I just got a request for a black velvet cake?! I did a little internet search - I found a recipe for one that looks like my red velvet, +extra cocoa, -the red coloring (of course) and it had espresso.

Looks good - but thought I'd run it by the experts first to see if any of you had any ideas. There is a recipe on here - but it looks like a doctored cake mix rather than an actual red velvet with buttermilk and vinegar.

I have had to make Black Velvet on several occasions and really, it's just your regular red velvet, but without the red colouring. You can increase the cocoa slightly, but the addition of espresso is really a bittering agent. I like to sub real dark chocolate for the cocoa - I find it tastes "smoother". If you need it really black, you can add 1/2 oz of black colour - not the 2 oz of colour that you need to add for red. Not sure if that helps at all. Good luck with your cake!!

Thanks! So how much chocolate do you add - just melted, cooled chocolate?

I replace the cocoa by using 1 oz chocolate for every 3 tblspns of cocoa powder. You don't need to replace it all - maybe half? I don't even bother with unsweetened, i just use regular dark chocolate. For a large batch (double or triple) I would remove 1 tblspn of fat for every oz of chocolate. For a regular batch, don't bother.

I made an espresso cake once that called for 3/4 cup cocoa powder. It was so completely disgusting that I threw the whole thing out. Since then, I can't stand a cake that tastes of cocoa powder. Shudder. It was def. a black cake though. LOL.

Sorry, I got off topic there.... Yes, I just melt and let cool slightly, then beat into the wet ingredients.

Great, thanks!!