Halloween Cake

Hello all!

Halloween is just around the corner. Not only does it give us the opportunity to be creative with costumes and makeup but also with food and crafts! I have for you today a fun and delicious cake that you can make for any Halloween party that is sure to be a hit. I used swiss meringue buttercream as the base and added chocolate and orange flavoring to compliment the cake layers. I gave it to several of my students and they loved it. Let’s get started!

Halloween Cake - Makes 3 layers, 2 chocolate and 1 orange.

You will need 2-3 six inch circle baking pans.

Chocolate Cake

My go to recipe for chocolate cake is from Ina Garten, it is delicious. Here is the link. The only thing you have to do is divide the recipe in half, which is really easy. Follow the baking instructions exactly. If you need, I have a video of me making the same cake on my YouTube channel, check it out here.

Orange Cake

I’ve adapted this recipe from Ina Garten’s Lemon Loaf Recipe. If you have a chance, try her lemon loaf, its amazing. Anyhow, this orange cake is so flavorful and it compliments the richness of the chocolate cake and frosting. Makes one 6inch round cake.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of sugar

1 egg (room temperature)

2oz of room temperature butter (1/2 stick) Unsalted

1 tablespoon of orange zest

1/4 teaspoon of orange extract

1/4 teaspoon of salt

3/4 cup of cake flour, sifted

3 tablespoons of buttermilk

1 tablespoon for orange juice

1/8 teaspoon of orange food coloring (I use paste)

1/8 teaspoon of baking powder

1/8 teaspoon of baking soda

Prepare your pan:

Grease your 6 inch round pan with butter and line with parchment paper. Put aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees with oven rack in the middle.

SIFT together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Put aside. Put paddle attachment on stand mixer. Put softened butter and sugar in bowl, mix on medium speed for 3-5 minutes or until fluffy. Add egg and also orange extract, mix another 1-2 minutes or until light in color and combined well. Turn mixer off. Scrape bowl with rubber spatula, add orange zest and mix until combined. Turn mixer to low, add 1/3 of flour mixture, alternate with buttermilk and orange juice. Make sure cake batter is mixed well without over mixing (this will cause a tough cake). Scrape down mixer bowl after each addition. At the end add a the orange food coloring (optional). Make sure there are no food coloring streaks.

Put cake batter into round cake pan. Tap pan on countertop to even out the batter and also to release some air from the mixture. Put in oven for 30-35 minutes. I would check on the cake at 25 minutes just in case your oven runs hotter than mine.

After both cakes (chocolate and orange) come out of the oven, I would let them cool in their pans for 5-10 minutes before de-panning and put on cake cooling rack.

Cakes should not be frosted when hot, only room temperature or cool.

Orange-Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Since I already wrote on a post on how to make swiss buttercream, click here to make a batch.

When your finished, just add a 1/4 teaspoon of orange extract, 1 tablespoon of orange zest and 4 ounces of melted unsweetened chocolate. Whenever melting chocolate, just use the microwave. Cut up the chocolate first, add to a pyrex cup, and heat in 30 second intervals - make sure you mix it in-between. Chocolate easily melts (as we all know) so be careful, otherwise you will burn it. Keep the paddle attachment on and mix in everything, make sure the chocolate isn’t hot before adding to your buttercream, if it is then put into the fridge for just a couple of minutes. If you want to, you can add a teaspoon of black food coloring (I always use the paste), but that is optional. I wanted the contrast between the black buttercream and the rest of the cake.

Assembly of Cake

Take a cake platter, put a little smudge of frosting with a pastry knife in the middle and put one of the chocolate cakes - top side down - onto the platter. Cover the top of the cake with an even layer of the chocolate buttercream. Place the orange cake on top of the now top frosted chocolate cake - top side down. Repeat with the buttercream over just the top. Put the last chocolate cake on top, top side down. Now you can apply the crumb coat. The crumb coat does exactly what it says, which is to hold the crumbs in. Try not to worry too much about how even it is, just try your best to put an even amount of frosting on the cake. When finished, place cake in fridge to set for about 20-30 minutes. If your buttercream is a little loose (warm) you can also put in the fridge for a little bit, but don’t put it in too long, otherwise you will have to re-whip it again with your mixer.

Take the cake out of the fridge and apply the rest of the buttercream using a cake knife or spatula. To get really smooth sides you can use a dough scraper and a cake turnable, if you have them. Other wise, don’t worry about it.

Decorate with halloween candies (I got mine from Michaels Craft Supply) or whatever your hearts desire. You could also make a cool centerpiece with some black fake flowers, try to be creative! Please let me know if you are able to make this cake, I’d love to see your photos! Happy Halloween.