Ah, Halloween: the perfect pairing of sinister and sweet! The time of ghoulish goodies is almost here, so why not pull out all the stops? Dead Velvet Cake has a haunted look with its blood-red syrup topping, but it still has that chocolatey, tender, scarlet cake on the inside and the tangy, thick, and creamy cream cheese frosting on the outside. It’s fiendishly fun and doesn’t skimp out on the sweetness and joy of digging into a fresh-baked cake. Dead Velvet Cake has Halloween spirit written all over it, so find your costume and your fork!
Ingredients
- 1 stick butter, softened, plus more, to taste, for greasing the pans
- flour, to taste, for dusting the pans
- 1 (15.25-ounce) box red velvet cake mix, plus the ingredients called for on the box
- 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
- 2 1/4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided
- 1/2 cup water, cold
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/2 cup light corn syrup
- red food coloring, to taste
Directions
Step 1 -Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Step 2 -Using the extra butter, grease two 9-inch cake pans, then using the extra flour, lightly dust the greased pans.
Step 3 -Prepare the red velvet cake batter according to the package directions.
Step 4 -Divide the batter between the two prepared cake pans.
Step 5 -Bake the cakes according to the package directions.
Step 6 -In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and the butter together until light and fluffy.
Step 7 -Add the powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon of the vanilla to the cream cheese-butter mixture and mix until combined.
Step 8 -In a small saucepan, stir the water and the cornstarch together until fully combined.
Step 9 -Place the saucepan over medium heat.
Step 10 -Add the corn syrup to the slurry mixture and let it simmer, stirring frequently, about 2 minutes.
Step 11 -Transfer the saucepan from the heat.
Step 12 -Stir in the remaining vanilla and the red food coloring, one drop at a time, to the corn syrup mixture, adding just enough of the coloring to make a blood red color.
Step 13 -Place one of the cakes on a cake pan and trim the dome to make the top flat.
Step 14 -Add enough of the red syrup to dampen the top of the cake layer.
Step 15 -Cut the dome off of the second cake and place it upside down on the dampened bottom cake layer.
Step 16 -Frost the entire outside of the cake with the cream cheese frosting, making sure the top is extra smooth.
Step 17 -Pour the remaining red syrup over top, allowing some to drip down the sides.
Step 18 -Slice and serve.
