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Dark crumb and berry-pink cream make a striking cut slice. The source image, credited to Création Hloua, shows a more elaborate layered dessert. This accessible adaptation uses three cocoa sponges, a cooked blackberry filling and American-style berry buttercream; it does not reproduce the creator’s original ganache or crémeux formula.
An original Kumora recipe inspired by the linked cake design. The linked reference is decorating inspiration, not evidence of a kitchen-tested result from this recipe. The cover is identified in its caption.
Before you start
- Digital kitchen scale
- Electric hand mixer or stand mixer
- Mixing bowls, silicone spatula and cooling rack
- Offset spatula, cake board and turntable
- Piping bags and parchment paper
- Three 6-inch round cake pans
- Fine sieve and small saucepan
- Cake scraper and serrated knife
Use black cocoa as part of the blend
Black cocoa brings an almost charcoal color and a cookie-like flavor, but using it alone can make the cake taste flat. A blend with Dutch-process cocoa keeps the chocolate flavor fuller. This batter uses baking powder rather than relying on cocoa acidity.
Expect a very dark brown crumb that may deepen overnight. Do not add large amounts of black gel color just to imitate a photograph; camera exposure can make the reference look darker than a cake does in daylight.
Reduce the blackberries before adding them to frosting
Simmer and strain the fruit so the finished filling has fewer seeds. Reduce the strained puree to a measured amount, then thicken it slightly. The result should mound softly on a spoon once cold.
Reserve only 50 g of the cold fruit mixture for the buttercream. Too much puree can split a butter-based frosting. Add it gradually and stop if the buttercream begins to look loose.
Stack for a clean cutaway
Level each sponge and use a buttercream ring around the perimeter. Spread a thin layer of berry filling inside the ring, then cover with a modest amount of buttercream. Repeat once, and finish with the third sponge.
Chill the assembled cake before slicing. A warm knife wiped completely clean between cuts keeps the pink frosting from streaking across the dark crumb.
When the buttercream looks separated
A cold fruit mixture added to warm butter can give a curdled look. Let the bowl stand for a few minutes, then mix gently. If it is runny rather than curdled, a short chill usually helps.
Keep the covered cake refrigerated for up to 3 days. Fresh berries on top look best on the day they are added; wash and dry them well, or leave the finish plain.
Black velvet blackberry layer cake
- Makes, at 1×
- One 6-inch, three-layer cake; 10–12 slices
- Prep
- 1 hr 30 min
- Baking
- 32 min
- Start to finish
- About 4 hr 20 min
Allow 2 hours or more for the sponges and berry mixture to cool and the assembled cake to chill.
Original recipe draft · not yet kitchen-tested. Baking times are estimates; use the doneness checks in the method.
Ingredients
Cake
Berry mixture
Berry buttercream
Let’s make it
- Heat the oven to 175°C / 350°F conventional (155°C fan). Grease and line three 6-inch pans. Mix both cocoas with the hot water until smooth and leave for 5 minutes.
- Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together. In another bowl whisk eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Combine the wet mixture, dry mixture and cocoa mixture just until smooth. Divide evenly between pans.
- Bake for 27–32 minutes until the centers spring back and a skewer has no wet batter. Cool for 15 minutes in the pans, then turn out and cool completely.
- Simmer blackberries, sugar and lemon juice for 8–10 minutes. Press through a fine sieve and discard the seeds. Return the puree to the pan and reduce to 230 g, weighing carefully in a heat-safe bowl if needed.
- Mix cornstarch with 20 g water, stir into the puree and simmer for 1–2 minutes until thick. Cool completely. Reserve 50 g for the buttercream; divide the rest between the two filling layers.
- Beat the buttercream butter until pale. Add icing sugar gradually, then cream, vanilla and salt. Beat in the 50 g cold berry mixture a teaspoon at a time. Stop and chill briefly if the frosting becomes loose.
- Level the sponges. On the first sponge, pipe a buttercream dam and spread half the reserved filling inside it, followed by a thin layer of buttercream. Add the next sponge and repeat. Top with the third sponge.
- Crumb-coat, chill for 20 minutes, then cover with the remaining berry buttercream. Chill at least 30 minutes before cutting to reveal the contrasting layers.
Contains wheat, eggs and milk. If black cocoa is unavailable, replace it gram for gram with Dutch-process cocoa; the cake will be browner. The reference uses different components, so the texture and slice pattern will differ.
The little details
- Weigh the reduced fruit mixture; fruit water content varies.
- The natural berry color may be mauve rather than bright pink.
- This is a simplified original interpretation, not the recipe printed or sold by the source creator.
Your questions, answered
Is black velvet cake the same as red velvet?
Here it means a dark cocoa layer cake. This formula does not use the buttermilk, vinegar and coloring combination common in red velvet recipes.
Can I use raspberries?
Yes, but strain and reduce them to the same measured puree weight. Their acidity and color will differ, so the finished frosting will taste and look different.
Can I put raw berry puree straight into buttercream?
It can introduce too much water. Use the cooked, cooled mixture and the small measured portion in this recipe.
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