Just when you thought you'd seen all the most inventive sorts of cake, plus the odd rainbow bagel, along comes this beautiful creature of confectionary. 

Introducing the black velvet nebula cake - a sweet treat that is both beautiful (and a bit nerdy), but also has a delicious, black, confetti interior, putting a new spin on the velvet cake.

The cake is made by Sprinkle Bakes' Heather Baird, who says she was inspired by a Hubble Space Telescope picture book, to create something mirroring the amazing, colourful nebulae in and beyond the galaxy.

She used dark cocoa powder to create the deep chocolatey taste of the sponge and added a bit of colouring to take it to the deep black colour.

The stars in the sponge are created by mixing in some edible confetti. 

The galaxies depicted on the outer icing were made by painting using sea sponges. 

She used some parchment paper dipped in white to create 'star rays'.

For the full recipe, plus instructions for painting and decorating the cake, click here

Headshot of Natasha Bird
Natasha Bird
Former Digital Executive Editor

Natasha Bird is the Former Executive Editor (Digital) of ELLE.