Monster Cake

My roommates and I are throwing a Halloween party, tonight in fact! In honor of the occasion, I made these cute mummy dogs, as well as the monstrous creation you can see above. I had a slice early to taste-test it, and it is pretty darn delicious. The frosting is made with Hershey's Dark chocolate cocoa, and on the whole the cake ended up being very very rich. Its the kind of cake you only need a thin slice of, since it's so packed with chocolately goodness. The cake itself is based off of a yellow cake recipe, I added grated Symphony bar pieces for extra flavor and and for some brown spots in the greenness of the cake. It came out suuuuuper moist and buttery, just the way I like it! I also really like how the dark chocolate frosting came out almost black-looking, it makes for an extra-creepy pairing with the green cake, I think :) I hope you guys like it as much as I do, Happy Halloween!!!!!

Green Cake

Ingredients:

3 and 1/4 Cups Regular Flour, (NOT cake flour)

2 Cups Sugar

1 and 1/4 Cups Milk, luke warm

3/4 Cup Sweet Cream Salted Butter, soft

4 Eggs

3 Tablespoons Grated Symphony Bar with Toffee and Almonds

2 and 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Powder

2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

48 Drops Blue Food Coloring

49 Droops Yellow Food Coloring

            

       



Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder until well blended. Add the butter and beat with an electric mixer until the mixture looks grainy. Add the milk and vanilla extract and mix together at medium speed for one minute. Add one egg at a time, beating at medium high speed for 30 seconds after each addition.

Once you have added all of the eggs, add the food coloring and blend until the mixture is the same color throughout. Then gently stir in the grated Symphony bar using a wooden spoon. Pour the cake mixture evenly into two well-greased 9-inch circular cake pans. Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until a knife or toothpick inserted into the middle of each cake layer comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool for 15 minutes after removing it from the oven.

Shake the pan a little bit to loosen the grip of the cake, then place a plate on top of the pan and, wearing oven mitts, flip it over so that the pan is on the top and the plate is on the bottom. Gently remove the pan and place the plated cake layer in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Repeat this process with the second cake pan as well. While the cake is cooling, begin making the dark chocolate frosting. Then place the bottom cake layer onto the display surface, (i.e. a cake stand or serving plate), and begin evenly frosting the top of the bottom cake layer. Then, center the second cake layer on top of the bottom cake layer so that they line up perfectly. Now frost the sides and top of the cake so that the entire cake surface is frosted and no cake surface is visible through the frosting.

Serve at room temperature.

Dark Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients:

1 and 3/4 Cups Dark Chocolate Cocoa Powder, (I used Hershey's brand)

3 and 1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar

1 Cup Sweet Cream Salted Butter, soft

1 Cup Heavy Cream

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder and 1 and 1/2 cups of the powdered sugar. Set aside. Bring the heavy cream to a simmer in a small pot. Remove the cream from heat and immediately pour it into the cocoa mixture. Beat the mixture using an electric mixer for 1 minute at medium speed, until the mixture becomes thick, shiny and dark. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and remaining 2 cups powdered sugar until creamy in texture, about 1 minute. Then begin adding the cocoa mixture to the butter mixture, 1/4 cup at a time, and mixing well between additions. Continue to do so until you have blended all of the cocoa mixture into the butter mixture.