The sponge is soft and tender thanks to vegan buttermilk and Greek-style yogurt, while hot coffee brings out the chocolate flavor. I use both black cocoa and Dutch-process cocoa here - black cocoa creates that almost-black color, while Dutch cocoa gives the cake a richer chocolate flavor.
I finished it with dark chocolate skulls for an easy Halloween cake, but you can leave them off if you want a simple black chocolate layer cake.
Jump to:
Why this recipe works
Deep chocolate flavor without artificial coloring. Black cocoa gives the cake and frosting their dramatic color, while Dutch-process cocoa keeps the chocolate flavor rich and balanced.
Soft, moist texture. The cake stays tender for days, with a close, velvety crumb that still feels light, not dense.
Easy to make ahead. The cake layers can be baked and chilled the day before, which makes them much easier to stack and frost.
A simple Halloween showstopper. The black frosting already gives the cake plenty of impact, while the chocolate skulls make it feel festive without complicated decorating. For something smaller, my vegan Halloween cupcakes have the same spooky chocolate-skull theme, with a blackberry filling and swirled buttercream.
Completely eggless and dairy-free. You still get a proper layered celebration cake with a creamy frosting and soft crumb, without needing eggs or dairy.
Ingredients
Here's everything you need to make Halloween cake. Find the complete list of ingredients, quantities, and instructions in the recipe card at the end of this post.
Black cocoa powder: This gives the cake and frosting their deep black color without artificial food coloring. Black cocoa is heavily alkalized, so it has a much darker color and smoother flavor than regular cocoa powder. I don't recommend substituting it if you want the same finish.
Dutch-process cocoa powder: I use this alongside the black cocoa for a richer chocolate flavor. Make sure you're using Dutch-process cocoa rather than natural unsweetened cocoa or raw cacao powder, as they behave differently in baking.
Soy milk + apple cider vinegar: These make the vegan buttermilk. Soy milk works particularly well because it curdles and thickens more readily than most other plant milks, helping create a soft, tender crumb.
Vegan Greek-style yogurt: Adds moisture and richness without making the cake heavy. Use a thick, unsweetened yogurt rather than a thin or pourable one.
Olive oil: Keeps the sponge soft and moist, even after refrigeration. Use a mild olive oil rather than a strongly flavored extra virgin variety, or substitute another neutral baking oil.
Granulated sugar + soft brown sugar: Granulated sugar helps keep the crumb light, while brown sugar adds extra moisture and depth.
Hot coffee: I use hot coffee in my chocolate cakes to deepen the cocoa flavor without making the finished cake taste like coffee. It's the same technique I use in my vegan Devil's food cake, where it helps create a really intense chocolate flavor. Adding it hot also helps bloom the cocoa. You can use hot water instead if needed, although the chocolate flavor won't be quite as deep.
Vegan cream cheese: Adds creaminess and a slight tang to the frosting, which balances the powdered sugar and cocoa. Use a thick store-bought variety or my vegan cream cheese.
Dark chocolate: Used for the skull decorations, with a little black cocoa mixed through to deepen the color. Leave these off if you're not making the cake for Halloween.
Get Your Free E-Book!
Sign up to the Addicted to Dates newsletter for your FREE Guide To Vegan Cheesecakes!
How to make it
Here's a visual overview of this recipe. Please refer to the detailed card at the end of this page for full written instructions.
I make the vegan buttermilk separately first, giving the soy milk and apple cider vinegar around 10 minutes to thicken before whisking in the yogurt, oil, and vanilla. Soy milk gave me the best result here because it curdles much more noticeably than thinner plant milks, which helps give the cake its soft, velvety crumb.
Once the wet and dry mixtures come together, don't keep whisking until the batter looks perfectly smooth. Mix only until you no longer see pockets of dry flour. The hot coffee still needs to go in, so you'll have another opportunity to bring everything together without overworking the gluten.
The hot coffee is the final addition, just like in my vegan chocolate cake. I use it because it brings out the flavor of the cocoa without leaving the cake tasting like coffee. It also loosens the batter considerably. At this point, it should look much thinner than a standard layer cake batter - almost pourable. I tested the cake with a thicker batter, but the finished layers weren't as soft and moist, so resist the temptation to add extra flour.
Because this is a three-layer cake, I recommend weighing the batter between the pans rather than eyeballing it. Apart from giving you neater layers, it also means they'll finish baking at roughly the same time.
The cakes are particularly delicate while they're still warm. Let them sit in the pans for 15-20 minutes before turning them out, then leave them alone until completely cool. Trying to move or level the layers too early makes them much more likely to crack.
For the neatest finish, I actually prefer to chill the cake layers before assembling. Once they're cool, refrigerate them in an airtight container for a few hours or overnight. The crumb firms up just enough to make the layers much easier to handle and creates far fewer crumbs when frosting.
For the frosting, whip the vegan butter properly before adding the cream cheese. This is where most of the lightness comes from. Once the cream cheese has been added, avoid beating it for longer than needed, as vegan cream cheese frosting can become softer the more it's worked.
The frosting may not look completely black the second the cocoa is mixed in. Black cocoa naturally deepens as it sits, so give it a little time before deciding the color isn't dark enough. There's no need to add black food coloring.
Finally, the chocolate skulls are intentionally very simple. Adding a little black cocoa to the melted dark chocolate makes them blend into the cake rather than looking noticeably brown against the frosting. Make sure they're completely set before removing them from the silicone mold so the finer details don't break.
Christina's recipe tips
Use room-temperature ingredients where possible. This helps the wet ingredients combine more evenly and gives you a smoother batter.
Don't overbake the layers. Start checking toward the earlier end of the baking time. A few soft crumbs on the skewer are fine - wet batter is not.
Use thick vegan cream cheese. Softer, more spreadable varieties can make the frosting looser, especially once mixed.
Let the frosting rest briefly before decorating. The color deepens naturally as the black cocoa hydrates, so don't judge it straight away.
Chill before slicing. If you want especially neat slices, refrigerate the assembled cake for a short while before cutting, then let individual slices soften slightly before eating.
More Vegan Celebration Cakes
📖 Recipe
Vegan Black Velvet Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 360 ml (1 ½ cups) soy milk *note 1
- 1 ½ tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 400 g (3 ⅓ cups) all purpose flour
- 90 g (1 cup) black cocoa powder *note 2
- 45 g (½ cup) Dutch-processed cocoa powder *note 3
- 300 g (1 ½ cups) granulated sugar
- 150 g (⅔ cup) soft brown sugar
- 3 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon sea salt
- 180 ml (¾ cup) olive oil or light olive oil, sunflower oil, or rapeseed oil
- 270 g (1 cup + 1 tablespoon) vegan Greek-style yogurt or vegan sour cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 300 ml (1 ¼ cups) hot coffee
Frosting
- 300 g (1 ⅓ cups) vegan butter (block-style) cubed and room temperature
- 150 g (⅔ cup) vegan cream cheese
- 240 g (2 cups) powdered sugar
- 90 g (1 cup) black cocoa powder
- 45 g (½ cup) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate skulls
- 200 g (7 oz) dark chocolate
- 30 g (⅓ cup) black cocoa powder
Instructions
- Prepare: Preheat the oven to 320°F (160°C) fan or 356°F (180°C) conventional. Line the bases of three 8-inch cake pans with circles of parchment paper and generously grease the sides with oil or vegan butter.
- Make the vegan buttermilk: Add the soy milk and apple cider vinegar to a jug, stir, and set aside for 10 minutes.
- Mix the dry ingredients: In a large mixing bowl, sift together the all-purpose flour, black cocoa powder, Dutch-process cocoa powder, granulated sugar, soft brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt. Whisk until evenly combined and there are no lumps.
- Mix the wet ingredients: Add the olive oil, vegan Greek-style yogurt, and vanilla extract to the vegan buttermilk and whisk until smooth.
- Make the batter: Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk until just combined. Slowly pour in the hot coffee, whisking as you go, until the batter is smooth and evenly mixed. The batter will be quite runny - this is exactly how it should look.
- Bake: Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans. Bake for 40-50 minutes, until a toothpick or skewer inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few soft crumbs, but no wet batter.
- Cool the cakes: Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for 15-20 minutes, then carefully turn them out onto a wire rack and remove the parchment paper. Leave them to cool completely before frosting. If preferred, refrigerate the cooled cake layers in an airtight container until ready to assemble. Chilling them for a few hours or overnight will also make them easier to frost.
- Make the frosting: Add the vegan butter to a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer and beat with an electric mixer for 3-5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the vegan cream cheese and whisk until smooth.
- Add the powdered sugar in 2 additions, mixing until combined after each one. Add the black cocoa powder, followed by the Dutch-process cocoa powder, and whisk until smooth. Lastly, add the vanilla extract and mix briefly until combined.
- Make the chocolate skulls: Melt the dark chocolate over a double boiler until smooth. Whisk in the black cocoa powder, then spoon or pour the mixture into a silicone skull mold. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes, or until completely firm. Carefully remove the chocolate skulls from the mold and set aside until ready to decorate.
- Assemble: Add a small amount of frosting to the center of a cake turntable or serving plate and place the first cake layer on top to secure it. Spread an even layer of frosting over the cake using an offset spatula.
- Add the second cake layer and repeat with another layer of frosting, then top with the final cake layer. Use the remaining frosting to coat the top and sides of the cake, smoothing it with an offset spatula or cake scraper. Finish by decorating with the chocolate skulls.
- Storage: Store the finished cake in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Remove it from the fridge about 1 hour before serving to allow the cake and frosting to soften slightly.
Notes
- Soy Milk: You can also use almond milk or oat milk.
- Hot Coffee: You can substitute this with boiling water
- Vegan Butter: Block-style butter, not margarine from a tub. Take this out of the fridge 1-2 hours ahead of time.
© addictedtodates.com. All content and images are protected by copyright. If you want to share this recipe, please do so using the share buttons provided. Do not screenshot or republish the recipe or content in full. Instead, include a link to this post for the recipe. Thank you!
WOW, it's so beautiful and I'm sure it's not just beautiful, but delicious, too!
I love it, it's so stylish! 🖤💀