Halloween is a little over a week away and we have a really fun cake to share with you. We wanted to do something really different and unexpected for the flavor of this Halloween cake. When Tara was in Iceland a few years ago she fell in love with their chocolate black licorice candies which is a very popular treat over there. We both are a fan of black licorice, Good & Plenty being a favorite of ours, so we weren’t shy to attempt a licorice flavored cake. We knew this wouldn’t be a fan of everyone as black licorice is one of those things you either love or hate. We decided to base this cake off the Icelandic candies and consist of chocolate cake layers and chocolate black licorice buttercream. The end result? It was everything we dreamed it would be and is one of our new favorite flavors. We even had black licorice haters try the frosting and said they loved it!
One of the key ingredients in this cake is black cocoa. We used it in both the cake and buttercream to get the deep black color. Your should be able to find black cocoa at your local cake supply store, but if you are having trouble finding it you can also get it on Amazon here. To achieve the licorice flavor we used anise oil (Licorice flavoring will work as well).
We decorated the cake with white chocolate ghosts and Fancy Sprinkles Boo-tiful mix. This was such a fun cake to make! We hope you enjoy it as much as we do. If you try this cake flavor let us know. We would love to know what you think!
Black Magic Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 3/4 cup black cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup black coffee cooled
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare three 6″ cake pans by spraying with cooking spray and lining the bottom with parchment.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and mix together.
- Add the eggs, coffee, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla and mix on medium speed for a couple minutes.
- Divide the batter between the three prepared pans.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pans and then transfer to wire rack to fully cool.
Chocolate Black Licorice Buttercream
Ingredients
- 2 cups unsalted butter slightly cold
- 6 cups powdered sugar measured then sifted
- 1 cup black cocoa powder measured then sifted
- 6 ounces milk or dark choclate melted and cooled
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp anise oil or licorice flavoring
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1-2 tsp black gel coloring optional
Instructions
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed for about 1 minute.
- Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time. Stop the bowl to scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl.
- Add the black cocoa powder and mix until smooth.
- Add the melted chocolate, vanilla, anise oil and mix until combined.
- Slowly add in the whipping cream. Turn off the mixer to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
- If you want your buttercream pitch black add the black food gel at this time.
- Mix on medium high speed for 3-5 minutes.
- Taste the buttercream and if you want a stronger licorice flavor add a little more oil/flavoring until you get to your desired taste.
Notes
