Haunted House Cake II

A cake for Bayler, who turned 6. My second haunted house cake (the first one is here)- the birthday boy wanted something similar, only he wanted a blue house. The bottom part of the house is vanilla cake with chocolate filling and the top is banana cake with vanilla filling. My favorite banana cake recipe is below.

Happy Halloween!!


Mr Banana Legs
adapted from CakeLove by Warren Brown

One 12-cup bundt cake, two 9-inch-round cakes

Ingredients

Dry:

• Unbleached all-purpose flour, 10 ounces (2 cups)
• Salt, ½ teaspoon
• Baking soda, ¼ teaspoon
• nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon

Liquid:

• Very ripe peeled bananas, 6 ounces (3 bananas), mashed
• Whole milk, ¾ cup
• Vanilla extract, 1½ teaspoons

Creaming:

• Unsalted butter, at room temperature, 6 ounces (1½ sticks)
• granulated sugar, 21 ounces (2¾ cups),
• Eggs (large), 4
• Egg yolks (large), 3

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Set rack in the middle of the oven. Butter and line pans with parchment.
Sift the flour into a bowl. Measure the other dry ingredients into a separate mixing bowl, add the flour, and whisk for 10 seconds to blend. Set aside.
Combine wet ingredients in a separate bowl and set aside. 
In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar on the lowest speed for 2 to 3 minutes. The mixture should look white, fluffy, and aerated.
With the mixer still on the lowest speed, add the eggs one at a time followed by the yolks, fully incorporating after each addition. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl.
Add the dry ingredient mixture alternately with the liquid mixture in 3 to 5 additions each, beginning and ending with the dry mixture. Move swiftly through this step to avoid overworking the batter. Don’t wait for the dry or liquid mixtures to be fully incorporated before adding the next.
Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl all the way down. Don’t miss the clumps of ingredients hiding on the bottom of the bowl. Mix on medium speed for 15 to 20 seconds to develop the batter’s structure.
Spread in prepared pans and bake 30 minutes until golden and cake tester comes out clean.
Cool to room temperature, 25 to 30 minutes, before removing from the pan. Use a small offset spatula to loosen the cake from the rim of the pan. Carefully invert each pan onto a flat surface to remove the layers. Remove the parchment from the bottom of each cake and wrap the cake tightly in plastic. Assembling a layer cake is easier if the cake is cold, so refrigerate the layers overnight or for up to 5 days before frosting.

Happy Halloween- Haunted House cake

Inspired by this cake

First Post

I decided to start a cake blog. I've been baking for as long as I can remember and started making fun cakes as a hobby a couple years ago. This is my first fondant covered 3-D decorated cake. I made it for Halloween a couple years ago to practice for my daughter's first birthday cake.

Here's my brother's birthday cake that same year. No characters for him. Just the best chocolate cake in the world. This is my favorite (and all my family's!) recipe. Beware: it's super rich (but worth every calorie!)

(he'd be embarassed to know I posted a pic of him in that classy cut-off sleeve shirt)

Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting and Chocolate Ganache Glaze
Cake:

3 cups packed brown sugar

3/4 cup canola oil

3 eggs

2 2/3 cups flour

2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder

2 ¼ teaspoons baking soda

1 ½ teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 ½ cups milk

1 ½ cups water

1 1/8 cups cocoa powder

Frosting:

1 ½ pounds sweet butter, soft

3 cups sifted powdered sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla extract

1 pinch salt

Ganache:

1 ¼ cups semisweet chocolate chips

3/4 tablespoon light corn syrup

3/4 cup heavy cream

To make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Oil 3 (10-inch) cake pans and line the bottom with parchment paper. Alternately, oil the pans and then flour them. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the brown sugar and oil. Turn on the mixer to a low speed and mix in the eggs. Let the sugar, oil, and eggs mix while sifting together the flour, baking powder, soda, and salt in a separate bowl. Set this mixture aside. In another small bowl, mix the vanilla into the milk and set this aside as well. Bring the water to a boil and pour over the cocoa and whisk it until it is smooth. To the egg mixture, alternately add the flour mixture and the milk mixture beginning and ending with flour. With the mixer off, scrape down the sides of the bowl after each addition. With the mixture at a low speed add the cocoa. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and pour this mixture into the prepared cake pans. Bake the cake for approximately 15 minutes or until tester comes out clean. When cake layers have cooled, remove from pans and refrigerate until cold.
To make the frosting: In an electric mixing bowl place the soft butter and beat it on a low speed while adding powdered sugar. When all the sugar is mixed in, turn off the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add in the vanilla and salt and let the mixer beat for 5 to 7 minutes on a medium speed. Fill and frost the cake and refrigerate it for 10 to 20 minutes to set up the frosting. To make the ganache: In a heatproof bowl, place the chocolate chips and the corn syrup. Bring the heavy cream to a full boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate and whisk it until smooth then set it aside. Pour ganache over the top of the cake and, with a cake spatula, smooth the top of the cake and allow ganache to spill over the sides. Refrigerate for 20 minutes or longer. Serve the cake cold or allow it to come to room temperature before serving.