Halloween is once again upon us and rather than share more recipes for pumpkin-spice everything, I opted for some bloody good red velvet cake recipes!
I was originally going to present a recipe for red velvet cupcakes with shattered sugar glass shards, with some tips on how to make the “glass”. My search for the perfect recipe however led me down a rabbit hole of great recipes for many morbid uses for red velvet. Here’s just a handful of my favorites.
Shattered Glass Cupcake
The recipe that started my search. You can use any cupcake recipe you like, or a box of red velvet cake mix, or even dress up some pre-made cupcakes. The real secret here is in making the “glass”. I’ve seen recipes that called for just sugar and water, but this recipe at FromaWhisperToaScream.blogspot.com has corn syrup and cream of tartar for added structure.
2 cups water
1 cup light corn syrup
3 1/2 cups white sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
If you have a silicone mat for a baking sheet, it will make removing your sugar glass easier, but this is not necessary. Just be sure that you clean your baking sheet pan thoroughly and DO NOT grease it.
Bring everything to a boil in a saucepan, stirring constantly. When the syrup reaches 300°F (hard ball stage), pour it into a metal baking sheet that is kept level. Cool until completely hardened, which will depend on the humidity of your kitchen. Cover with a towel and smash into shards with a mallet or hammer.
The blog has a great recipe for the edible blood syrup, but I’ve also used raspberry and/or blood orange jam thinned out with a little water to make the drizzle syrup.
Bloody Halloween Cake
For something a little classier, and without the sugar shards, I loved the look of this cake, by Shamene at SayItWithCake.org. It is a simple four-layer red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. What makes it special is the red chocolate ganache. Shamene used red candy melts in the ganache which is dripped down the sides to form the bloody topping. It looks fantastic and tasty. Top off the decoration with a handy cake knife stabbed into the top.
Brain Cake
For the zombie fans out there, this is the pièce de résistance! Yolanda of HowToCakeIt.com presents an incredible step-by-step video of how she made her very realistic-looking and yet scrumptious cake shaped like a brain. Enjoy the video!
For these and more ideas, check out my Pinterest page with links to the recipes.
HorrorAddicts.net 