So, the season is upon us… autumn, all the spices are out of the cupboard making their appearances in all of our baked goods! It is also the month of Halloween!
Now my Instagram page has had a little revamp recently. With it being fall and Halloween (two of my most favourite thing mixed into one), i had to make all the goods and treats that match this time of the year!
A Halloween cake was always at the top of my list but i wasn't two sure how i wanted to go about the design, flavour and overall look of the cake. I really wanted to nail it and make it spooky as well as pretty and cute. So i have come up with a spiced and coffee coloured sponge, with a sunset inspired cake frosting and cute Halloween decorations for the top.
The flavour of the sponge took me a minute to decide as i have seen alot of pumpkin spice cake sponges. I wanted to do something a little bit different and decided to add allspice and also some coffee. I love a good coffee cake. the two flavours together really added that something special and really gave it that fall/halloween feel.
You can always use less or more ingredients than I specify, but that’s entirely up to you. You could even add these into cupcake cakes and make yourself some cute halloween cupcakes.
The decoration on top of the cake that i used are from Sainsburys. They have so many others like this that are perfect for halloween and also so lovely halloween decor in their Sainsburys Home. I went a little crazy and brought a load of stuff!
I didn’t feel like the cake needed toooo much decoration as it looks quite showstopper like as it is, however… any drip cake is quite the showstopper. The contrast of a dark chocolate drip, with the bright orange frosting, is beautiful!
There are notes in the recipe on how to make a smaller version of this cake, but I love a three layer cake as you can tell. I always find the height of a three layer cake is pretty much the minimum needed for a drip cake, otherwise the drip won’t have far enough to go down!
The coloured layers of each cake can also be changed. I went for purple, green and black but you can use any colours you like. I think these colours screem halloween!
I also really wanted a white crumb coat and white layered between each layer of cake. I have tried this recipe with a orange butter cream between each layer and it didn't make the outside stand out as much.
Creating the 'sunset' look isnt hard at all. It just take abit of patience. It really adds more depth and contrast to the overall look of the cake in my opinion.
Details for background decor (not sponsored):
Pumpkins - Any supermarket, seasonal veg section
Recipe
Three layered Halloween cake with allspice coffee Halloween coloured sponges, a two toned orange coating and a delicious dark chocolate drip.
Ingredients:
Cake:
200 g Unsalted Butter/Stork
200 g Light Brown Sugar
200 g Self Raising Flour
4 Medium Eggs
1 tsp Ground Allspice
1 tbsp Instant Coffee
1 tbsp Boiling Water
Gel Food Colouring - Purple, Green and Black
Frosting:
600g icing sugar, sifted
300g unsalted or salted butter, softened
1 tsp of vanilla extract
Gel Food Colouring, Red, Yellow, Ivory
Decoration
50g Dark Chocolate
1 tsp Coconut Oil
Chocolate Sprinkles
Halloween Cake Decorations
Method:
Cake:
1. Heat the oven to 180C/160C Fan and line three 6inch cake tins with baking parchment and butter the sides – leave aside.
2. In a stand mixer, beat together the butter and light brown sugar until light and fluffy.
Dissolve the Instant Coffee in 1 tbsp of Boiling Water.
3. Add in the flour, allspice, eggs, and coffee and beat again briefly till combined. Try not to over beat the mixture!
4. Divide the mixture equally into three bowls and add the food coloring. Be sure to use gel food colouring as it will not change the thickness of the batter.
5. Divide the mixture between the three tins and smooth it over – bake for 15-18 minutes until a skewer comes out clean when poked, and when the cake springs back.
6. Once baked, leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, and then remove and leave to cool fully on a wire rack. If the cake has domed slightly, leave the cake to cool upside down to flatten it slightly.
7. You can allow the cakes to cook overnight in a storage box or you can leave it for a hour until fully full cooled.
Frosting:
1. Beat the Butter on its own in a stand mixer or bowl for a couple of minutes so it's really supple and soft.
2. Add in the Vanilla and beat again.
3. Gradually add in the Icing Sugar until all of it is combined and beat for a good few minutes.
4. If it's still really stiff, add one tablespoon of boiling water at a time, until its pipeable.
Decorations:
1. Add a smear of buttercream into your cake board so that the first layer sticks to the bottom and doesn't move.
2. For each layer of the Cake, add a sponge, and slather on some of the buttercream.
Repeat again with the next layer, and then the final layer. Be sure to not add too much buttercream between each layer. You don't want it to be too thick.
3. Create a crumb coat and allow to the cake to form a crust before moving onto the frosting.
4. Whist you are waiting for the crumb coat to crust, divide the remaining frosting equally into two bowls. To one add red and yellow gel food colouring until you get a lovely blood orange colour. To the other add red, a little yellow and ivory gel food coluring until you get a light beige orange colour.
5. Using a stainless steel angled spatula, smooth the bloody orange buttercream around the top and sides of the cake leaving gaps in between the cake - it does not have to be perfect by any means. The rougher looking the better. Using a cake scrapper, smooth out the cake as you would to add a frosting layer to the cake. In the gaps that remain, add the light beige orange colour and do the same. Keep going until the cake is covered and a lovely two-toned sunset effect is created. Set the cake in the fridge again for 20 minutes.
6. Whilst your cake is setting move onto creating your two-toned frosting for the top of the cake.
7. Measure out a 25cmx25cm piece of cling film. Using a teaspoon, create a horizontal line with one buttercream at a time scooping your buttercream onto the cling film. There needs to be one row of blood orange and one row of light beige orange and so on. Create 2-3 rows of buttercream. next carefully wrap the butter cream into a sausage shape (be sure not to press down on the buttercream or squash it) and secure both ends by twisting. Snip one end off and add into a pipping bag with whatever nozzle you like. I used a French Tip Nozzle.
8. Melt your dark chocolate carefully until smooth, and stir through 1 tsp of coconut oil to loosen slightly - some dark chocolate doesn't need this as it's thinner, but some dark chocolate cake be a little thick and hard to use for a drip.
9. Carefully drip the chocolate down the sides of the cake with a small disposable piping bag or a spoon if you feel confident enough and created a small circle of chocolate on the outer sides of the cake. Be sure not to go to close to the middle as we want that to be shown . Put in the fridge for 15 minutes.
10. Once the chocolate has slightly hardened, pipe on a long joint swirl of buttercream. You should be able to see the two-tone in full effect clearly with the swirls :D!
11. Sprinkle on your favourite sprinkles, add some spooky decorations and your done!
Notes:
This cake will last for three days once made, at room temperature.
The coffee in the cake is optional, but the coffee is part of the classic spiced cake.
I recommend using this scraper for the cake to get the best smooth finish. I use a few but this one is the best :)
I recommend using these small piping bags if you are using them for your drips - you snip off a really small bit at the end and drip!
I recommend using these piping bags for the buttercream as I love them.
I also recommend using this piping tip as it makes the most beautiful swirls.
Hope you all enjoyed this recipe! If you do use this recipe be sure to tag me. My Instagram Page is: Bakewithzainab.
Also be sure to comment down below with any questions you may have.
Lots of love
Zainab xx
© Bake With Zainab – Zainab Moughal. I own all content and photos’ copyright. Before using my photos and recipes, please email me. If you would like to republish a recipe, please link back to this post and re-write the instructions in your own words.
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