Halloween Special Spider web Cake – Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Chocolate Cake Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 300°F.
2. Grease three 8 inch cake pans, arrange round parchment paper in the bottom. Set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, add in the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, sugar, salt and combine well.
4. Then add in the eggs, buttermilk, vegetable oil, vanilla essence and beat well on medium speed until smooth.
5. Add hot water little by little into the batter, beat well on medium speed until incorporated well.
6. Divide the batter among the prepared cakes pans and bake for about 30-35 minutes(refer notes), or until a wooden skewer inserted comes out almost clean.
7. Remove cakes from oven, cool them in the pans for about 10 minutes, then transfer the cakes to cooling racks and let it cool completely.
8. While the cakes cool, melt the chocolate chips and prepare cream cheese frosting.

Melting Chocolate - Double Boiler Method:

1. Heat a wide pan with about one inch of water on low heat.
2. Add the chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl (stainless steel or tempered glass) and set the bowl directly in the water.
3. Bring the heat to a simmer, stir the chocolate continuously until the chocolate has fully melted.
4. Then transfer the melted chocolate to a pastry or Ziploc bag halfway full. Snip off a tiny corner of the bag's tip with scissors.
5. Refer WikiHow for other chocolate melting methods.

Making Spider web Patterns:

1. Place a parchment paper in the working surface.
2. Draw a 8" chocolate spider web pattern by squeezing the prepared ziploc bag.
3. Then make 3-4 small spider web patterns(3" diameter) to decorate the sides.
4. Freeze it until firm. It will take approx 15-30 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1. Refer our Cream Cheese Frosting recipe, continue with the steps and make the frosting.
2. Add orange food color and mix well.

Cake arrangement:

1. Once the cakes are cooled, level the cakes(if required). If you need, remove the sides(brown parts) too.
2. Place the first cake on your cake base and spread a generous scoop of cream cheese icing on the cake.
3. Then place the second cake and spread a generous scoop of cream cheese icing on the cake.
4. Finally place the third cake on top and ice the entire cake with the remaining cream cheese icing.
5. Refrigerate it for 15-20 minutes. Then take out the cakes and spiderweb patterns from the refrigerator.
6. Carefully remove the 8 inch spider web pattern from the parchment paper and place it on the top of the cake.
7. Place the small spiderweb patterns into the sides and finally place the candy or plastic spiders in the web.
8. Cut into slices and enjoy!

Notes:

• Baking Instructions,
  • If you are baking the 3 pans together, it will take 45-55 minutes.
  • Baking the cakes one at a time will take 30-35 minutes for each pan.