Chocolate Spider Web Cake Recipes

DEVIL'S FOOD CAKE WITH CHOCOLATE SPIDERWEB

Steps:

• Make cake:
• Preheat oven to 350°F with racks in upper and lower thirds. Butter cake pans, then line bottoms with rounds of parchment paper. Dust pans with flour, knocking out excess.
• Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.
• Whisk together boiling-hot water and cocoa in another bowl until smooth, then whisk in milk and vanilla.
• Beat butter and sugars with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. At low speed, mix in flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with cocoa mixture, beginning and ending with flour, and mixing until just combined.
• Divide batter among pans, smoothing tops. Bake, switching position of pans halfway through, until a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean and cakes begin to pull away from sides of pans, 20 to 25 minutes.
• Cool cakes in pans on racks 20 minutes, then turn out onto racks to cool completely.
• Make decorations while cake layers cool:
• Trace a 9-inch circle on a sheet of parchment paper, then draw a spiderweb inside circle. Next to web, draw a 2-to 3-inch spider. Turn drawings over onto a baking sheet.
• Melt chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring. Cool slightly, then transfer to pastry bag. Pipe chocolate onto web, beginning with spokes, and onto spider on parchment, then freeze until firm, about 1 hour.
• Make frosting:
• Put frosting ingredients in a heatproof large bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Beat with handheld mixer at low speed until mixture is warm and sugar has dissolved. Continue to beat at high speed until thick and fluffy, 7 to 10 minutes. Remove bowl from heat and beat frosting until cooled slightly, 5 to 10 minutes more.
• Assemble cake:
• Place a cake layer on a serving plate. Spread top with some of frosting. Top with another cake layer and spread with some of frosting, then top with final cake layer. Frost top and sides of cake with remaining frosting.
• Cut off portion of parchment with spider and reserve. Invert web on parchment onto cake and carefully peel off paper. Peel off parchment from spider and put spider on web. Let cake stand at room temperature until chocolate decorations have softened.

SPIDER'S WEB CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease three 20cm round cake tins and line the bases with baking parchment. To make the cake, put the cocoa in a bowl, add 280ml boiling water and whisk until dissolved. Pour in the stout, mix, then set aside to cool.
• In a stand mixer or a large bowl using an electric hand whisk, beat together the butter, both sugars and vanilla extract until light and fluffy (about 5 mins). Add the eggs little by little, mixing until fully incorporated before adding more. Once all the egg has been added, spoon in the melted chocolate and mix to combine.
• In another bowl, mix the flour, bicarb and 1/2 tsp salt. Add this mixture to the butter mixture in three stages, alternating with the stout mixture (which will be very runny). Pour the batter equally between the prepared tins and bake for 25-30 mins until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tins for 10 mins, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
• To make the buttercream, put the egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of gently simmering water. Stir with a whisk until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is warm to the touch. Remove the bowl from the heat and beat with an electric hand whisk on high speed until the mixture has tripled in volume and has cooled down. Slowly add the butter 1 tbsp at a time while continuing to whisk. Once all the butter has been added, the mixture should look glossy and thick - if it doesn't, keep whisking until it does, or if the bowl still feels warm, chill for 10 mins before whisking again. Once ready, mix in the melted white chocolate.
• To assemble the cake, put one of the cake layers on a cake stand and top with a layer of buttercream. Repeat with the other two layers. Spread the remaining buttercream all over the cake, using a spatula or palette knife to smooth the sides. Chill for 1 hr or until the buttercream is firm (see tip, below).
• To decorate, melt the marshmallows in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring from time to time. Remove from the heat and put to one side for a few mins until the mixture is cool enough to handle. Use your fingers to grab a small amount of the marshmallow and stretch it out to form long strands (dipping your fingers in vegetable or sunflower oil will help!) Drape the strands over the cake in a random pattern, so it's thoroughly covered. Create a spider using the sugar paste (roll two balls, one bigger than the other, for the body, and thin strands for the legs) and place on top of the cake. Will keep for up to three days in an airtight container.

DEVIL'S FOOD CAKE WITH CHOCOLATE SPIDER'S WEB

Steps:

• Make cake layers:
• Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease three 9-inch round cake pans and line each bottom with a round of wax paper. Grease paper and dust pans with flour, knocking out excess flour.
• In a bowl whisk boiling water into cocoa until smooth and whisk in milk and vanilla.
• In a large bowl with an electric mixer beat together butter and sugars until light and fluffy and beat in eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
• Into another bowl sift together flour, baking soda, and salt and add to egg mixture in batches alternately with cocoa mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture and beating well after each addition.
• Divide batter among pans, smoothing tops, and bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of pans halfway through baking, 20 to 25 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean and layers begin to pull away from sides of pans.
• Cool layers in pans on racks 10 minutes and turn out onto racks to cool completely. Cake layers may be made ahead and kept, wrapped well in plastic wrap, at room teperature 2 days or frozen 1 week.
• Make chocolate web and spider:
• On a sheet of parchment paper draw an 11-inch circle with a pen or pencil and draw a spider web on it, extending some of ends beyond circle (see drawing). Tear off a large corner of the paper and on it draw a spider (see drawing). Turn drawings over onto a large baking sheet.
• In a metal bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water melt chocolate chips, stirring until smooth. Transfer chocolate to a pastry bag fitted with a #3 plain tip (slightly smaller than 3/4 inch). (Alternatively, form a makeshift pastry bag: Transfer chocolate to a small sealable plastic bag and seal bag, pressing out excess air. Squeeze chocolate to one corner of bag and snip off about 1/8 inch from corner, making a small hole.)
• Pipe chocolate on web, beginning with spokes, and on spider. Freeze web and spider on baking sheet until very firm, at least 1 hour and up to 1 day.
• Make coffee meringue frosting:
• In a metal bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water beat frosting ingredients with a hand-held electric mixer on low speed until mixture is warm and sugar is dissolved. Beat frosting on high speed 7 minutes, or until thick and fluffy. Remove bowl from heat and beat frosting until slightly cooled.
• Assemble cake:
• Put a cake layer on a serving plate and spread top with some frosting. Top with another cake layer and spread top with more frosting. Top with remaining cake layer and frost cake with remaining frosting.
• Working quickly, invert paper with frozen web onto another sheet of parchment or wax paper and peel off paper quickly but carefully. invert spider web carefully onto cake and let soften at room temperature until overhanging edges begin to droop. press overhang gently against side of cake. Cake may be assembled and decorated 4 hours ahead and kept in a cake keeper, chilled. Let cake stand at room temperature 30 minutes before serving.
• Just before serving, peel chocolate spider from paper and put on cake.