Ingredients
-
2 cups
all-purpose flour
-
3/4 cups
cocoa powder
-
1 1/2 tsp
baking soda
-
1 tsp
baking powder
-
1/2 tsp
salt
-
3/4 cup
unsalted
butter
, at room temperature
-
3/4 cup
granulated
sugar
-
3/4 cup
lightly packed
brown sugar
-
2
eggs
-
2 tsp
vanilla
-
1 1/2 cups
buttermilk
, at room temperature
Icing
-
2 3/4 cups
icing sugar
, sifted
-
1/4 cup
cocoa powder
, sifted
-
1/2 cup
unsalted
butter
, softened
-
1/4 cup
35% cream
Glaze
-
1/3 cup
35% cream
-
100 g
finely chopped
semi-sweet chocolate
, or chips (1/2 cup)
-
1/4 cup
finely chopped
white chocolate
, or chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325F. Butter two 9-in. round cake pans and line bottoms with parchment.
- Mix flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
- Beat butter with sugars in a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium, until fluffy, about 3 min. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well and scraping down sides of bowl after each egg. Beat in vanilla. Reduce speed and beat one-third of flour mixture, then add half the buttermilk. Repeat, scraping down sides until flour is well mixed. Divide batter evenly between pans and smooth tops.
- Bake until a cake tester inserted in centre of cakes comes out clean, 25 to 30 min. Cool cakes in pans on a rack for 10 min. Run a knife around inside edge of each pan, then turn cakes out onto rack. Remove parchment. Let cool completely, about 1 hr.
- For icing, whisk icing sugar and cocoa in a medium bowl. Beat butter in a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium-high, until fluffy, about 1 min. Reduce speed to medium-low and add icing sugar mixture, alternating with cream and ending with icing sugar mixture, until blended. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until fluffy, 2 to 3 min.
- Place one cooled cake layer on a large plate or cake stand and spread 1 cup icing on top, right to edges. Top with second cake layer and thinly spread remaining icing on top and around sides of cake. Refrigerate until icing is firm, about 30 min.
- For glaze, microwave cream in a small bowl until hot, about 45 sec. Add semi-sweet chocolate and stir until smooth. Microwave white chocolate in a small bowl, stirring every 20 sec, until melted, about 1 min. Scrape melted white chocolate into a small resealable zip-top bag.
- Pour glaze over cake, spreading right to edges, letting it slightly run down sides. Cut small piece off one corner of zip-top bag, and pipe white chocolate in concentric circles on cake, 1/2 in. apart, starting from outside and moving to centre. From centre of cake, drag a toothpick or tip of a knife outward to form a spider web.
To make spiders
Cut black licorice candy string into 1½-in. pieces. Gently twist apart mini chocolate sandwich cookies. Press three strings into cookie icing, with ends sticking out. Reattach top cookie, using melted white chocolate as glue. Pipe two dots of white chocolate on top of cookies for eyes.
Nutrition (per serving)
- Calories
- 842,
- Protein
- 10 g,
- Carbohydrates
- 114 g,
- Fat
- 43 g,
- Fibre
- 5 g,
- Sodium
- 505 mg.
Originally published in the Today’s Parent September/October 2019 issue. Photo by Erik Putz.
