add the cat’s eyes, nose, and whiskers to the side of the cake. And insert the cat ears into the top of the cake. 

Serve cake at room temperature and enjoy! 

You May Also Enjoy: 

• Common Baking Mistakes & How to Avoid Them (free training)
• Cake Planning Checklist (freebie)
• How to Decorate Your First Cake (free course)
• Cake Decorating for Beginners (online course)

I’m so excited to see your Halloween Black Cat Cakes. Please feel free to email me here at xokatierosario@gmail.com with any questions you may have; I’ll be happy to help! 

Happy Halloween! 

P.S. Hey, if you liked this tutorial, you really should check out Cake Decorating for Beginners, my online cake program. I coach you on everything I teach on these cake tutorials so that you can uplevel your baking and decorating skills. We 10x it so you get the results you want most. Like any new skill, it’s important to learn from the ground up to build a foundation so that you can take on any cake challenge. It is an investment your future self will thank you for. Check it out at XOKatieRosario.com/online-cake-course. I will see you there!

Watch The How-to Video Below: 

 

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