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.
Chocolate Halloween Cake
This cake brought my boys into doubt. They probably would love this chocolate cake (the chocolate gene they inherited from me), but the red glaze lowered a bit off their youthful enthusiasm. The spiders, flies, and cockroaches were all a bit frightening. Precisely, the objective of this cake was achieved in any case.
After conquering their first fears, they attacked the cake, and judging by the chocolate faces; they fell in love with it.
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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, I replaced the butter 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.
What do you need for Halloween Chocolate Cake?
To prepare this Chocolate Halloween Cake, you need the following ingredients. You can find the correct amounts in the recipe card at the bottom of the blog:
Chocolate Cake
- Flour - Use regular wheat flour.
- Cocoa - To give the cake an intense chocolate cake. Use unsweetened cocoa.
- Sugar - The sweetener in the chocolate cake. Regular granulated sugar is fine.
- Baking Soda and Baking Powder - These are leavening agents and make the cupcake airy. Look here if you want to know more about baking soda and powder, and substitions.
- Salt - To balance the sweetness (otherwise, the cake will not be as tasty).
- Eggs - Give the cake a full flavor.
- Vinegar - For the baking soda to work, you need an acidic ingredient, in this case, vinegar. Regular vinegar or apple cider vinegar are fine choices.
- Milk - Milk gives the cake a full flavor.
- Sunflower oil - Using oil instead of butter makes the cake deliciously creamy.
- Vanilla Extract - If you can buy it, use natural vanilla extract, which has a slightly deeper flavor than vanilla flavor. With this recipe, you can make a homemade vanilla extract (and indeed, if you bake a lot, it is highly recommended because you can use this for a good time).
Topping
- Cream Cheese - Gives the topping a creamy taste. Let it come to room temperature before mixing; then, it will blend better.
- Confectioner's sugar - For the icing, use confectioner's sugar. This ensures you do not get crystals (which could happen with granulated sugar).
- Lemon juice - To give the cream cheese frosting a fresh touch.
- Red food coloring - With the coloring, you bring color to the glaze. You can use liquid food coloring or add food coloring in concentrated form with a skewer.
How to prepare Halloween Cake with Chocolate
You can find a printable recipe with a step-by-step description at the bottom of this blog.
- Brush the springform pan with oil and dust with cocoa. Place baking paper at the bottom. Mix cocoa, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Add the eggs, yolk, water, vanilla extract, and oil to the bowl and mix on high for five minutes.
- Place the mold in a preheated oven at 350 °F (180 °C) and bake for 70 minutes. When you take the cake out of the oven, let it rest for 5 minutes, and then remove the tin. Let the cake cool to room temperature on a wire rack. This is important because if the cake is too warm, your topping will run off.
- Mix the cream cheese, icing sugar, lemon juice, and food coloring into a creamy paste. Mix for at least 5 minutes, so you don't get lumps, and the topping becomes nice and airy.
- Then pour the topping over the cake. Spread the glaze over the top with a spatula. You can pull down some drops on the side with a skewer for a nice dripping effect.
Garnish with some plastic insects like spiders and cockroaches and put a (fake) knife into the cake.
Did you make this recipe? Tag #byandreajanssen via Instagram. I enjoy seeing what your creation looks like. Video recipes can be found on my YouTube channel. And don't forget to save the recipes on Pinterest so you can easily find them next time!
📖 Recipe
Chocolate Halloween Cake
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Equipment
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
- milk to dilute
Instructions
Chocolate cake
- Preheat oven to
350 °F or 
320 °F. - Coat the spring form 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. After that, 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.
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
Other Delicious Recipes
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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