Happy Halloween everyone! We were recently asked if we would make a cake for Ami’s son’s preschool Fall Festival. It was completely up to us on what we wanted to make and we love any chance we get to let our creative side out. We are big fans of Frosted Fuji Cakes and Rachel makes the most adorable cakes. We figured Halloween would be the best time to make a cake inspired by her fun and bright cakes.
Since the party was for a daycare/preschool we decided to go with a design kids would love. Black cats and bright colors immediately came to mind. We love the look of cookie cutter piping and knew immediately we wanted to use this technique. If you are not familiar with this technique it is a really easy way to add a themed design element to your cake.
What is cookie cutter piping?
Cookie cutter piping is just what it sounds like. You use a cookie cutter to create a stencil on the cake and then use that outline to pipe on your design. The key to this technique is to start with a fully frosted CHILLED cake. Press the cookie cutter lightly onto the cake and then pull away. Make sure to wipe the cookie cutter down between each impression. If you are having a hard time getting a clean impression try running the cookie cutter under warm water first and then lightly press onto the cake. Next use Wilton tip 18 to pipe on your design. You can pipe just an outline of your design by piping only along the impression you make or you can fully fill in the design like we did. We like to start with pipping the outline and then filling in the design.
We have a cat cookie cutter that was the exact shape we were going for, however the cookie cutter was much too large for the cake, so we had to improvise. We outlined the size of the cat head we wanted on parchment paper and then cut out a cat head we could trace. This is another option you can use if you don’t have a cookie cutter in the design you are going for. On your chilled cake, lightly press on the parchment paper shape and then use a toothpick or scribe tool to carefully trace the outline onto the cake.
We decorated the top with a rope border in alternating colors using Wilton tip 1M and black Wilton sprinkles. We then finished off the look with a little sprinkle placement. Using our assortment of Halloween sprinkles we individually pressed each one on. You can use tweezers or your finger to do this. Just make sure you lightly press till it sticks. We hope you enjoy this cake. We sure had a lot of fun making it. Continue reading for what flavor is inside the cake!
Since the cake was going to be used for a cake walk we needed a flavor that would be crowd pleasing since we wouldn’t know who would win the cake. An Oreo cake was a no brainer. Who doesn’t love Oreos! And the almost black cake matched the black cat décor. We used our Black Magic Cake recipe since it includes black cocoa. This is a key ingredient for this cake as Black Cocoa is what is used to make Oreos. So what’s the difference between black cocoa and other cocoa powders? First lets start with Dutch cocoa. Dutch cocoa powder is cocoa powder that has been treated with an alkaline solution to neutralize acidity which also darkens the color. Black cocoa is basically super Dutched, which is why Oreos are so dark and have a very distinctive taste. A natural cocoa powder, like Hersey’s, that you most often see in the store is not Dutched resulting in a noticeably lighter color. Hope you enjoyed your brief science lesson :). Now back to the cake. For the filling we made an Oreo buttercream which uses our vanilla buttercream as a base with crushed Oreos. For this particular cake we only used the Oreo buttercream between the layers and not on the outside. To crush the Oreos we put them in a large zip lock bag and crushed them with a rolling pin. If you plan to use the Oreo buttercream to frost the outside of the cake then you will need to grind your Oreos up really fine so you are able to get a smooth frost on the outside of our cake. Same with piping any décor. You will want to Oreos really fine so they don’t clog the piping tip. We recommend putting them in a food processor before mixing into your buttercream.
Tools used for this cake:
- Purple, magenta and orange food gel from this Wilton set.
- Americolor Super Black
- Black cocoa
- Wilton tip 18 and 1M
- Wilton Halloween sprinkles
Black Magic Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 3/4 cup black cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup black coffee cooled
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare three 6″ cake pans by spraying with cooking spray and lining the bottom with parchment.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and mix together.
- Add the eggs, coffee, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla and mix on medium speed for a couple minutes.
- Divide the batter between the three prepared pans.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pans and then transfer to wire rack to fully cool.
Oreo Buttercream
Ingredients
- 2 cups unsalted butter slightly cold
- 2 pound bag of powdered sugar
- 1/2 tbsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2-3 tbsp heavy whipping cream
- 3/4 cup finely crushed Oreos
Instructions
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter. Start off at a low speed and then gradually increase until the butter is light in color and smooth. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the bowl as needed.
- Add the sugar, one cup at a time, mixing at a low speed until fully incorporated before you add the next cup.
- Add the heavy cream, vanilla and salt and beat at a low speed for about 20 seconds. Increase the speed to high and beat for about 3-5 minutes until the mixture is perfectly smooth and creamy. Stop the mixer a couple times to scrape the bowl.
- Add the Oreo crumbs and slowly stir in.
