Blood splatter cake

Blood splatter cake
  • Serves icon Serves 14–16
  • Time icon Hands-on time 50 min, oven time 40 min, plus cooling and chilling

Take Halloween to the next level with our terrifyingly good blood splatter cake. Red velvet sponge and cream cheese frosting are topped with jagged shards of ‘glass’ and a splattering of ‘blood’. Not for the faint-hearted.

Serve with these halloween cookies for a spooktacular holiday feast.

Nutrition: For 16

Calories
616kcals
Fat
21.6g (13.3g saturated)
Protein
6.8g
Carbohydrates
98g (78.1g sugars)
Fibre
1.5g
Salt
0.5g
Calories
616kcals
Fat
21.6g (13.3g saturated)
Protein
6.8g
Carbohydrates
98g (78.1g sugars)
Fibre
1.5g
Salt
0.5g

Ingredients

For the red velvet sponge

  • 180g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra to grease
  • 450g caster sugar
  • 3 large free-range eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1½ tsp vanilla extract
  • 450g plain flour
  • 30g cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 360ml buttermilk
  • 2 x 15g tubes Dr Oetker red gel food colouring
  • 1½ tbsp white wine vinegar
  • 1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

For the frosting

  • 120g unsalted butter, softened
  • 720g icing sugar
  • 300g full-fat cream cheese (we used Philadelphia)

For the glass shards

  • 200g bag Fox’s glacier mints

For the blood splatter

  • 2 tbsp cornflour
  • 2 tsp runny honey
  • 1 tsp liquid red food colouring gel
  • 3 drops liquid green or blue food colouring gel

You’ll also need…

  • 3 x 20cm sandwich tins, greased and base lined with non-stick baking paper

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas 4. In a large bowl, whisk the butter and sugar with an electric mixer for 5 minutes until pale and fluffy. Gradually whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract.
  2. Mix the flour, cocoa and salt in another bowl. Sift half over the egg mixture, then fold in using a large metal spoon in a figure-of-eight motion. Fold through half the buttermilk followed by the rest of the flour/cocoa mixture.
  3. Add the red gel food colouring to the remaining buttermilk, mix well, then pour onto the cake batter and fold through.
  4. Finally, mix the vinegar and bicarbonate of soda together (it will foam), add this to the cake-mixture bowl, then fold in until well combined.
  5. Working quickly, divide the cake mixture among the 3 cake tins and level the tops. Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes until a skewer pushed into the middles comes out clean. Leave the sponges to cool in the tins for 5 minutes before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely.
  6. To make the frosting, use an electric mixer to beat the butter, icing sugar and cream cheese in a mixing bowl until smooth. Put one of the sponges on a serving plate, top with a good layer of frosting, add a second sponge layer and repeat, finishing with the last sponge. Cover the whole cake, top and sides with a thin ‘crumb’ layer (see Know-how) of frosting. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes to harden.
  7. Thickly cover the cake in the remaining frosting, smoothing the top and sides with a palette knife. Return to the fridge for 1 hour to firm up.
  8. Meanwhile make the glass shards. Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper, put the glacier mints in the centre and put in the hot oven for 5-7 minutes to melt. Remove from the oven and leave to cool and harden on the tray. You can then shatter the ‘glass’ by cracking with your hands or bashing it in the baking tray.
  9. For the blood splatter, put the cornflour in a small bowl, whisk in 1 tbsp cold water followed by the honey and both food colourings.
  10. Pierce the cake with the glass shards. Cover your surfaces and splatter the cake with the blood using a teaspoon or toothbrush to get the right effect.

delicious. tips

  1. Freeze the un-iced sponges well wrapped in baking paper and cling film for up to 3 months. The iced cake will keep in the fridge for 3 days (remove the shards to stop them turning sticky).

  2. A crumb coat is a thin base layer of icing/frosting that is put on, then chilled so it holds onto the crumbs and prevents them getting mixed into the final layer of icing/frosting. Adding a few drops of blue/green to the red makes it look more like blood not bright red paint…

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