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Spooky Spider Cake
Author: Jackie
Ingredients
  • Chocolate Cake
  • 1 ¾ cups all purpose flour
  • 2 cups granulated white sugar
  • ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¾ teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • ½ cup oil
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee
  • Nutella Mousse
  • 1 cup Nutella
  • 2 cups heavy whipping cream , cold
  • Italian Meringue Buttercream
  • cups sugar , divided into 1 cup and ¼ cup
  • cup water
  • 6 large egg whites , room temperature
  • ¾ teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1 cup Plugrà European salted butter , very soft cut into pieces
  • cup Plugrà unsalted butter , very soft, cut into pieces
Instructions
  1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour three 7-inch round baking pans.
  2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in large bowl.
  3. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes.
  4. Stir in hot coffee. Batter will be runny.
  5. Pour batter into prepared pans.
  6. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
  7. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.
  8. To make the mousse, beat heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form.
  9. Fold nutella into whipping cream gently.
  10. Place in refrigerator until ready to assemble cake.
  11. To make the Italian Meringue Buttercream combine 1 cup of sugar and water in a small sauce pan.
  12. Heat sugar and water on medium until boiling (you want large bubbles).
  13. In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat egg whites and sugar until frothy.
  14. Increase your mixer speed to high and beat egg whites until hard peaks form.
  15. Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly and carefully pour into egg whites.
  16. Slowly increase the mixer speed again and beat until the mixture is no longer hot or warm and is fluffy. (mixture needs to be as close to room temperature as possible before adding butter).
  17. With the mixer set at medium speed, slowly add butter pieces. Mix until smooth.
  18. To assemble the cake, place one layer on the cake plate and top with ½ of the mousse.
  19. Top with middle layer and the remaining mousse, and finally top with last layer.
  20. Set aside ½ cup of frosting to make the spider webs. Add a few drops of black food dye to color buttercream.
  21. With remaining frosting, frost cake.
  22. Place black frosting in a pipping bag or small sandwich bag and cut off corner. Pipe spider webs on cake. Top with spider.
  23. Place cake in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Cake can be made 2 days in advance.