Black Cocoa Halloween Cookie Cake -The best spooky treat for Halloween. It’s soft and buttery, piped with a colorful buttercream and spooky Halloween sprinkles.
This Black Cocoa Halloween Cookie Cake is naturally dyed with the use of black cocoa powder to achieve the perfect Halloween look. It’s a great kid friendly dessert for all the little helping hands and wonderful for their creativity.
To begin making this Halloween Cookie Cake you’ll need black cocoa. It’s an essential ingredient that creates a natural black color without the food dye.
The dough gets pressed into a baking pan and then is baked, cooled and then topped with a vanilla buttercream.
Yep! It’s that simple! Instead of baking a dozen or two cookies you’re just making one oversized cookie!
Looking for more Halloween treats, my spooky spider donuts are so cute and delicious and are so fun to make with kids. These easy Halloween Reese’s brownies are a big hit with everyone and its great to make ahead of time.
Why you will love this recipe!
It’s not too often that you see a black cocoa cookie cake for Halloween! You usually see chocolate chip and sugar.
Easy to make! It’s a one bowel recipe! Besides the buttercream of course!
Let your creativity RUN wild! Press M&M’s, sprinkles, eyeballs, chocolate chips into the batter right before baking to create a more SPOOKY cookie cake.
Black Cocoa Halloween Cookie Cake Key Ingredients:
Brown Sugar: Brown sugar plays a big role in texture and moisture of a cookie. I prefer to use light brown sugar on hand other than dark, but you can just use what you have on hand.
Gel Food Coloring: Not necessarily important but if you do wish to achieve a colorful Halloween Cookie, I would recommend gel over liquid.
Black Cocoa Powder: Black Cocoa powder is one of those ingredients you have to order online. This is the one I like: Black Cocoa Powder.
How to Make Black Cocoa Halloween Cookie Cake:
In a large bowl, combine softened butter with both sugars and beat until smooth.
Add in the whole egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract.
Add in all the dry ingredients mixing on low and then medium until the dough is combined. (The black cocoa powder will go everywhere if you mix on high first, ask me how I learned my lesson)
Fold in additional add ins if desired.
Line parchment paper into an 8in cake round and press the cookie dough evenly into the cake pan. Bake the Black Cocoa Halloween Cookie cake into oven at 350F for 22 to 26 minutes. Once baked allow it to cool completely before frosting.
Let’s make the Frosting!
Beat the softened butter for 5 minutes until light and fluffy. The color should change from a yellow to a pale yellow. Sift the powdered sugar and add it into the bowl along with vanilla extract.
Continue to whip the buttercream for another 5 minutes and then add in the heavy cream and then whip for another 3 minutes until light and fluffy. At this point the buttercream should be almost white.
Separate the buttercream into desired colored bowls and add in the gel food coloring until color desired.
Now let your creativity begin!
Helpful Tips:
- Mix black cocoa powder on low speed to prevent a disaster!
- Mixing gel food coloring into buttercream: Slowly start off with 2 to 3 drops until desired color is reached. I find that mixing with a spatula or a spoon doesn’t mix the food coloring with the buttercream very well. The color doesn’t come out as well even if you feel like you’ve added the entire food bottle. If you have a hand mixer, I recommend using it.
- Allow the cookie cake to fully cool down before frosting.
Easy Black Cocoa Halloween Cookie Cake
Ingredients
Black Cocoa Cookie Dough
- 12 tbsp butter softened
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 whole egg plus one yolk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup black cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2-3/4 cup additional add-ins
Vanilla Buttercream
- 8 tbsp butter
- 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp sprinkles
Instructions
Black Cocoa Cookie Dough
- In a large bowl, combine softened butter with both sugars and beat until smooth.
- Add in the whole egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract.
- Add in all the dry ingredients mixing on low and medium until the dough is combined.
- Fold in additional add ins if desired.
- Line parchment paper into an 8-inch cake round and press the cookie dough evenly into the cake pan. Bake the cookie cake at 350F for 22 to 26 minutes. Once baked allow it to cool completely before frosting.
Let's make the frosting!
- Beat the softened butter for 5 minutes until light and fluffy. The color should change from a yellow to a pale yellow. Sift the powdered sugar and add it into the bowl along with vanilla extract.
- Continue to whip the buttercream for another 5 minutes and then add in the heavy cream and then whip for another 3 minutes until light and fluffy. At this point the buttercream should be almost white.
- Separate the buttercream into desired colored bowls and add in the gel food coloring until color desired.
