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brain cake

Halloween Brain Cake

Katie Davies
Have a bit of spooky fun with this very life-like Halloween brain cake recipe.
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Total Time 2 hours
Course Dessert
Cuisine 🇺🇸 American
Servings 15

Ingredients
  

For the Sponge:

  • 250 g cooking margarine
  • 265 g caster sugar
  • 240 g self-raising flour
  • 2 tbsp cocoa
  • Pinch salt
  • 50 ml buttermilk
  • 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 tsp white wine vinegar
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 1 red food colouring

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

  • 80 g butter
  • 120 g cream cheese
  • 500 g icing sugar sifted
  • 1 tsp vanilla bean paste

To Decorate:

  • 1 pack white fondant icing
  • ivory edible food colouring
  • edible fake blood

Instructions
 

To Make the Cake:

  • Preheat the oven to 190°C/Fan 170°C.
  • Beat the margarine and sugar until light and fluffy.
  • Sieve the flour, cocoa powder and salt into a bowl. Mix the food colouring and vanilla into the buttermilk and mix well to combine.
  • Add 2 eggs to the sugar/margarine mix together with a few tablespoons of your dry ingredients and beat until well combined. Add the last 2 eggs and keep mixing until fully incorporated.
  • Add half of the dry ingredients and mix together until combined, then add all of the buttermilk mixture and the remaining dry ingredients, again mixing until combined.
  • In a small bowl add the vinegar and bicarbonate of soda, stir well then add to the cake mix and stir to incorporate.
  • Pour the mixture into an 8-inch half-sphere cake tin. Bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
  • Remove from the oven, allow to cool for 5-10 minutes and then turn out and allow to cool completely.

To Make the Cream Cheese Frosting:

  • Beat the butter and cream cheese together until light and fluffy.
  • Add half of the icing sugar and vanilla and beat slowly until combined then add the remaining icing sugar mix in.

To Decorate the Cake:

  • Level off the bottom of the half-sphere sponge and then cut in half lengthways to form the two brain hemispheres.
  • Fill between the two halves with the frosting and gently put it back together. Cover the sponge with a thin layer of frosting, then cut a thin slice off each side to form a more brain-like shape. Lightly frost the cut sides.
  • Refrigerate the frosted sponge for 30-60 minutes to set the frosting.
  • Roll out thin sausages of icing and form a concertina to give the brain a surface pattern.

To Serve:

  • Just before serving spoon over the edible fake blood for that fresh wet look.

Notes

For a touch of added realism, place some crumpled tissues and a knife dipped in the edible fake blood on the cake stand.