Servings 8 small cakes
Equipment
Ingredients
- Cooking spray
- 1 (13.25-oz.) box Devil’s Food or Red Velvet cake mix
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- Raspberry or strawberry sauce, for serving
- Powdered sugar, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease the skull cake pan with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the cake mix, eggs, water, vegetable oil and sour cream.
- Fill six of the skull molds 3/4 full. Do not overfill the molds or the cakes will overflow. If you have a second skull pan, divide the remaining batter between two additional molds. Gently tap the pan(s) on the counter several times to release any air bubbles.
- Bake the cakes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, 27 to 30 minutes. Let the cakes cool for 5 minutes in the pan before inverting them onto a wire rack to cool completely. If using one pan, let it cool completely, then grease two of the molds again, divide the remaining batter between them and repeat the baking and cooling process.
- Add a dollop of the raspberry or strawberry sauce to the center of each serving plate, then carefully smack a spoon down on top of it to create a splattered effect.
- Place each cake on top of the sauce, then dust it with powdered sugar and serve.
Notes
- Cake mix: I've tested this recipe with both Devil's Food and Red Velvet cake mix. You can use another flavor, but make sure you're starting with a 13.25-ounce box so the ingredient ratios stay the same.
- Pan: I use the Nordic Ware Skull Cake Pan, which has six cavities. This recipe makes eight mini cakes, so if you only have one pan, you'll need to bake the final two in a second batch. Don't try to squeeze all the batter into six molds or the cakes will overflow!
- Sauce: Either the raspberry sauce from my chocolate lava cakes recipe or my strawberry sauce works great for creating the splattered effect.
- Make-ahead and storage: The mini cakes can be baked up to 2 days in advance and stored in an airtight container at room temperature. Wait to add the berry sauce and powdered sugar until just before serving. Leftover cakes will keep for up to 3 days at room temperature.
- ★ Did you make this recipe? Don't forget to give it a star rating below!