Halloween Bat Cake
A festive but elegant Halloween cake! Rich, moist pumpkin spice cake filled with spiced buttercream and covered in an orange ombré of creamy Italian meringue buttercream dotted with candy bats!
- Prep time
- 1 hr 20 min
- Cook time
- 30 min
- Yield
- 8 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (250g)
- 4 large eggs (room temperature)
- 1 1/2 cups white sugar (320g)
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil (60mL)
- 1/4 cup sour cream (60mL)
- 1/2 cup coconut oil (120mL)
- 1 can pumpkin purée (15oz)
- 2 tsp baking powder (8g)
- 1 tsp kosher salt (6g)
- 1 tsp baking soda (6g)
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon (5g)
- 1/2 tsp ginger (1g)
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg (.5g)
- 1/2 tsp allspice (.5g)
- Pinch ground cloves
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (5mL)
- 1 cup butter unsalted (226g)
- ¼ cup pureed pumpkin (60mL)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 cups confectioners sugar (450g)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract (10mL)
- 2 tsp cinnamon (5g)
- 1 tsp instant espresso
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg (.25g)
- ¼ tsp allspice (.25g)
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger (.25)
- 4 egg whites large
- 1 1/3 cups sugar (290g)
- Pinch kosher salt
- 16 ounces butter (450g unsalted, room temperature)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (5mL)
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar (1g)
- 1/3 cup water (80mL)
- Orange and brown gel food coloring
- For the Bats:
- 1 cup black candy melts melted (240mL)
Instructions
- 1
For the Cake
- 2
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.Butter and flour 3 six inch cake pans. (I always wrap mine in cake strips)
- 3
In a large mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, sugar, oils, sour cream, vanilla and pumpkin.
- 4
Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, salt and spices; add to wet ingredients and mix thoroughly.
- 5
Spread into prepared pans. Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes or until centers are springy to the touch and the edge is pulling away from the pan.
- 6
For the Italian Meringue Buttercream
- 7
Beat the egg whites, salt and cream of tartar. Slowly add in 1/3 cup of sugar and continue beating until soft peaks form.
- 8
In a medium saucepan add 1 cup sugar and 1/3 cup water and place on medium-high heat. Stir until sugar melts and becomes clear.
- 9
Maintain at medium-high heat until temperature reads 240F.
- 10
Drizzle the sugar into the mixer immediately. Run mixer until meringue is cool/tepid.
- 11
Switch to a paddle attachment. Add room temperature butter into running mixer one tablespoon piece at a time. Add vanilla.
- 12
Beat until butter is combined and mixture has reached a silky consistency.
- 13
Separate into bowls. Dye a gradient of color using orange and brown food coloring.
- 14
For the Pumpkin Buttercream
- 15
Beat the butter, salt, and pumpkin together in the bowl or your stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.
- 16
Sift in the sugar, spices, and instant espresso and beat until smooth and creamy. Add more sugar if needed to thicken consistency.
- 17
For the Bats
- 18
Print out 3 pages of bat outline. Arrange them side by side. Add a sheet of parchment paper
- 19
Melt the candy melts and transfer to a piping bag. Snip off the tip.
- 20
Pipe the outline of each bat. Set aside to dry.
- 21
For the Assembly
- 22
Pipe pumpkin buttercream between each layer. Cover completely, smooth with a bench scraper and off set spatula. Transfer to the fridge to chill.
- 23
Give each batch of the Italian meringue buttercream a quick whip. Transfer each color into piping bags and snip off the tips.
- 24
Starting with the darkest orange, pipe each color of Italian meringue in a gradient. Smooth with tools and transfer to the fridge again.
- 25
Carefully separate bats from the parchment paper. They can be very fragile!
- 26
Attach bats by gently pressing onto the buttercream.