Don't miss

A Halloween Cake Your Kids will Fall for

By Linda Eckhardt on October 18, 2012

A Halloween Cake Your Kids will Fall for

halloween chocolate cake candy corn decorations

Decorate your Halloween cake and haunted house with candy corn

Tomorrow I fly to Oregon to see my Oregon grandchildren, Aidan and Maia. Their mother, Cara, and I use to have so much fun decorating cakes and cookies together when Cara was just a teenager. I decided we should try out a few Halloween projects since I’m always big on the ideas, but have rather limited fine motor skills. Call me a big picture person. (ha).

But The kids and I are going to make a haunted house using milk cartons smeared with royal icing colord black, then decorated with candies. But we’ll also want something to really eat, so I thought we’d make a version of the old fashioned Mayonnaise chocolate cake which is suitably dark and dangerous, keeps well, and can be decorated too.

At Big Lots I found a marvelous selection of edible decorations: candy corn, candy pumpkins, ghost peeps and a bunch of other stuff. I just stuck it in a bag and when I get there, we’ll just make a big old mess. It will be fun. I’ll send you some pictures.

Chocolate Goth Cake

http://www.dreamstime.com/-image26176976

Halloween Goth Cake Just Waiting for Candy Decorations

Made with mayonnaise, this cake makes a great base for kids to decorate for Halloween.

2 ounces bittersweet chocolate (do not exceed 61% cacao), chopped

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 3/4 cups boiling water

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup sugar

1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar

1 1/3 cups best quality mayonnaise (Duke’s Best Food, Hellman’s)

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting: 10 ounces bittersweet chocolate (do not exceed 61% cacao), chopped

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

3 cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Ghosts to decorate your Goth Cake

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour three 8-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides. Combine chopped chocolate and cocoa powder in medium metal bowl. Add 1 3/4 cups boiling water and whisk until chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.

Sift flour, baking soda, and baking powder into another medium bowl.Using electric mixer, beat both sugars and mayonnaise in large bowl until well blended, 2 to 3 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until well blended after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Add flour mixture in 4 additions alternately with chocolate mixture in 3 additions, beating until blended after each addition and occasionally scraping down sides of bowl. Divide the batter among prepared cake pans (about 2 1/3 cups for each).

Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 30 to 32 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on racks 20 minutes. Run a small knife around sides of cakes to loosen. Carefully invert cakes onto racks and let cool completely.

For frosting:

halloween chocolate cake decorations creepy kewpies

Creepy Kewpies to decorate the Goth Cake

Place chopped chocolate in medium metal bowl; set bowl over saucepan of simmering water and stir until chocolate is melted and smooth. Carefully remove bowl from over water; let melted chocolate cool until lukewarm, stirring occasionally.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until smooth and creamy. Sift powdered sugar over butter and beat until well blended, about 2 minutes. Beat in vanilla. Add melted chocolate and beat until well blended and smooth, occasionally scraping down sides of bowl.

Place 1 cake layer on platter. Spread 3/4 cup frosting over top of cake layer to edges. Top with second cake layer; spread 3/4 cup frosting over. Top with third cake layer. Spread remaining frosting decoratively over top and sides of cake. Decorate as you wish with Halloween candies. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with cake dome and let stand at room temperature.

halloween chocolate cake kids dressed up for trick or treat

Happy Halloween! Trick or Treat!

Pin It

About Linda Eckhardt

Linda West Eckhardt, is an award winning journalist, food writer, and nutritionist. Her more than 20 cookbooks have garnered prizes including the James Beard prize for the best cookbook for a text she wrote with her daughter, Katherine West DeFoyd, entitled Entertaining 101, Doubleday. Their follow-up book, Stylish One Dish Dinners, Doubleday, was also nominated for a James Beard prize. Their next book, The High Protein Cookbook, Clarkson Potter, remains a best seller after 12 years. That book was designed to accompany low carb diet plans. Her ground-breaking book, Bread in Half The Time, Broadway Books, was named the Best Cookbook in America by the prestigious IACP, The Julia Child award. Her award winning radio work with Jennifer English, for a national show on the Food and Wine radio network, was nominated for a James Beard Prize for a show called, “I Know What You Ate Last Summer.”

One Comment

build backlinks

November 5, 2012 at 1:01 pm

You’re really a excellent webmaster. The site loading speed is amazing. It seems that you are doing any unique trick. Moreover, The contents are masterwork. you’ve done a magnificent task on this topic!

Reply