When I saw a picture of this cake on the internet I knew it would make for a yummy, edible element to my Happy Halloween mini series on the blog. I couldn't find an exact recipe for this cake, so I did my best and guest most of the ingredients and sourced a recipe from a cook book I had stashed away.
The chocolate cake part is just a normal recipe too which I made a double batch (simply doubled all ingredients), then separated into three after baking - two identical cake tins about just below half full, and the remainder of the batter made for the middle piece in the same tin, after the other two cooled on a wire rack.
CHOCOLATE CAKE
1 cup cocoa powder
1 cup boiling water
370g butter
3 cups brown sugar
6 eggs
3 cups self-raising flour
1 cup plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda
1 1/2 cups milk
4 tsp vanilla extract
METHOD
Preheat oven to 170°C and grease two deep cake tins with butter. Combine cocoa powder and water in a small bowl and whisk until smooth, set aside to cool down. Beat butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined. Stir in flours and soda, then milk, vanilla extract, and cocoa mixture. Pour mixtures into tins and bake uncovered for about 35-40 minutes, checking every 15 minutes or so. Once finished cooking, remove from tin and set aside to cool.
From the picture a lot of cream cheese frosting is used, so a simple recipe with minimal sugar was what I was after. And of course, orange food colouring- I had to improvise today with a mixture of red and yellow!
CREAM CHEESE ICING
300g butter, softened
2 cups icing sugar
3 tbsp milk
METHOD
Using an electric mixer, beat the butter until creamy and pale. Gradually add sugar and milk and beat until combined. As for the construction, I lathered a small amount of the frosting to the bottom of a cake stand to act as glue for the base of the cake. Then the fun bit came, slapping loads of the frosting in the centre and some right on the edge. I then placed the middle layer on top and slowly and carefully pushed down, to create the oozy effect of the cake. And of course repeat!
With the top layer I added the last of the frosting, ensuring I had plenty if need be. To create the spider web look, all I did was melt a tiny amount of chocolate chips over the stove, waited for it to cool slightly, and placed it in a piping bag with a small nozzle. I went for a swirl motion around the cake, and then took a thin skewer and flicked out the swirl to the edge of the cake, creating the spider web. And for "the cherry on top", a few plastic toy spiders I hunted down and borrowed from a neighbour down the road to complete to look!
The cake was delicious! I hope you all have a spooktacular Halloween!
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