Want to seriously spook your guests this Halloween? This fake raw mince looks disturbingly real but is actually sweet red velvet cake. Serve it straight from a meat grinder and watch your guests laugh (and squirm!). A quirky, fun and unforgettable party treat!
About This Halloween Fake Raw Mince
Looking for a gruesome, fun and mind bending idea for Halloween? This fake raw mince is an absolute hoot and perfect for any fun and gruesome Halloween party. Fake raw mince is made out of a red velvet cake!
This red velvet cake mince is a clever Halloween idea that came to me via Monica. She sent me a video by a Austin based prop master Scott Reeder. He showed that in the movies they make fake mince with just a red velvet cake! Scare your friends and family by eating mince straight from the meat grinder. It is such a fun way of serving cake at a Halloween party.
Video How To Make Halloween Fake Raw Mince
Video: How to Make Fake Raw Mince
Tips For Making Fake Raw Mince
1 - This is such an easy recipe that I don't really have many tips and if you can buy a red velvet cake, that makes it even easier!
2 - I've given a recipe for a home made one here based on the red velvet cake in my book. If you're using a shop bought cake, make sure it is one with icing as the mixture of the white icing and red cake produces a pink mixture that mimics the colour of mince.
3 - You don't want your homemade red velvet cake to be too red as you want the end result to have a pink colour. If your red velvet cake looks too dark red you can either a) call it venison mince (haha!) or add Wilton white white colouring.
4 - Don't have a meat grinder? Try a potato ricer - use the insert with the largest holes.
5 - Serving suggestion: serve it straight from the meat grinder for that true grisly factor!
Halloween Cake Fake Raw Mince Recipe
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Step 1 SIFT - Preheat oven to 160C/320F fan forced or 180C/350F conventional and line a 20cm/8inch round pan with parchment on the base and sides. Sift the flour, cocoa, bicarb and salt together in a large bowl.
Step 2 BEAT - With an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (around 3-4 minutes). Add in eggs one at a time beating well between additions.
Step 3 WHISK - In a jug whisk the buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla and colouring.
Step 4 COMBINE - With mixer on low speed, add in half of the flour mixture and half of the buttermilk mixture and repeat with the remainder of flour and buttermilk until just combined (do not overmix.) Scoop into the prepared tin. Then bake for 35-40 minute or until the centre springs back when gently pressed. Cool on a rack and then wrap in cling film until the next day.
Step 5a FROSTING - To make the frosting beat the butter and cream cheese together until you get a smooth, homogenous mixture. On low speed add in the icing sugar, vanilla and salt and beat until you get a smooth frosting and it is completely combined.
Step 5b THERMOMIX FROSTING - Place the icing sugar in the Thermomix bowl and set to speed #7 for 10 seconds. Then add the butter and cream cheese and set to speed #5 for 15 seconds. Scrape down the sides and set for another 15 seconds at speed #5.
Step 6 FROST - Cut the cake in half horizontally and spread with half of the frosting and then spread the remainder frosting on top.
Step 7 MINCE - With gloved hands, mush up the cake and the frosting together. It should be a pink colour, like raw mince. Set up your meat grinder on a table for the party and push the cake through and leave it hanging from the grinder for the greatest visual effect!
Substitution notes and ingredients:
Cake flour makes softer cakes. For every cup of flour, replace 2 tablespoons of plain all purpose flour with cornflour/fine cornstarch and whisk well. You can also buy cake flour at the supermarket.
Usually for intense red velvet cakes I use Lorann red velvet emulsion as it is an intense red but for this one we use less as we don't really want a deep red cake as we want the end result to be a pink colour.
Buttermilk can easily be made by replacing 1 tablespoon of the total milk measurement with vinegar or lemon juice. It will curdle which is what we want.
If you want to make this a cake that can sit out at room temperature you can replace the cream cheese with butter. Buttercream is stable at room temperature.
Personal Note
I originally bought an old fashioned meat mincer for this but I couldn't get it to work. I had bought it on marketplace so I couldn't get a refund so I had to buy a newer one. I think the vintage looking one would have lent a bit more to the effect but it was not to be.
We recently sold some things on marketplace. I get Mr NQN to sell them for us and that means that things take a bit longer because he doesn't check his messages and before long we've missed the selling window. It's a bit frustrating as I've been trying to sell a food processor for a while now. One afternoon someone messaged him about it. We listed it at $199 as the retail price was just under $400 but they asked if the price was negotiable. They offered $130 but we ended up agreeing to $180 and they made arrangements for them to pick it up that evening once they tested it out.
I was in the back of the house with Teddy and Milo because we didn't want them to bark at strangers coming into the house. Mr NQN let them test it out and they paid him and were on their way.
I opened the door and asked him how it went.He picked up the notes and his eyes widened. They had only given him $130. "Are they still there?" I asked him and he said no, he had helped them carry it out to their car and they left shortly after.
He messaged them and I had visions of them blocking him but after a few seconds, three dots appeared and they were writing back to him.
"Oh sorry, wasn't it $130?" they asked.
"No it was $180," replied Mr NQN.
They promised to come back with more money which did they quickly. But a part of me wondered whether they were trying it on or whether it was a genuine mistake. And whenI told my friend Sammie about it she told me that the exact same thing had happened to her!
So tell me Dear Reader, do you think they did it deliberately or was it a mistake? And would you be squeamish or laugh if you saw this red velvet fake mince?
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Red Velvet Fake Mince Cake - Fun Halloween Dessert was written by Lorraine Elliott and published on Wednesday, October 8, 2025 in
Delicious Recipes and
Halloween.
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