Ghoulish Treats and Blood Curdling Bakes

A good way to celebrate Halloween is to get stuck into some ghoulish baking, because, let’s face it, there is one thing that everyone will look forward to on Halloween, and that’s the devilish sweet treats you can over indulge in.There are many different recipes that will make you and your friends squeal … and we all like to give those trick or treaters a scare! 

So we have rummaged through our shelves and pulled out a few of our absolute favourite eats… Count Dracula would be so proud! So without further ado, we introduce you to the … 

Black Velvet Cake

This is great recipe as it looks so bold and spooky and will have many people intrigued as to how you made such a ghoulish cake.

Ingredients

For the cake:

240ml oil

600g caster sugar

4 large eggs

70g cocoa powder

Black food colour paste

640g plain flour

480ml buttermilk

2 tbsp white vinegar

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tbsp instant coffee dissolved in 50ml hot water

100g grated dark chocolate

For the frosting: 

500g unsalted butter

500g full-fat cream cheese

2 tsp vanilla extract

600g icing sugar

Orange food colour (we recommend food colouring paste)

200g melted dark chocolate, to drizzle

50g melted white chocolate, for the web

White chocolate skulls and jelly spiders, to decorate (or any other creepy sweets you like)

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 160°C. Grease and line two round 8-inch cake tins.

To make the cake, beat together the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. Next add the oil, buttermilk, vinegar, and black food colour. Mix together the grated chocolate and espresso and then pour into the mixer. Whisk to combine.

2.) Sift in the flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda and whisk until smooth.

Pour the batter into the tins and bake for 60 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

3.) Remove from the oven and allow the cakes to cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of cakes to loosen them and invert onto a wire rack. Tip: a piece of bread on top of your cakes will keep them moist as they cool.

4.) Once cooled completely, trim the cakes if the tops are domed and cut each cake in half so you have four sponges.

In a mixer, whip the butter until pale and fluffy. Add the cream cheese and whip again. Add the icing sugar and beat on a high speed until really pale. Next, add the vanilla extract and orange food colour.

5.)To assemble the cake, layer up the sponges with icing and cover the entire cake too.

Place the cake in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

6.) Pour over the cooled melted dark chocolate and allow it to drizzle down the sides of the cake - the messier the better.

Place the melted white chocolate in a squeezy bottle and swirl a spiral on top of the dark chocolate. Use a cocktail stick to make a web pattern by dragging the white chocolate through the dark.

7.) Decorate with any creepy treats you like. We used white chocolate skulls (used by setting melted chocolate in a skull mould) and jelly spiders.

Poison Toffee Apples

If you are looking for something a little bit simpler but that is still creepy enough for the kids to get excited by, poison toffee apples are great solution.

Ingredients

400 g granulated sugar

180 ml of water

120 ml liquid glucose/light corn syrup

few drops black gel food colouring

6 Granny Smith apples (or 12 small apples) (Ensure your apples are fresh and haven't been waxed)

Method

Grease a piece of baking paper and place on a tray/baking sheet.

Insert bamboo skewers in all the apples and set aside.

In a medium pot, combine the sugar, water, glucose/corn syrup and food colouring and stir over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture feels smooth when you rub it between your fingers.

When the sugar has dissolved, turn the heat up and wash the sides of the pot down with a pastry brush dipped into clean water to prevent crystals from forming.

Allow the caramel to boil until it reaches the hard crack stage (150°c/310°F).

Carefully dip the apples into the hot candy mixture and place on the baking paper to set and cool for approximately an hour before serving.