October 24, 2016
Halloween Drip Cake!
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A spooky yet delicious Halloween drip cake to be the ultimate showstopper… chocolate sponge, orange buttercream, and all things spooky!
Halloween baking
I knew I wanted to do a cake for Halloween this year but I wasn’t sure where to start. I wanted to make this recipe easier than others I have seen so that more people can make it!
I saw pictures of drip cakes, but the drip bit was ‘blood’ or I saw cakes where various creatures and creepies were climbing out of the cake, and these are all AMAZING.
Halloween drip cake
However, my recipe had to be easy enough for all, and still delicious without spending a big buck! So, my version of Halloween drip cake happened!
I realise it’s not actually spooky at all. Partly because the ghost marshmallows on top are actually more cute than scary, but this is beside the point. I wanted to make it delicious, and that did actually happen!
Sponge
I went for a chocolate cake as I adore it, and I feel like the dark colour of the chocolate made it look slightly more spooky than vanilla cake. I used the recipe for the cake from my Oreo drip cake as it was such a success with so many of you making it.
Buttercream
I did, however, notice that everyone loved the cake sponge lots but struggled to decorate it… Sometimes that is because the buttercream is still slightly too stiff, or the sponge is still too moist and soft. If you are struggling to smooth buttercream around the sides, refrigerate the cakes first so they’re slightly firmer and it’ll be easier!
Flavours/Colourings
I went for a simple orange coloured vanilla buttercream frosting so it was almost ‘Halloween Coloured’ as Halloween mainly reminds me of the colour orange! You can easily flavour the buttercream to whatever you prefer, but I used vanilla as I like it with chocolate!
I used a mixture of red and yellow colourings to make my orange as it’s all I had, but any gel or paste colouring will work well – see my recommendations one food colourings here – I recommend Sugarflair and ProGel food colourings above any supermarket brand as you need so much less, and they’re so good.. they worked perfectly for my Halloween macarons!
Decoration
One thing I must say is that I adored doing a spider web style on the top so much I think I put lines through it a little too often… so maybe do fewer lines that I did as mine looks a little spikey! But hey ho.. I found these delicious little Marshmallows from Tiger and the sprinkles in Asda.
Chocolate drip
I had to use my classic drip when it came to this cake because I am obsessed with it. 75g dark chocolate, 75g milk chocolate and 150ml double cream creates the perfect drip – as seen in my mini egg drip cake. The balance of cocoa content in the chocolate just enhances the drip to the perfect texture which you can see in the photos. Also, it does just taste really delicious.
Halloween Drip Cake!
Ingredients
Cake
- 400 g unsalted butter
- 400 g light brown sugar
- 8 medium eggs
- 325 g self raising flour
- 75 g cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
Frosting
- 350 g unsalted butter
- 750 g icing sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- Orange food colouring
Decoration
- 75 g milk chocolate
- 75 g dark chocolate
- 150 ml double cream
- 25 g white chocolate
- Halloween marshmallows
- Halloween sprinkles
Instructions
For the Cake!
- Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan and line three 20cm/8inch cake tins with baking parchment – leave to the side.
- In a stand mixer, beat together the butter and light brown sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add in the flour, cocoa powder, beaten eggs, baking powder and beat again briefly till combined – try not to over beat the mixture!
- Divide the mixture between the three tins and smooth it over – bake for 25-30 minutes until a skewer comes out clean when poked, and when the cake springs back.
- Once baked, leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, and then remove and leave to cool fully on a wire rack. If the cake has domed slightly, leave the cake to cool upside down to flatten it slightly.
For the Frosting!
- In a stand mixer, beat the room temperature butter with an electric mixer until it is smooth and loose and then beat in the icing sugar 1/3 at a time until its fully combined.
- Keep beating the buttercream for a few minutes so it starts to get fluffier and lighter. If the mixture is really stiff, you need to add in a tablespoon of boiling water at a time till you reach a smooth, and light consistency that's good for spreading.
- Add in the orange food colouring (or red and yellow Colouring) and beat the buttercream again until smooth, and there is a consistent bright orange colour throughout.
For the Decoration!
- Once the cakes are cooled, put the first layer on the serving plate spread some of the buttercream onto the top of the first layer, add the second cake on top, and then top again with some of buttercream and then add the final sponge layer. Only use about 2 tbsps of buttercream per layer so that you have enough to decorate with!
- With the leftover buttercream, as you can see, I covered the sides (and top) too! Do a first layer of around the edge and top using a large metal scraper and refrigerate for 10 minutes.
- Repeat again with a slightly thicker layer of buttercream. I slather it on all over using an offset spatula, and then run the metal scraper round until its smooth. You put more on than will stay on because when you smooth it over, you will naturally scrape some back off again.
- Once finished, melt the milk chocolate, dark chocolate and double cream together until smooth
- Using disposable piping bags, pipe it around the edge of the cake, edging over slight bits to create the drip. You don’t need to use too much per drip as it’ll drop quite far down by itself! Fill in the top in with the rest of the chocolate so the top is also covered.
- Melt the white chocolate and drizzle it in a spiral from the inside out, and then run the point of a cake skewer through it from the middle outwards to create the look of a spiders web. Refrigerate the cake for about 10 minutes so the chocolate has a chance to set slightly.
- Using some left over buttercream, pipe little rosettes of buttercream onto the top and add a spookily delicious ghosty marshmallow and then sprinkle on some Halloween sprinkles! Enjoy!
Notes
- All of the decorations are completely optional – but I love this style of cake! To make a smaller version of the cake, use:
- Two 8″cake tins
- 300g butter
- 300g sugar
- 245g flour
- 55g cocoa powder
- 1.5tsps baking powder
- It might take an extra 5-10 minutes to bake
- Use 2/3 of the decoration recipes!
- You obviously don’t have to make straight edged buttercream if you don’t want to, but I just like the look of it! You can slather it on, and it’ll still taste damn delicious.
- However, if you do want to make it like this, I seriously recommend using a metal scraper for the decoration of the buttercream, and the disposable piping bags.. I wouldn’t be anywhere without them!
- This cake will last in an airtight container for 3 days!
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J x
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Everyone I try to do the chocolate drip it is way too thick and doesn’t drip down at all! I follow the recipe to the letter and no idea what I’m doing wrong!
What exact types of chocolate are you using, and what cream?
Hi Jane
Where do you get your orange food colouring from?
Hi Jane I was wondering how long do you think you should leave it for so the buttercream doesn’t melt when you put the drip on top? Also, I can’t get smooth edges because I’m not able to get a turntable. Is there anyway I can make a diy one at home
Hiya! I usually chill for about 30 mins after decorating with buttercream! Hope this helps x
This looks soooo good! Is it ok to use gluten free flour with xanthan gum already added in place of regular flour? Would you recommend adding anymore liquid? X
Hiya! Yes this should be fine! Hope this helps! x
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For the smaller version do you reduce the amount of eggs or do you still use 8?
You reduce them as well – the same weight as the rest of the ingredients!
Hi Jane,
How many eggs do you need for the smaller 2-cake version?
Thank you x
The same weight as the rest of the cake ingredients – you weigh the eggs in shells x
Hi Jane.love all your beautiful cakes a favourite was lemon possiette.im going to make this cake for my grandsons birthday next week but will finish it differently.im wandering if I could add dark chocolate to recipe instead of using Coco powder.i noticed you can do it with your chocolate cake recipe if possible what would the quanties be plz.x
Hiya – you can follow the recipe for my triple chocolate cake, but use all dark chocolate!
That’s great thanks
Me encanta¡¡¡
I think is fantastic¡¡
Hey, I was wondering if the cakes can be frozen (undecorated) and still be okay once defrosted/ taste the same?
If they are put in the freezer correctly and thawed correctly they should!
[…] still mini little ghosts and I will call the cute and spooky. After the successes of my Halloween Drip Cake and Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes, I thought I should do some other Halloween baked goodies and these […]
Hi Jane,
Where do you get your pumpkin & Ghost Marshmallows from?
I got them from Tiger last year.
Jane, where do you buy your callebaut chocolate from, Lorna x
I buy mine either from Makro (online you don’t need a membership card) or the chocolate trading company 🙂 x
Excellent, thanks my luv x