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Spider Web German Chocolate Cake
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Today, I sat next to a sweet little girl, who goes by the name of Abbigail.
She held my hand and intently explained:
“Last week was my birthday and I had banana splits!”
to which I responded
“WOW, those are my favorite!”
Abbi said,
“Not CAKE, I hate CAKE!”
If only I hated CAKE!
This is my families favorite cake.
We could all eat the frosting with spoons . . . without the CAKE!
We even like German Chocolate Cake when it’s topped with Spiders!
This cake isn’t anything fancy, but I wanted to “spook” it up a bit.
I created a spider web in the center of the cake with chocolate ganache that I piped out.
Take a toothpick, and gently cut through the chocolate to make the web effect.
It’s kind of hard to see, because I piped it on top of the Coconut Caramel Frosting.
This cake is loaded with Glazed Almonds, since some of my daughters are “picky” about what nuts they will eat!
I tried to give them a mouth, but the chocolate “seized up fast!”
The spiders are created with melted Chocolate chips for the body, piped out with a round tip.
To create the spider legs, simply pipe the #7 shape onto parchment paper or a cookie sheet lined with a silpat.
Place the cookie sheet of 7′s into the fridge until they are nice and firm #7′s.
The short end of the 7 goes into the body, before the chocolate sets up!
Make a few extra legs . . . in case you break a few.
Sprinkles make up their beady little eyes.
This cake is great with Pecans, hazelnuts, Walnuts or even glazed Almonds.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
GERMAN CHOCOLATE CAKE with COCONUT PECAN FROSTING
FOR THE CAKE:
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/3 cup Hershey’s Cocoa powder
1 cup Crisco Oil
2 eggs
1 cup Buttermilk
1 cup Hot tap water
2 teaspoons Soda
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Vanilla
DIRECTIONS:
The amazing thing about this cake recipe, is that you put all the ingredients in your bowl at the same time. Using a hand mixer, blend the ingredients until well mixed. Don’t over blend, a few small lumps are fine. Before putting in your pans, grease & flour them. Once you have added the cake mixture, tap them lightly on the top of a table or cabinet, to release any air bubbles. Bake 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees.
I usually bake my cake on a large deep Cookie sheet. (Like those you can buy at Rush’s Kitchen Supply) They now come with lids!
COCONUT PECAN FROSTING
(I always double this, recipe)
YOU WILL NEED:
1 cup evaporated Milk (like Sego)
1 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups Coconut
1 cup chopped nuts
*I use pecans or sliced Almonds
DIRECTIONS:
Whisk your evaporated milk & egg yolks together, making sure that egg yolk is well blended in. Place the evaporated milk and egg yolk mixture, sugar and butter in a medium size saucepan. Whisk entire mixture together until very well blended. Cook, stirring constantly over med. heat for about 12 minutes, or until frosting has thickened. Add Coconut, Vanilla & nuts, and spread over COOLED cake.
Glazed Almonds or other nuts:
Melt 1/3 cup of sugar in a heavy skillet or cast iron skillet, until lightly golden. Add 1 cup of nuts and stir until all the nuts are coated with the glaze.
Spread out on parchment paper and let the nuts cool. Sprinkle on top of cake before serving.
Chocolate Ganache
1 1/2 cups of heavy cream
1 tablespoon butter
2 cups of semi sweet chocolate chips of other good chocolate cut into small pieces.
Over medium high heat, place cream and butter. Bring cream and butter to a low simmer, but do not let the cream boil!
Take off heat, and gently stir in the chocolate until it’s creamy and smooth.
by Get Off Your Butt and BAKE
Suzanne Perazzini - That frosting sounds delicious and your cake in quite spooky with those fantstic spiders.October 30, 2012 – 2:06 am