So my soon to be 17 year old son asked for a Magic the Gathering themed cake. We are still working out the decorating details but the cake is basically white and red velvet with strawberry filling. What I am struggling with is how to color a layer black. The flavor would be the red velvet so I could add cocoa powder and black food coloring. I also need blue and green but the only problem I see is that the layers either darken or lighten while cooking. Any help it appreciated.

i'm thinking the flavors are pretty important here right -- we want to work around those -- so i have a different type of idea -- what about if you put already baked polka dots of cake, circles, balls of cake into the red velvet batter -- or they could be unbaked blobs or you could marble it too -- that absolutely adds another dimension of work but that would be one way to establish the colors and keep the flavors --

or you could also stripe the filling where i'm picturing a round cake -- see the filling laid out in a wagon wheel design with the spokes alternating the strawberry then a different color -- so you'd still have strawberry filling but you could add in your colors in buttercream every other spoke -

i would not use black food coloring myself -- i would use the black coca powder

and if you start with white cake no egg yolks you should get your true colors with americolor food color in there

what do you think?

I forgot to add the inspiration photo. Love your ideas K8, just not what we both have in mind. To be honest if I can make the color without the red velvet starting point my son would be happier.Where do you find the black cocoa powder? Locally I only find Hershey special dark as the darkest. When y8u look at the photo I plan to use white cake and tint the blue and green layers. The one I am trying to figure out is the darkest layer which is suppose to be black. I bought a red velvet and white cake mixes to start with. The mixes will make 4 layers each(using Wiltons easy layers 8 inch pans) of which I plan to use 2 red velvet and 3 white.  My son isn't a big sweets kid so strawberry or raspberry filling instead of the butter cream shown.[postimage id="5160" thumb="900"]

i buy my black cocoa either from king arthur or from amazon -- amazon had a better container -- a nice plastic jar with a screw on/off lid -- while king arthur's came in a paper bag so...

oh but i see now what you're doing -- the red velvet is not the star of the show -- i use this recipe, it bakes up in 9" pans -- it came with an oreo cookie pan i bought:

• 1/2 cup cocoa powder, plus more for dusting
• 7 oz. bittersweet chocolate, broken into pieces
• 14 Tbs. (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into cubes
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 3/4 tsp. vanilla extract
• 
  
• Preheat an oven to 350°F. Using a small pastry brush, grease 2 sandwich cookie cake pans with shortening or softened butter, making sure to coat the details and crevices in the pans. Dust thoroughly with cocoa powder; tap out excess.
• To make the cakes, put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and microwave until melted, stirring once, about 1 1/2 minutes. Alternatively, put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set over but not touching barely simmering water in a saucepan. Melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally. Remove the bowl from the heat and stir in the butter, a few pieces at a time, until blended. Let the chocolate mixture cool slightly.
• In a bowl, whisk together the flour, the 1/2 cup cocoa powder, the baking powder and salt until combined. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar, eggs and vanilla until well combined. Add the chocolate mixture and whisk until incorporated. Whisk in the flour mixture until combined. Divide the batter between the prepared pans and spread evenly. Gently tap the pans on the counter to release any air bubbles. Bake until the tops of the cakes are shiny and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few crumbs attached, about 35 minutes.
• Transfer the pans to a wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes, then invert the cakes onto a cutting board.

Thanks for the recipe.