A delicious Chocolate Halloween Cake with cream cheese topping is a joy to eat. And when you put it on the table, the tension is cut. A delicious recipe, friendly and easy, and scary. That's part of Halloween.

How to get a moist chocolate cake?
As written, this is a moist chocolate cake. There are also some drier variants. And sometimes even too dry varieties ;-), but that aside. But how do you get that incredible, slightly moist structure?
In this case, the butter is replaced with oil. The oil is less solid and ensures that the batter also becomes a bit lighter and, therefore, tastier and moist.
Is this topping an icing or glaze topping, and what's the difference?
You may stumble upon these baking terms: Icing and glazing. But what's the difference?
Icing is made by mixing confectioners sugar and a liquid, which you dilute until you can apply it with a brush (you can paint with it).
The glaze is a mixture of (confectioners) sugar and a liquid and is thicker than icing. Thin enough to pour, but not too thin because otherwise, it will run straight off your cake, leaving only a very thin layer. You make it the consistency of yogurt. And this cream cheese glazing is exactly what's in this recipe as a topping.

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📖 Recipe
RECIPE CARD
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
- 1 cups Dutch unprocessed cocoa
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg yolk, size L
- 2 eggs, size L
- 1¼ cups water, Cook the water and let it slightly cool down for 10 minutes.
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1¼ cups milk
- ⅔ cups sunflower oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Cream cheese Topping
- 4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
- ⅘ cups confectioners sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- red food coloring, as needed
- milk, to dilute
All my recipes are written both in Metric (gram / ml) and US Customary (cups / pounds). Here you can slect which type of amount you would like to see.
Instructions
Chocolate cake
- Preheat oven to 350 °F or 320 °F.
- Coat the 10-inch spring form (26 cm) with oil and dust with cocoa. If you got any excess cocoa, tap it out of the tin.
- Place a baking sheet on the bottom of your baking tin.
- In a bowl, mix the dry ingredients: cocoa, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.1 cups Dutch unprocessed cocoa, 2½ cups all-purpose flour, 2 cups sugar, 2 ½ teaspoon baking soda, 1½ teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt
- Turn the mixer on to the lowest speed, then add the eggs one by one the eggs. Thereafter, add the egg yolk, warm water, vanilla extract, vinegar, milk, and oil. Add the next ingredient only as the previous one is incorporated.1 egg yolk, 2 eggs, 1¼ cups water, 1 tablespoon white vinegar, 1¼ cups milk, ⅔ cups sunflower oil, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Mix five minutes on low speed, so everything is nice and airy.
- Pour the batter into the spring form and put it in the oven.
- Bake for 70 minutes, or until done. Take the cake out of the oven and let it cool for 5 minutes. You can check if the cake is done by sticking a skewer in the middle of the cake. It should come out dry. If not, add 5 minutes to the baking time and check again.
- Loosen the cake from the tin and let it cool onto a wire rack until it reaches room temperature.
- Turn the cake upside down. The bottom is nice and even, which looks better after adding the topping.
Cream Cheese Topping
- Add the cream cheese, confectioners sugar, lemon juice, and food coloring and mix well for at least 5 minutes.4 oz. cream cheese, ⅘ cups confectioners sugar, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, red food coloring
- Then add tablespoon by tablespoon the milk until it reaches the desired thickness (yogurt thickness).milk
- Pour the topping on the cake and level with a spatula. Pull some drips on the sides with a stick for a nice effect.
Garnish
- Garnish with some plastic insects like spiders and cockroaches and put a (fake) knife into the cake.
Notes
- Refrigerator: The cake can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for two days.
- Freezer: The high-fat content in the cream cheese icing makes it easy to freeze. Pack the cake airtight (2 layers of plastic film) and store it in the freezer for up to 1 month.
Nutrition
3 x Halloween
This is such a delicious Halloween recipe. And if you're looking for other Halloween recipes, here are some great suggestions:
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