Last week we saw the final of the Great British Bake Off 2016. And Today I’m bringing you my Halloween Special
They made meringue, Victoria Sandwich and a picnic showstopper including a chocolate cake.
I did feel a little disappointed at the skill set needed for the final. Surely it could have been more difficult? The things they made for their picnics I’ve made loads of times for parties, meringues are not difficult so long as you are careful not to break them and my nine year old daughter knows how to make a Victoria Sandwich without instructions.
The winner was Candice and I believe she deserved it as she seemed the only one who really put any effort into making something unique. I still remember her gingerbread pub, and her marzipan peacock was fantastic. Going back to my run down of week one I had Candice and Jane, two of the finalists, as my favourites to do well. I wish I’d put a bet on now!
My girls really wanted to make meringue so I let them make some and they made little meringue ghosts for Halloween. I decided that a chocolate cake would be nice to make so in keeping with the Halloween theme I dressed it up as a trick or treat cake.
We like our meringue crispy so we always bake it in the oven. The eyes were piped on with a little melted chocolate.
Halloween Chocolate Cake
My chocolate cake is a favourite in our house and I make it frequently. I don’t always cover it in chocolate but I decided to do it this time, only I wish I’d left myself a little more time to do it a bit more neatly.
Chocolate Cake:
Ingredients:
- 225g caster sugar
- 225g soft butter
- 200g self raising flour
- 25g cocoa powder
- 4 eggs
for butter cream:
- 125g soft butter
- 240g icing sugar
- 10g cocoa powder
topping:
- 200g chocolate
- assorted sweets to decorate.
Method:
heat oven to 180C
grease and line a 20cm cake tin
mix the sugar and butter together in a large bowl
mix in the eggs one by one
sift in the flour and the cocoa powder
fold in until you have a smooth batter
pour batter into cake tin
bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean
leave to cool
make the butter cream by creaming the butter with sifted icing sugar and cocoa powder
fill cake with half the butter cream then smooth the rest around outside of the cake as a crumb coat
melt chocolate in the microwave or in a bowl over a pan of hot water
pour over cake
drop sweets over cake
To finish my Halloween theme here are the pumpkins designed by my three children
oohhhh the ghosts are just boo-tiful!! What a great way to pipe them out! Hazel x
those meringue ghosts are so sweet – what a great idea especially for Halloween. And that chocolate cake laden with sweets is also a great idea and looks yummy! A favourite for all kids, big and small! Your children did a grand job decorating and carving their pumpkins too. Thank you for joining in with my bake along and good luck with the judging xx
The meringue ghosts look so funny! I love the idea, I might make something similar next Halloween. The cake looks great too.