This cute little number was done for a girlfriend who absolutely loves Halloween. She found this cake concept from FoodNetwork via Instagram. I took the basic principles from the recipe and made some small edits. Unfortunately, there are no pictures from our ladies-date of the inside of the cake but I will break it all down!
The cake itself is a three-layer almond cake from Cake Merchant. You can use any flavor that you want but I wanted something with a white-cake (no egg yolk) base. I felt that the FoodNetwork's version was too artificial (neon purple, green, black and orange) with tons of food coloring. My version mimicked the colors in candy corn so one layer was plain, another layer was orange, and the final layer was yellow. I used India Tree's Natural Food Coloring which I purchased at the Wegmans grocery store.
For the in-between layer, I made a small batch for Smitten Kitchen's Swiss Buttercream. No need to make a ton of extra frosting!
Again, I didn't want a heavily-artificial frosting (FoodNetwork used black) so I went with a chocolate ganache coat. I love frosting in ganache. It's beautiful, easy, and super classy.
Lastly, the original cake had buttercream ghosts. Fun in theory! I tried this method but with Kerrigold butter - they looked like ghosts with a slight tan. I called them Caribbean ghosts. It wasn't a good look with the glaring white contrast of the marshmallow web. If I were to make this cake again, I would use meringue ghosts like these! Aren't they totally adorable? : )
Happy Hallow's Eve!
Spooky Spider Web Cake
Assembly: fill the layers of the cake with the swiss buttercream and coat the outside with the ganache frosting. Decorate with marshmallow webs, sprinkles, and ghosts!
Almond Cake
from Cake Merchant
makes a three-layer, six-inch round cake
*tip -- make sure all ingredients are at room temperature
Swiss Buttercream Filling
from Smitten Kitchen
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg white
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened and cut into pieces
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
Combine sugar and egg white in a pan over medium-low heat. Whisk until sugar dissolves. Whip in mixer until light, fluffy, and doubled in size. It should be cool to the touch. Continue whipping and add butter gradually. Whip until smooth. Fold in vanilla.
Chocolate Ganache Frosting
from Smitten Kitchen
1/2 pound (228 grams) semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup (optional)
1/4 stick (2 tablespoons) unsalted butter
Place chopped chocolate in a heat-proof bowl. Combine heavy cream, corn syrup, and sugar in a small sauce pan; cook on medium heat until sugar dissolves. Poor the heavy cream mix over the chocolate and whisk until smooth. Add the butter and mix until smooth. Allow to cool slightly. Do not allow to set entirely or else it will be too thick to frost.
Marshmallow Webs
About 10 regular marshmallows
Note: See this video from the Food Network for a demonstration on how to make the Marshmallow Webs.
Heat in microwave for 30 seconds. Mix with fork until it becomes one cohesive mass. Pick up a small glob (about a quarter size to start); stretch and pull with fingers to create webs. Stretch across and all over cake.