This Vampire Bat Cake is a Red Velvet Cake with a red ganache. The bats are made from melted chocolate and so easy!
So it’s still Halloween Party Week!
In case you missed our first installment, check out my Cauldron Cupcakes !
But really, what’s a party without cake? Well it ain’t a party, I can tell you that much.
This cake, while looking fancy, is absolutely something everyone can make.
That fancy ganache dripping down?
Well, it’s basically covering any and all imperfections of un-smooth frosting.
I’ll show you how easy this is…
Let’s talk.
First bake your cake.
I like red velvet in this recipe because it goes along with the whole vampirey-ness. But feel free to use whatever cake you like.
I baked three, six inch cakes. If you didn’t want three layers, this recipe will work with two, eight or nine inch layers.
I just like the height.
Anyhow I made a batch of my favorite buttercream frosting.
And baked my cake.
I filled the cake, and then did a quick crumb coat, which seals in all the crumbs.
I popped it in the fridge for about 15 minutes to chill and then frosted the cake again covering all the crumbs.
You don’t have to worry about getting it perfectly smooth because the ganache will hide a load of imperfections.
Chill your cake now until you’re ready to spread the ganache on top. Using a chilled cake helps the ganache set up faster and also will prevent the frosting from getting too smooshy while you pour warm ganache over top.
Next up I made my bats.
I used black candy melts, but you could easily use melted chocolate.
I drew my bats on a sheet of parchment paper…
And melted my candy in a zip-top bag. I cut a tiny edge off the bag and outlined and filled the bats…
While the candy was still wet I placed cake wire in the back. You could also use a lollipop stick. This is to place the bats in the cake and give it some height.
Wait until the chocolate is set and peel the bats carefully off of the parchment…
I bought these cute little candy eyes at my local craft store…
And then used more of the melted candy to adhere the eyes to the front of the bats.
Next I made my red ganache.
I used red candy melts for this.
Chop them up…
Then heat some heavy cream up and pour it over the chopped candy melts. Stir until the candy is melted completely.
Spoon some of the ganache on top and using an offset spatula work that over to the edge and let it drip off.
Finally place your bats on the top of the cake at varying heights.
Totally adorable.
And then of course cut and eat.
Red Velvet Cake
- Prep Time: 10 miutes
- Cook Time: 30 Minutes
- Total Time: 0 hours
- Yield: 2 Cake Layers 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
Red Velvet cake forms the base of a fun vampire cake that’s perfect for your next Halloween party! You can also make Halloween cupcakes with this recipe, see the “notes” section for tips on making them.
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups oil
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 Tbsp vinegar
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 2 oz. red food coloring
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 Tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°
- Grease and flour two 8 inch cake pans, or 3 6 inch pans.
- Whisk together eggs, oil, buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla and food coloring. Set aside.
- Next whisk together all your dry ingredients: flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda.
- Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix on medium-high for about a minute or until completely combined.
- Divide cake evenly into cake pans.
- Bake 25-30 minutes or until cake springs back to the touch.
- Allow cakes to cool in pans for 10 minutes and then transfer to wire rack to continue cooling.
- Level cakes before stacking frosting.
Notes
To make this cake into cupcakes fill liners 2/3 full and bake for 15-20 minutes until the centers are set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean! It will make 30 cupcakes
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Red Ganache
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Stoveop
- Cuisine: American
Description
Use this easy red ganache recipe to make fake blood decorations on your Halloween treats! Perfect for adding some spooky flair to your favorite Halloween food ideas.
Ingredients
- 6 oz red candy melts
- 5 Tbsp heavy cream
Instructions
- Finely chop candy melts. Set aside.
- In saucepan heat the cream until it ALMOST comes to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in candy melts until completely melted.
- Spread over chilled cake and allow to drip down the sides.
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- Finely chop candy melts. Set aside.
- In saucepan heat the cream until it ALMOST comes to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in candy melts until completely melted.
- Spread over chilled cake and allow to drip down the sides.
Helpful Tip… Out of buttermilk?
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Yum! Can you make this the day ahead and still have it be good? Trying to plan out when I can make it…. 🙂
Sure! Just make sure it’s airtight!
Hello Shelly,
I’ve tried two of your recipes and loved the cakes. I replaced the white sugar with maple syrup and they were succulent. I was looking for a Red Velvet cake form my son’s birthday and thought I’d check in with you first as both recipes were a hit. Is this cake tasty and moist ?
Another question, I would like to wrap the cake with miniature marshmallows. My only concern with the frosting is that it’s not “sticky” enough to enable me to do that. What do you think ?
Is a cream cheese frosting better ? What would you recommend ?
Thanks for your help ! 🙂
I think cream cheese frosting would be better, but I think if you stuck the marshmallows right away to the buttercream it would be fine!
Shelly, this cake is adorable!! I love the bats! I wish I had some Halloween themed potluck or something I could go to and make this cake!
You are amazing, That is all.
I want to say this is cute…but that’s probably not the right word for it. But it is definitely awesome.
Oh my gosh this cake, Shelly! Just absolutely so much fun. And I LOVE Halloween week! Love it so hard!!!
So Bloody Good!
So adorable!! I can’t wait to show my boys!!! Love the bats!