• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Curly Girl Kitchen
  • about
  • faqs
  • recipes
  • portfolio
  • work with me
  • contact
  • Navigation Menu: Social Icons

    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest

Black and White Lambeth Halloween Cake

October 14, 2022 by Heather Smoke Leave a Comment

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

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.

Candles being blown out on a black and white Lambeth cake.

This site contains affiliate links.  As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.  This means that I may make a small commission if you purchase a product using those links.  This in no way affects my opinion of those products and services.  All opinions expressed on this site are my own.

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.

A gothic black and white cake with ruffled buttercream piping.

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.
Smoke drifting off candles on top of a black and white Lambeth cake.

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.)
Bowl of chocolate frosting with black cocoa powder and food coloring.
Bowl of black frosting.
  • 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.
Black buttercream piping on a white cake.

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.

A gothic scene with a black and white Lambeth style cake topped with candles.

You Might Also Like

A moody scene with candles and a black velvet cake in a silver cake stand.
Black Velvet Cake
Cherries being placed on top of a pink lambeth cake.
Lambeth Chocolate Cherry Cake
Chocolate truffles on top of black and white chocolate cupcakes.
Black and White Chocolate Cupcakes
A two-tiered almond wedding cake with a white chocolate rose.
Almond Wedding Cake

Favorite Products

Did you love today’s recipe? Please rate the recipe and let me know in the comments what you thought! Also, be sure to follow Curly Girl Kitchen on Instagram, and tag me when you try one of my recipes so I can see all your delicious creations!

Candles being blown out on a black and white Lambeth cake.

Black and White Lambeth Halloween Cake

Heather Smoke
An elegant Lambeth cake, decorated with black and white piped buttercream, perfect for Halloween or a Gothic wedding.

All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.

5 from 1 vote
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 30 minutes mins
Total Time 30 minutes mins
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings10

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.
Keyword Black and White, Cake, Gothic, Halloween, Lambeth, Wedding
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
https://curlygirlkitchen.com/

Filed Under: Cake Decorating, Cakes, Halloween

Previous Post: « High Altitude Salted Peanut Butter Blondies
Next Post: Maple Walnut Shortbread »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

Welcome

I'm Heather, and welcome to my Colorado kitchen, where you will find high-altitude tested recipes for beautifully photographed cakes, baked goods and sweets. I believe that the kitchen is the heart of a home, and everyone is welcome in mine. So stay a while, sip a cup of coffee, and bake something delicious with me!

CGK Amazon Shop Graphic
A graphic on how to make perfect American buttercream.
A graphic on how to stack, fill, crumb coat and frost layer cakes.

Recipe Index

  • Breads, Biscuits, Muffins and Doughnuts
  • Breakfast
  • Brownies and Bars
  • Cakes
    • Buttercream
    • Cake Decorating
    • Classic Cake Flavors
  • Candy and Snacks
  • Cheesecakes
  • Christmas and Thanksgiving
    • Christmas Cakes
    • Christmas Cookies
  • Cookies
  • Crisps, Crumbles, Cobblers and Puddings
  • Cupcakes
  • Drinks
  • Halloween
  • How To Guides and Resources
  • Ice Cream and Frozen Treats
  • Jams and Sweet Sauces
  • Pies and Tarts
  • Savory
  • Uncategorized
A graphic on how I improved my food photography with Foodtography School.
A graphic on how to make flaky pie dough.

Recent Posts

  • High Altitude Triple Chocolate Cheesecake
  • High Altitude Lemon Poppy Seed Crumb Cake
  • Everything Bagel Homemade Whole Wheat Crackers
  • No Churn Lemon Poppy Seed Ice Cream
  • High Altitude Peanut Butter Sheet Cake
  • Grapefruit Tarts with Mascarpone Whipped Cream
  • High Altitude Banana Snack Cake with Chocolate Buttercream
  • High Altitude No Knead Bread (Rustic Artisan Boule)
  • High Altitude Honey Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread
  • Cherry Cheesecake Sandwich Cookies

Archives

  • about
  • faqs
  • recipes
  • portfolio
  • work with me
  • contact

Footer

I'm Heather, and welcome to Curly Girl Kitchen, where you will find high-altitude tested recipes for beautifully photographed cakes and sweets. I believe that the kitchen is the heart of a home, and everyone is welcome in mine. So stay a while, sip a cup of coffee, and bake something sweet with me!

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Privacy Policy

About

FAQs

Work With Me

Contact

Copyright © 2023 Curly Girl Kitchen on the Foodie Pro Theme

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OkNoPrivacy Policy