We have made it to the final recipe of October! I feel like this month has absolutely flown by, and I’m sad to see the spooky recipes come to an end. However, I have lots of fun recipes over the next two months to look forward to, so stay tuned!
Who’s excited for Halloween! I feel like it’s such a rare occasion that it’s on a Friday, so there’s definitely something to celebrate there. Plus, I have school off on Monday and Tuesday, so it’s an extra long weekend celebration. I’m not sure exactly what I’m going to do, but I’m excited nonetheless!
I am making good progress with my November recipes, which is good because I had fallen a little behind schedule. I’m hoping I can fully catch up over the long weekend, and then I can get a head start on my December recipes. These next two months are always my most busy.
But that’s besides the point because today we are focused on this spooky cake! I decided to save this one for last because I feel like it’s just a fun general spooky vibe to close out the season with. I’ll be completely honest though, I’m not super happy with these pictures, which is bothering me a little. My piping is very messy, but I’m trying to let it go because the most important part of this cake is the flavor.
Describe this Cake to Me
Taste: All of the flavors in this recipe blend and work perfectly together. The bittersweet dark chocolate cake, with the coffee vanilla cream in the middle, and the sweet Oreo frosting on top, all balance each other perfectly.
Texture: The chocolate cake component is perfectly moist and fluffy, which serves as the perfect base to go with the light and airy coffee pastry cream, and the creamy Oreo frosting. The cream filling is really what makes this cake, it adds this extra layer of flavor and texture that is just delicious.
Ease: This cake is a bit of a whole day endeavor. It’s still very achievable, but you need to leave time for the cake, the coffee cream, and the assembly and decoration. The only thing that’s technically a little difficult is the coffee cream, but as long as you read through the instructions first, it shouldn’t be too bad.
The Cake
This is a classic dark chocolate cake that is both delicious and sturdy enough to hold up the pastry cream. Hot coffee and melted chocolate in the batter bring out the rich dark chocolate flavor, while plenty of vanilla brings out the softer and sweeter notes. Butter and sour cream keep this cake moist, while plenty of flour keeps it stable.
Coffee Cream
Technically, this cream filling is a creme diplomat. This is basically just a pastry cream with stabilized whipped cream folded in. So we start off by heating some milk with some sugar and espresso powder, which we will then use to temper some egg yolks and cornstarch. A little butter and vanilla to finish it off, and this pastry cream is in the fridge. Once that’s cooled we fold in some stabilized whipped cream, which is whipped cream with a little gelatin, which will make this filling set enough to hold up in the cake. This cream is light and creamy and the perfect contrast to the bittersweet cake and sweet frosting.
The Oreo Frosting
Now usually, I’m not a huge fan of this kind of frosting because it’s so sweet. But it just looks so cool with this cake design, and next to the bittersweet cake and light cream filling, the extra sweetness actually balances perfectly. Plus, its’ very easy to decorate a cake with Oreo frosting because it helps disguise some places where the cake might be poking through the frosting.
Phases of the Moon Cake
Ingredients
Method
- In a medium sized heat safe bowl, whisk together the eggs and cornstarch. The mixture will be very thick and pasty. Set aside. In a large saucepan, whisk together the milk, sugar, and espresso powder. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat. Once simmering, slowly stream ½ cup of the hot milk into the egg yolk mixture, stirring constantly. Then, slowly stream the egg yolks back into the remaining milk while whisking constantly. Let the mixture continue to cook on medium heat for 30 seconds, still stirring constantly. It will start to thicken very suddenly, but just keep stirring. Let the mixture cook untouched for 30 seconds, then stir for 30 seconds, and cook untouched for another 30 seconds. Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the butter and vanilla. Let the custard cool in the pot for 10 minutes before stirring and transferring to a heat safe bowl. Cover the custard with cling wrap so that the cling wrap is touching the surface of the custard. Let the custard chill like this in the refrigerator for 3 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350℉. Grease and line three 8 inch cake pans with butter and parchment paper. Then, grease the top of the parchment paper as well. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together the vegetable oil, sour cream, eggs, milk, and vanilla extract until smooth. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients and whisk until almost combined. Slowly stream the warm coffee into the batter, stirring constantly until you have a smooth batter. Finally, stir in the melted unsweetened chocolate until smooth and combined. The batter will be thick and a little glossy.
- Pour the batter evenly among the three pans and spread into an even layer. Bake the cakes for 24-27 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean and the cake is pulling away from the sides of the pan. Let the cakes cool completely in their pans set on a wire cooling rack.
- In a food processor, pulse the Oreos into fine crumbs. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl using a hand or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the butter on medium high speed until glossy and lightened in color, around 3 minutes. Add in the sugar, vanilla extract, heavy cream, salt, and Oreo crumbs. Whip on low speed for 30 seconds before turning the speed up to high and whipping for 1 minute until fluffy and combined. Set aside while we finish the creme diplomat.
- Once the custard has chilled, make the stabilized whipped cream. Place the cold water in a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatin on top. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes, or until the gelatin absorbs the water and has solidified. Then microwave the mixture in 5 second increments until you are left with a thick, clear, syrupy mixture. Set aside to cool.
- In a large mixing bowl using a hand or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the cream on high speed to soft peaks. Soft peaks means when you lift the whisk out of the bowl, the cream should just barely hold it's shape. Turn the mixer down to low speed and very slowly stream in the cooled gelatin mixture (if it has thickened too much, microwave for 5 seconds). Then turn the speed up to high and whip to stiff peaks. Make sure you don't over whip this!
- Remove the custard from the fridge and whisk until smooth again. It will be very thick. Carefully fold the custard into the stabilized whipped cream until just combined.
- If desired, level the cakes by slicing off the tops to create an even surface. Place one layer of the cake on your cake stand and spread a very thin layer of the Oreo frosting on top. Then, using a large circular piping tip, pipe a ring of frosting around the edge to act as a moat for the filling (see video). Fill the moat just bellow the top with the creme diplomat. Place the second cake layer on top and repeat this process. You will not end up using all of the creme diplomat. Place the final cake layer on top and cover the tops and sides with the Oreo frosting, spreading it as evenly and smoothly as possible. Reserve the remaining frosting for decoration.
- Place the cake in the freezer for 15 minutes or so while we make the chocolate frosting.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl using either a hand or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the butter and shortening on medium high speed until light and fluffy. Add the confectioners sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, black food coloring, and salt and whip on low speed for 30 seconds before turning up to high speed to whip for 1 minute.
- Remove the cake from the freezer. Fill a piping bag fitted with a small round tip ( I used Wilton #4) with the chocolate frosting. Pipe a spider web design on the top of the cake (I recommend looking up a picture to make it easier.) Pipe different phases of the moon going around the sides of the cake. Use the remaining Oreo frosting and chocolate frosting to add extra frills on the top and bottom of the cake as pictured if desired. I used the piping tip #4B.
- Slice, serve, and enjoy! Cake stays fresh sealed in the refridgerator for up to 4 days.