Happy Halloween! Maybe some day I’ll post a holiday bake before the actual holiday, like all the professional baking bloggers. But I also don’t think of this as a baking blog so much as a baking diary. So I’ll be posting my Halloween themed bake on Halloween! Sue me!
The making of this recipe had some exciting action at the start. I special ordered some black cocoa off of Amazon to make this recipe, and when I went to retrieve the package, I saw that someone had beat me to it. This could have been a fun little Halloween Whodunnit, but… I think my detective skills were too good, and I was quickly able to deduce who the culprit was.
The squirrels around my neighborhood start to get a bit crazy in October. Last year, they demolished and ate two pumpkins that I had bought as Halloween decorations. I decided not to get pumpkins this year for that reason, but I’ve seen at least three other pumpkins on other people’s doorsteps that have met the same fate this year. So I suppose I could have predicted they would go after the cocoa powder.
But after ordering another (and getting it inside as quick as possible), I was able to get started on this cake. I learned from the internet that Black Cocoa is the best way to get black frosting. But also… It makes for a dark black chocolate cake and glaze as well. Which I figured was perfect for a Halloween theme cake!
The black cocoa was very effective. So effective that my brother took a look at the cake without any glaze and said that it looked charred, and like I’d “just left a Bundt cake in the oven for four hours.” Which is very accurate! And the glaze on top was a nice shiny black. So I’ll be keeping this “hack” in mind if I ever want to make something black again. It’s also just a lovely dark chocolate, which I’m a fan of. The stark black made me nervous about how these photos would turn out (very high contrast!), but I like the effect! The orange sprinkles and orange filling help add some dimension.
Halloween is a holiday that’s on par with New Year’s Eve for me. They are holidays that were fun as a kid, but in adulthood create more pressure than fun. I don’t know anyone who throws Halloween parties. I feel like there should be 20x as many Trick or Treaters than there ever are. They also always come earlier than I think they should. I never have any reason to dress up anymore, and I didn’t go to any haunted houses or hayrides or anything spooky this year. But at least this year, I was able to be at home with my siblings, making a tasty meal, handing out candy, watching a Halloween movie, and eating this cake!
The filling for this is the ever-fascinating combo of melted candy corn and peanut butter. For the uninitiated, it’s a combo that tastes exactly like a Butterfinger. I haven’t made anything using that combination in a while, so I wanted to this year. It mixed it with cream cheese so that it wouldn’t just keep melting in the cake and disappear.
I’ll conclude with my more positive take on Halloween, which is that while it may always be a bit of a letdown in terms of celebration… it’s always got good dessert!!
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PinIngredients
For the cake:
- 1 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 3/4 cup black cocoa powder
- 1 and 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- optional: 2 teaspoons espresso powder
- 1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup full fat sour cream, at room temperature*
- 1/2 cup buttermilk, at room temperature*
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup boiling hot water*
For the Butterfinger Cream Cheese Filling:
- 12 ounces full-fat brick cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup candy corn
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1 large egg
For the black cocoa glaze:
- 6 tablespoons black cocoa powder
- 5 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons hot water, divided
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and grease a 10-inch Bundt pan that holds 12 cups of batter.
- Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and espresso powder (if using) together in a large bowl. Set aside. Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or you can use a whisk) mix the oil, eggs, sour cream, buttermilk, and vanilla together until combined.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, add the hot water, and whisk or beat it all until the batter is completely combined. Set aside as you prepare the cream cheese filling.
- Make the cream cheese filling: First, melt the candy corn in a pot over the stove, slowly and at low heat. Allow it to cool. Then, using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese on high speed until no lumps remain. Slowly stream in the melted candy corn. Beat in the remaining ingredients on medium-high speed until combined.
- Pour about 2/3 of the chocolate batter evenly into the prepared Bundt pan. (Just eyeball it.) Spread all of the cream cheese filling evenly on top. The cream cheese batter is thick, so you’ll have to spoon it on top and do your best to spread it around—avoid it touching the sides of the pan. Pour the remaining chocolate batter evenly on top.
- Bake for 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean with just a couple lightly moist crumbs. This is a large, heavy cake so don’t be alarmed if it takes a little longer in your oven.
- Once done, remove from the oven and allow to cool for 2 hours inside the pan. Then, invert the slightly cooled Bundt cake onto a wire rack or serving dish. Allow cake to cool completely, then refrigerate for 2 hours.
- While it’s cooling, prepare the glaze. Melt the cocoa and butter together in a small saucepan over low heat, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in confectioners’ sugar and vanilla extract. Stir in hot water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until glaze is thick and smooth.
- Leftovers keep well stored in the refrigerator for a few days.