An elegant, Lambeth style black and white cake, decorated with piped ruffled buttercream. This cake is surprisingly easy to decorate, but looks super fancy, and is perfect for Halloween or a Gothic wedding.
You might also like this black velvet cake, brown butter pumpkin cake with piped pumpkins, and striped candy corn cake.
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Why You’ll Love This Cake
Elegant in Black and White. My husband teases me about how often I would dress in black and white when we first met. I just love the classic combination, especially if there’s lace involved, and this black and white cake looks like it’s all dressed up in a pretty party dress.
Easy to Decorate. It might not look it, but this is actually a really easy to cake to decorate if you break it down step by step. I have a comprehensive cake decorating tutorial, including step by step photos, to help guide you in decorating your own black and white Lambeth cake.
Perfect for Halloween. Halloween cakes are so fun to make, and I try to post a new design on my site every fall. And this design would be absolutely beautiful for a Halloween wedding cake.
Tools and Ingredients
- Disposable Piping Bags. You’ll need one 16-inch piping bag and one 12-inch piping bag.
- Coupler and Piping Tips. For today’s design, I used tips 104, 4B, 17, 69.
- Frosted Cake. The cake can be any flavor you like! For similar results to my own black and white cake, stack and frost three 6-inch cake layers with white (vanilla) buttercream. Chill the cake for several hours before you decorate it.
- Chocolate Buttercream. To get a deep black color, it’s helpful to start with chocolate buttercream. You’ll need about 2 cups.
- Black Cocoa Powder + Black Gel Food Coloring. Using black cocoa powder together with black gel food coloring is the key to getting a really black color in your buttercream. If you only use the food coloring, it’s hard to get the color to deepen from gray to a true black.
Instructions
- Chill the frosted cake in the refrigerator for several hours, before decorating.
- To make the black buttercream, it’s helpful to start with chocolate buttercream. Add 1 tablespoon of the black cocoa powder, and 1/2 teaspoon of the black gel food coloring, then stir together well. Add more cocoa powder and food coloring until the buttercream reaches your desired shade of black. (Note that the color will deepen and darken as the buttercream sits.)
- Since I already have a complete, step by step, cake decorating photo tutorial, I don’t want to duplicate that information in today’s post. So to decorate your cake, please follow this Lambeth cake decorating tutorial.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common questions with cake making, so that you can be successful in your own baking! I also suggest reading these comprehensive posts on making Perfect American Buttercream, How to Stack, Fill, Crumb Coat and Frost Layer Cakes and How to Use Piping Bags.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where do you get black cocoa powder?
I buy this black cocoa powder on Amazon. It should be used sparingly, as it has a very strong flavor.
Where did you get the black birthday candles?
Check out these black birthday candles.
Can I freeze the decorated cake?
Yes, you sure can. You can freeze the fully assembled and decorated cake in an airtight container or cake carrier for up to two weeks. Any longer than that, and the buttercream might get dry and crumbly. Thaw the frozen cake for 24 hours in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature before serving.
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Black and White Lambeth Halloween Cake
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- 1 16-inch Piping Bag
- 1 12-inch Piping Bag
- Coupler and Piping Tips (104, 4B, 17, 69)
Ingredients
- 1 6-inch 3-layer cake, frosted with white buttercream (well chilled)
- 2 cups chocolate buttercream
- 2-3 tbsp black cocoa powder, sifted
- black gel food coloring
Instructions
- Chill the frosted cake in the refrigerator for several hours, before decorating.
- To make the black buttercream, it's helpful to start with chocolate buttercream. Add 1 tablespoon of the black cocoa powder, and 1/2 teaspoon of the black gel food coloring, then stir together well. Add more cocoa powder and food coloring until the buttercream reaches your desired shade of black. Note: The color will deepen and darken as the buttercream sits.Important Note: You should always sift the cocoa powder first, to remove lumps. Even tiny lumps of cocoa powder in your buttercream can clog a small piping tip, making it difficult to decorate your cake.
- To decorate your cake, follow this Lambeth cake decorating tutorial.
How do you get the black speckles in the white frosting?
Use vanilla bean paste instead of vanilla extract.