Description
A spooky and sweet Black Cocoa Halloween Layer Cake with dramatic dark layers, fluffy cocoa frosting, marshmallow spiderwebs, and ghost meringue cookies. Perfect for Halloween gatherings.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 ¾ cups cake flour (or all-purpose flour)
- ½ cup black cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¾ cup whole milk
- ¼ cup espresso or brewed coffee (or more milk)
- 2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup black cocoa powder
- 2–3 tbsp heavy cream
- 1 cup marshmallows, melted
- Ghost meringue cookies (store-bought or homemade)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Spray three 6-inch pans with oil spray.
- Whisk flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.
- In another bowl, whisk melted butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
- Add half dry mixture with espresso, then milk, then remaining flour mixture.
- Divide batter evenly into pans and bake 25–30 minutes until a tester comes out clean.
- Cool completely. Wrap and freeze layers overnight if desired.
- For frosting: beat butter and powdered sugar until creamy. Add cocoa and cream. Whip 4–5 minutes until fluffy.
- Microwave marshmallows 10–20 seconds, stir, cool slightly, then stretch into webs.
- Assemble cake: layer cakes with frosting, frost top and sides smoothly, stretch marshmallow webs, and top with ghost meringues.
Notes
Freeze cake layers before assembling for easier frosting. Don’t overheat marshmallows. Add decorations like candy eyes, spiders, or gummy worms. Store cake in fridge up to 4 days; bring to room temp before serving.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 450
- Sugar: 36g
- Sodium: 220mg
- Fat: 26g
- Saturated Fat: 15g
- Unsaturated Fat: 9g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 52g
- Fiber: 4g
- Protein: 6g
- Cholesterol: 85mg