OMBRE SPOOKY HALLOWEEN CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH MASCARPONE FROSTING
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
This Ombre Spooky Halloween chocolate cake is a fun cake idea for any Halloween party or event, or just a great family weeknight dessert, it's scary just how delicious, try it now!
AUTORE:
TIPO DI RICETTA: Dessert
PORZIONI: 8
INGREDIENTI
  • For the cake
  • 120 g of butter at room temperature
  • 300 g of castor sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • a pinch of salt
  • 260 g of all-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon of baking powder
  • 250 ml of Greek yogurt
  • 1 tablespoon of hazelnut spread
  • For the meringues
  • 120 g of castor sugar
  • 320 g of icing sugar
  • 220 g of egg whites
  • just the tip of a teaspoon of cream of tartar
  • 10 lemon drops
  • black food marker
  • For the frosting
  • 750 g of mascarpone
  • 115 g of icing sugar
  • 2 tablespoons of milk
  • ½ vanilla bean
  • 100 g of dark chocolate (cocoa 70%)
  • 1 or 2 teaspoons of instant coffee
  • 60 ml of dairy cream
COME PROCEDERE
  1. Make the cake
  3. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
  4. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or an electric hand mixer, cream together the softened butter and the sugar until the butter is fully incorporated and the mixture is light and fluffy.
  5. Add an egg at a time, mixing well after each addition, and the salt.
  6. Mix together the flour and the baking powder and add this to the butter/sugar/eggs mixture in three batches, alternating them with the Greek yogurt. Mix well until combined.
  7. Add also the hazelnut spread, mixing well.
  8. Divide the cake mixture evenly into three springform baking tins (Ø cm 18) previously lined with baking paper.
  9. Bake for about 25/30 min or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the middle of the cakes comes out clean.
  10. Take the cakes out of the oven and allow them to cool completely on a wire rack.
  11. Make the meringues
  13. Preheat the oven to 100°C.
  14. In a bowl, combine the castor sugar and the icing sugar.
  15. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of cream of tartar.
  16. After some minutes, turn off the electric mixer and add to the eggs the lemon drops and a couple of tablespoons of sugar.
  17. Whisk again adding the remaining sugar little by little until you get eggs whites perfectly beaten, firmed and shiny.
  18. Line a baking sheet with baking paper. To avoid that the baking paper raise during the cooking, remember to fix it to the four corners with a dab of beaten egg whites.
  19. Transfer the egg whites mixture to a piping bag with a large and smooth nozzle and form some little ghosts.
  20. Place them at intervals on the baking sheet.
  21. Bake the meringues for approximately an hour and half/two hours keeping the oven slightly opened.
  22. Allow them to dry further inside the oven turned off and slightly opened for some minutes.
  23. Before removing the meringues from the baking sheet, allow them to cool at room temperature.
  24. Decorate them with the food marker and set aside.
  25. Make the frosting
  27. Cook 50 g of dark chocolate over a double boiler to slowly melt it and then allow it to cool at room temperature.
  28. In a large bowl, combine the mascarpone, the icing sugar, the milk and the vanilla seeds and stir well with a wooden spoon or with a spatula but not with the electric whisk.
  29. Divide the mascarpone cream in three parts: one by a weight of 500 g and the other two by a weight of 125 g each.
  30. Add the melted chocolate to 125 g of mascarpone cream and stir with a wooden spoon until well combined. Set aside.
  31. Add a couple of teaspoons of instant coffee to the other 125 g of mascarpone cream and stir with a wooden spoon until well combined. Set aside.
  32. The remaining part of mascarpone cream has to stay white.
  33. Assemble the cake
  35. With a sharp knife, cut the domes off the top of the cakes so that they have flat tops.
  36. Place one of the cakes on a serving dish and spread a couple of tablespoons of white mascarpone cream on its top.
  37. Place another cake on top and spread other two tablespoons of white mascarpone cream on it.
  38. Repeat this process with the last cake and the last two tablespoons of white mascarpone cream.
  39. Use a spatula to cover the whole layer cake with ⅔ of white mascarpone cream.
  40. Level the surface cake and place in the fridge for at least 15 min.
  41. Garnish the cake
  43. Use a spatula to spread the chocolate mascarpone cream only at the bottom of the cake, for about ⅓ of its height.
  44. Repeat this process one more time with the coffee mascarpone cream (for about ⅓ of its height again).
  45. Spread the white mascarpone cream over the top of the cake.
  46. Use a spatula to level the frosting and remove the excess.
  47. At this stage, you should have obtained a slight ombre effect.
  48. Keep the cake in the fridge until it’s time to serve it.
  49. Just before serving the cake, complete its garnish.
  50. In a small pan, cook over low heat, the remaining 50 g of dark chocolate and the dairy cream until the chocolate is completely melted. Whisk vigorously until the ganache has come together and is shiny and smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.
  51. Transfer the chocolate ganache to a piping bag, place some drops on the edges of the cake and let gravity pull them down to form drips.
  52. Finally, add also the little ghosts of meringue on the top of the cake.
  53. Your spooky Halloween cake is ready. Enjoy!!
NOTE
Remember, you should not cook the meringues at high temperature. They have only to dry off. If the temperature of the oven is too high, you could brown them too much.
***
The inspiration for this cake came from a mix of different recipes of La Pêche Fraîche and Eat Love Eats
Recipe by OPSD Il gustoso food blog at https://www.opsd.it/torta-di-halloween-al-cioccolato/