Super Easy Vegan Halloween Cake

It’s super easy to make a Halloween cake when you have, as I always do, ready-made components in your freezer and refrigerator. I didn’t want to go shopping for candy eyeballs, pumpkin marshmallows, licorice, or anything else for that matter. I wanted to “eat down the fridge and freezer desserts” as I do with savory foods. What I found in the freezer was a layer of chocolate cake, the one for my Brooklyn Blackout Cake, and a container of Chocolate Ganache. In the same way nooch (nutritional yeast), sprouted and silken tofu, tempeh, and canned chickpeas are staples in my home, so is ganache.  Think truffles, glaze, chocolate crostini, chocolate milk, egg creams and more, all recipes you can find on my blog or in my cookbook Vegan Chocolate.

But, back to the Halloween Cake. What is unusual is for me is to see a container of buttercream in my refrigerator.  I’m not judging you—the majority of dessert eaters love buttercream—it’s just not my favorite. Well, yesterday I found a months-old, airtight container of pink buttercream in my refrigerator.

Here’s how I made my Vegan Halloween Cake:

I allowed the cake to defrost enough for a round cutter to remove the center Why? Well, at this point, honestly, I didn’t know why. I was thinking inside my head with no drawings of what I was going for. This was also an interesting reminder that not all chocolate cakes are the same. The Chocolate Cake to Live For doesn’t freeze as hard as this one.

While the cake was thawing, I spooned the cold buttercream into my Kitchen Aid Mixer and whipped it with the blade attachment until it was fluffy.

Now it was time to figure out how to get it grayish-black. You probably know that using charcoal is a popular thing today in ice creams, cakes, and bagels. I figured since I take charcoal capsules occasionally, I’d cut a few open and mix the charcoal into the pink. Two capsules were probably enough but I added three. Are you wondering if the flavor changed from berry (Berry Sweet!)? I did wonder. Nope, no change.

Now I pulled the center plug out of the cake. I used a very small amount of ganache to crumb coat the cake. Then, with an offset spatula, I applied the buttercream on to look like cement. Actually, it really was gray and cement-like, but my iPhone camera skills to prove that to you are slim. (I’m really trying!)

Here’s what I think is the best part:

After each major holiday—Halloween, Thanksgiving, Valentines Day—I buy decorations at half price. I had these so-called edible candy bats. (They are edible and vegan but the taste—ugh, just like wax.). I arranged the bats on the cake and then stuck more into the slices. Sprinkle with some green luster dust and I’ll tell you, I liked this cake, both the way it looked and the way it tasted.

What do you think? I’d consider it a big favor if you’d leave a comment on the blog and let me know what you think about the cake, or tell me about your Halloween desserts.