An excuse to make my Really Creepy Witches Finger Halloween Cake … perfect for Fright Night.
Cheap nylon costumes, bad makeup and lots of sugar, Halloween is upon us people. Any excuse for me to crack open the Wilton pans and tubes of lurid food colouring. A stack of five coloured sponges held together with ‘Grotbags Green’ buttercream, topped off with Haribo .. yeah. There are no words.
Really Creepy Witches Finger Halloween Cake: Recipe
Ingredients
315g sifted self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
169g unsalted butter
267g caster sugar
1½ tsp vanilla extract
169ml milk
4 egg whites
Purple, black, orange, food colouring – I use Wilton Colour Right
For the icing
169g Trex or vegetable shortening
169g softened butter
1½ tsp vanilla extract
840g icing sugar
2-3 tbsp milk
Preheat oven to 160/170, Gas Mark 3. Grease pans. I always put a circle of greaseproof at the bottom of the pan; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. In a large bowl, beat butter with sugar I use by Kenwood to beat until the mix turns a lighter colour and fluffs right up.
Add egg whites, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla and beat well. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, adding the milk in stages. Beat until just combined. Don’t overbeat or your cakes will be a sorry mess. Weigh your mix, divide the amount into the number of pans you have (I have five) and then if you want each cake to be a different colour, add the mixture to a ramekin and mix.
Divide the coloured mix into your prepared pans.
Bake for 17-20 minutes (less for fan). If it’s cooked through, a toothpick put into the middle of the cake will come out clean. Cool for 5 minutes on a rack. Remove from pans only when they’re cold because you’ll end up with stuck cake, trust me on this one, be patient.
Really Creepy Witches Finger Halloween Cake: Icing
Mix your vegetable shortening (fat) and butter together. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add sugar one cup at a time, slowly, as you’ll end up looking like a ghost because icing sugar has a tendency to go everywhere. When you’ve mixed in all the sugar, add the milk and beat until fluffy.
Cut the crowns or tops off the cake. Using a biscuit cutter, about 2″ in width, cut into all but one of your cakes straight through the centre.
Eventually, you’ll make a well you can stuff with sweets. I’ve used Haribo Halloween jellies. Place your first layer on your cake board or plate. Spread a layer of icing to edges of the cake. Top with the second. Repeat. I covered it with green icing and covered it with Witches Fingers which I bought from Marks and Spencer.
