Chocolate Mummy Cake For Your Halloween Celebrations

White plates, Cheesecloth,  Black and White String

I am not a huge fan of Halloween, because I hate creepy and scary things: movies, decorations and even food. I did however make an exception for this mummy cake. It is so easy, it's a chocolate cake, buttercream frosting, a flat pastry tip, 1 Oreo cookie  and 2 brown M&M'S Milk Chocolate candies. It does not get any easier or cute if I do say so myself. 

Ingredients

2 cups sugar

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

 Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9" round baking pans. 

Stir together sugar, flour, HERSHEY'S Cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.  Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

Note: I used 6" cake pans and I used 3 layers and froze the leftover cake for another day. 

Buttercream Frosting

Recipe: Food.com

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

31/2 cups of powdered sugar

1-3 teaspoons milk or heavy cream

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

pinch of salt

Garnish:

1 Oreo Cookie

2 brown M&M plain

In the bowl of a stand mixer mix the butter and the powdered sugar beat until blended, then add salt, mix. Add milk and vanilla and beat until smooth and creamy, about another 3-5 minutes. 

Once cake is completely cooled place one layer on  a plate or a round cake board, spread with some of the white butter cream. Add the second layer of cake. Then frost the entire cake with a very thin layer of frosting. Place in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. In the meantime place a flat decorating tip (if you do not have a flat tip the one that makes rose petals is fine too) inside a cake decorating bag and then fill with frosting. Cut off the tip of the bag. Now make "bandages" with the frosting. I went around the cake and then did the top. The good news is that it's frosting, if you do not like how it looks scrape it off and start again. 

Once you have your bandages add the cookies and the brown M&M's for the eyes. The cut and enjoy!

If you are looking for some more Fall inspiration then check out my Fall Baking board or my Fall Boards on Pinterest. 

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Chocolate Cherry Filled Cake with Chocolate Covered Cherries

In my family we love chocolate cake with lots of creamy chocolate frosting. Once in a blue moon we with get crazy and use white buttercream and sometimes we even add a little raspberry filling. This year since I have a plethora of cherries I decided to make my version of black forest cake. Don't worry it is not complicated at all, the hardest part is making the cherry filling.

Depending upon the tartness of your cherries I would adjust the amount of sugar added. I really did not need much sugar as my cherries were sweet. I like to use either chocolate buttercream frosting or my favorite Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Frosting when I make this cake but you can use whatever kind of frosting that you like. 

Cake
Recipe from Rumbly in my Tumble

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cups  Unsweetened Cocoa

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk 

1/2 cup melted butter,

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup of hot coffee

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease and flour 2  9" cake pans, or grease and line with parchment paper circles. 

In the bowl of your stand mixer, add the flour, sugar,  cocoa baking soda, and salt and mix until combined.  Add the eggs, melted butter, vanilla, and buttermilk, and mix until just combined. Remove the bowl from the mixer and and then stir the hot coffee into the batter by hand.  The batter will be runny.  It’s supposed to be.

Pour into your cake pans and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean with just a few bits of cake stuck to it. For 9 inch pans, that should be anywhere from 20-30 minutes.  Start checking around 15 minutes. If you make in a different size than you will have a different baking time. 

When you remove each cake from the oven, let it cool for 5 minutes, then run a knife around the edges of the pan, and carefully tip the pan over on a cooling rack. If you used parchment paper on the bottom remove it. Let cakes cool completely before frosting. 

 Cherry Filling

1/8 cup granulated sugar

2/12 tablespoons of cornstarch

3 cups of cherries, frozen (pitted)

1 tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon almond extract

In a small saucepan stir the sugar and the cornstarch together, then add the cherries and mix. Place over low-medium heat to melt the cherries. If using fresh cherries I add a couple tablespoons of water to make a little syrup. Continue to cook for about 4 minutes until there is a thick syrup and the mixture comes to a boil. Do not leave unattended or the mixture will burn. Remove from heat and add the butter and the almond extract and mix well. Set aside to cool.



HERSHEY'S Perfectly Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients:

1 stick butter, melted
2/3 cup of Hershey's cocoa powder
1/3 cup of milk
2 1/2  cups of powdered sugar
1 tsp of vanilla

Melt butter in large bowl, whisk or use electric hand held mixer to blend in 
cocoa Add one cup of powdered sugar, and a little milk, alternating between the two until both are used up and the frosting is creamy. Add vanilla and blend. Then use to frost the top and sides of the cake.

To assemble cake, cut one layer in half horizontally then place one layer on a plate and add 1/3 of the cherry filling to the center.  spread around. Then top with the next layer of cake add 1/3 filling to the top, add the next layer, top with filling and then add the final layer. 
Do not top with the filling( you should not have any left). Frost the entire cake with the Hershey's chocolate frosting. 

Note: You can add frosting to the layers and then add the cherry filling if you would like.  You may have some frosting left depending upon how much frosting you like on your cake. I personally like it thick. 

For Garnish:

Fresh Cherries
Ghirardelli Chocolate Melting Wafers 

Follow the directions on the melting wafers and dip in the cherries. Let cool/set and then garnish cake.

Enjoy!


Notes:

1. For this post I made two cakes, unfortunately we ate the 3 layer cake before I could take photos. So this photo is of a two layer cake.

2. This post contains affiliate links.



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Savvy Southern Style

Chocolate Cake with Fudge Filling and White Buttercream

Chocolate cake is a favorite of many, but often times people like a change from chocolate cake and chocolate frosting, they like to mix it up with another flavor of frosting, sometime peanut butter, or raspberry, my personal favorite is white buttercream. 

This cake is fabulous, if I do say so myself, the cake is so moist and fudgy and it is my "go to" recipe, I added fudge filling that is so scrumptious you could just eat it from the pan with a spoon.  The frosting is a simple white buttercream, if it is a special occasion you could tint the frosting with food coloring and then pipe it on the cake to make it a bit more special. I just troweled my frosting on with an offset spatula. I like lots of frosting! Do you?

Chocolate Cake

Recipe from Foodess/Rumbly in My Tummy

Cake:

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk (or sub by using a cup of whole milk with a tablespoon of white vinegar and letting it sit 5 minutes until thick)

1/2 cup melted butter

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup of hot coffee

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°.  Grease and flour 2 9" cake pans, or grease and line with parchment paper circles. 

In your mixer, add the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt and mix until combined.  Add the eggs, melted butter, vanilla, and buttermilk, and mix until just combined.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir the hot coffee into the batter by hand.  The batter will be runny. Pour into your cake pans and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean with just a few bits of cake stuck to it. For 9 inch pans, that should be anywhere from 20-35 minutes.  

When you remove each cake from the oven, let it cool, run a knife around the edges of the pan, and carefully remove it from the pan onto a baking rack. Let cool before frosting. 

Fudge Filling:

1 cup of sugar

1/3 cup milk

5 tablespoons butter

1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Put first 3 ingredients into a sauce pan, over low heat bring to a boil, stirring constantly. The sugar should be dissolved. Remove from heat, add chocolate chips and then whisk them until creamy and cooled. 

Buttercream Frosting

Recipe: Food.com

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

31/2 cups of powdered sugar

1-3 teaspoons milk or heavy cream

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

pinch of salt

In the bowl of a stand mixer mix the butter and the powdered sugar beat until blended, then add salt, mix. Add milk and vanilla and beat until smooth and creamy, about another 3-5 minutes. 

Once cake is cooled, cut each cake in half, then place 1 layer on a plate and spread some fudge filling over the layer. Then place another layer on top and frost with fudge filling, place third layer onto and frost, and then place the last layer on top. 

Frost entire cake with white butter cream frosting and enjoy!

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Pumpkin Patch Chocolate Cupcakes

I love pumpkins and this week I found a pin on Pinterest of the cutest pumpkin cupcakes from Just a Taste so I decided to make my own version. 

My version uses a tried and true favorite chocolate cake from Hershey's and simple white buttercream frosting that I colored orange and then sprinkled with sugar. Add a tootsie roll stem and a curly cue of green frosting and you have the cutest cupcakes. 

Chocolate Cupcakes
Recipe from Hershey's Cocoa

Ingredients

2 cups sugar

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

 Heat oven to 350°F. Line baking pans with paper liners ad set aside. 

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.  Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

Basic Butter Cream Frosting

3 cups powdered sugar, sifted

1 cup of softened butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-2 tablespoons heavy cream

Orange food coloring

Green food coloring

Orange sanding sugar

20 tootsie rolls

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment mix the butter and powder sugar on low until blended, then mix on medium for 2 to 3 minutes until fluffy. Then add vanilla and heavy cream and blend one more minute. Add more cream to get to desired consistency.

Place a small amount of frosting into a small bowl and add green food coloring until the frosting is the color that you want. Spoon into a baggie and set aside. 

Add orange food coloring to the remaining frosting until you get the orange color that you want. If you are combining red and yellow go slow with the colors because otherwise you could end up with a color that you do not like by adding too much of one color. 

Once you have the decided color frost each cupcake with the orange frosting, then sprinkle with the orange sugar. Snip the corner of the baggie of green frosting and make vines on the cupcakes. Stick an unwrapped tootsie roll into the side of the cupcake where you drew the vines. 

Enjoy

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Devils Food Cake with Buttercream Icing

Cakes with lots of frosting are one of my favorite desserts, especially a good chocolate cake. I have several "go to" chocolate cake recipes but I have never made a devils food cake. When I was perusing my cookbooks I came across this recipe from Cooks Illustrated, after all I have never made anything from their books that has not been great. 

This classic cake  is rich, dense, almost like a cross between a brownie and a cake and delicious. 

Devils Food Cake 

Recipe from Cooks Illustrated

Ingredients

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

4 oz. unsweetened chocolate chopped

1/4 cup dutch processed cocoa powder

11/4 cups boiling water

3/4 cup unbleached flour

3/4 cup plain cake flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

11/2 cups packed dark brown sugar

3 large eggs, room temperature

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare 2 9" cake pans with cooking spray and line with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a bowl combine the cocoa powder and the unsweetened chocolate. Pour the boiling water over this mixture and whisk until smooth. Set aside to cool.

In another bowl, sift together the flours, baking soda and salt, set aside. 

Beat the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium until light and fluffy. Then add the brown sugar and beat in hight for 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl then add the eggs one at a time on medium speed. Add the sour cream and the vanilla and mix 1 minute. Then add the 1/3 flour mixture, 1/3 chocolate mixture, repeat with 1/3 of each, then again ending with the flour mixture. Beat just to combine, do not over mix. Remove bowl from mixer and scrape the sides to be sure everything is combined. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake for 20-23 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Remove to wire wrack let cool in pan for 15 minutes, then remove from pans and let cool completely. Once cooled frost with your favorite frosting. 

Frosting

4 cups powdered sugar

1 stick softened butter

3-4 tablespoons heavy cream

11/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. almond extract

In the bowl of your mixer, mix all of the ingredients on low until combined then mix on medium/high until light and fluffy. About 5 minutes. You can add more cream to get the spreading consistency that you like. 

Enjoy!

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Famous Brick Street Cake

A few months ago I started seeing Famous Brick Street Cake all over Pinterest and although it looked fabulous the recipes stated that it could only be made in a convection oven, which I do not have. So I pinned it away for a later day when I did. Then I noticed that there were new pins stating that you could indeed make in in a regular oven. Boy am I glad that someone figured that out!

Similar White Cake Stand and Cake Server

This cake is so good that I can see why it is famous. It is a thick, dense, moist cake with a deep rich chocolate flavor and the fudge-like frosting that just adds another dimension to the goodness. I apologize for the photos, it has been ugly and raining so I cannot take good photos. You will have to trust me that this cake is delicious and good looking.

Brick Street Cake

Recipe from Through Her Looking Glass

Cake

2 cups of sugar

1 cup of butter softened,

11/2 teaspoons Nielsen Massey pure vanilla extract

3 large eggs

21/2 cups cake flour

1 cup  unsweetened cocoa, sifted

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup instant chocolate pudding mix(small box)

1 cup Ghirardelli 60% Chocolate Baking Chips

2/12 cups buttermilk

Frosting

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup butter

1 teaspoon Nielsen Massey pure vanilla extract

1 cup unsweetened cocoa

3 tablespoons heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment beat sugar, butter and vanilla in a large bowl, then beat in eggs one at a time.
Then mix in cake flour, pudding, baking soda, salt, buttermilk. Add the chocolate chips and stir. Pour into greased tube pan and bake for 30 minutes. Then LOWER the oven temperature to 300 and bake for another 30-40 minutes. It is best to check at the 1 hour mark so you do not over bake the cake. Check for doneness with a toothpick or cake tester. Remove from oven, let cool completely then frost.

Frosting Directions:

In a saucepan heat  butter, water and vanilla extract until melted. Add the cocoa and stir until smooth, then add sifted powdered sugar and stir. Add heavy cream until you get the consistency that you like. Pour over cooled cake. Icing hardens as it cools.


I LOVE this cake, and the icing. It is so delicious and the icing is like melted fudge. I seriously could just scoop up the frosting and eat it!

Enjoy!



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Nigella Lawson Guiness Stout Cake

Happy St.Patick's Day! I have been making all sorts of things this week with Guinness Stout, odd really because I do not drink beer.

In addition to these Chocolate Stout Brownies I made Nigella Lawson's Stout Cake.

It is delicious! I have to say though that I disagree with Nigela, I like to have lots of frosting, so instead of one tall cake I made layers and made my favorite Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Frosting and in the middle I used a little leftover cream cheese frosting that I had.

You can find the recipe HERE.

Have a happy day!

Mom's Chocolate Cake

Is there anything better than cake? How about the cake you remember your mom making when you were little? My mom made the best cakes, layers of moist, chocolaty cake and tons of creamy chocolate frosting. This cake although not my moms recipe tastes exactly the way I remember hers. 

Mom's Chocolate Cake

Recipe from Food and Wine

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tablespoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups sugar

4 ounces un-sweeted chocolate

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs, lightly beaten

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare 2 8" round pans with cooking spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper. In a small bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. 

In a medium saucepan combine the sugar with 2 cups of water, bring to a boil over high heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. Pour into a large bowl and then add the chocolate, butter. Let sit for a few minutes then stir until melted and slightly cooled. Stir in the vanilla. 

Beat the eggs into the chocolate mixture at medium speed, then add all at once the flour mixture and continue beating on medium until smooth. Pour the batter into the two pans and bake for 25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let cook in pans for 25 minutes and then remove from pan and cool completely. 

Frost cake and enjoy!

Frosting Recipe 

HERE

NOTES: I made a smaller cake and a few cupcakes, that is why I have 3 layers. I refrigerated my cake for transportation and so the frosting does not look super creamy here but it is when room temperature. 

Enjoy!

Wellesley Chocolate Fudge Cake

I bake a lot of cakes and chocolate happens to be a particular favorite, go figure. Although I have quite a few in my repertoire there are several that I go back to again and again and again and this cake is one of them. 

What I love about it is that it is:

A. It's chocolate

B. It has a  fabulous chocolate fudge icing. 

C. Is moist and stays that way for days.

D. And it mails well, yes I have mailed this cake to several friends and it always arrives in one piece and is still fresh!

This recipe is one that I found while perusing Pinterest. What did we ever do without Pinterest by the way? The recipe is from Sifting Focus, it is a little long but worth it.

Wellesley Fudge Cake 

Cake

21/2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup hot water

1/2 cup dutch processed cocoa powder

2 sticks of butter cut into 16 pieces, softened

2 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cup buttermilk, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Frosting:

31/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup of cocoa powder

1/2 stick of butter cut in half and softened

11/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup half and half

4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cake: Place oven rack in the middle position and preheat oven to 350. Prepare two 8" square pans with cooking spray and line with parchment paper. 

Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. In a small bowl, whisk the cocoa powder and the hot water until smooth. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs 1 at a time and mix until incorporated. Add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the buttermilk. Mix until combined. Reduce speed and slowly add the cocoa/water mixture and the vanilla, until incorporated.

Divide the batter evenly between the 2 pans. Bake about 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs attached. Cool the cake in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn out to cool on a rack. 

Frosting:

Sift together the powdered sugar and the cocoa. Set aside. Heat 4 tablespoons butter, brown sugar, salt, and 1/2 cup of half and half in a large saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until bubbles occur around the edges. About 4-8 minutes. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring frequently until the mixture thickens and turns golden brown about 8-10 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and add 4 pieces of butter, stir well then add the remaining half and half with the other ingredients. Add the chopped chocolate and vanilla, then stir until smooth. Slowly whisk in the cocoa/powder sugar until incorporated. Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally. Then refrigerate for 30-40 minutes until frosting reaches desired consistency.

Assembly:

Place 1 layer of cake on a platter, spread a cup of frosting over the surface. Add second layer and the frost the rest of the cake. Can be stored at room temperature or in the refrigerator. Serve and enjoy. 

What do you think? Doesn't this cake look fabulous? I hope you enjoy it!

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