Oct 30

Oct 30 Spook-tacular DIY Vampire Cake

Halloween is almost over but I have one last hurrah with a super cute homage to all the vampires I’ve loved before. I’m not even kidding, I was obsessed as a teenager! There isn’t a 90’s teen vampire novel I haven’t read. I know every lyric to the Buffy musical ep. My favourite feature for a solid 2 years was my rather pointy canines. Vampires were my jam and now I get to fill one with jam. Happy days!

Before we get started, fear not he is super easy to make. A true no-fail project, just how I like them. Shall we get cracking?

Ingredients

1 batch of sponge cake (I used this one)

250g butter

500g icing sugar

100g dark chocolate

3 tbsp milk

4 tbsp raspberry jam

50g black fondant

50g white fondant

25g red fondant

Food colouring – black and purple

Method

Cake

Line two 6-inch cake pans with parchment paper and pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Mix up the batter for your sponge (I used this recipe) and split it evenly between the two pans. Bake for 40-45 minutes or as per the instructions for your chosen mix. When a skewer comes out clean, remove the cakes from the oven and leave to cool in the pans for 5-10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.

Fill and Stack

Mix together 250g of butter, 500g of icing sugar and 3 tbsp of milk until its smooth and easily spread. When then cakes are cool, trim off the tops to level them out. Spread a little buttercream across the bottom of your cake board or plate and lay the first cake on top. Cover with a layer of raspberry jam. Stack the second cake on top. Cover the entire cake with a thin layer of buttercream and move to the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.

Top Coat

While the cake is chilling, colour the remaining buttercream to a pale purple. After 30 minutes have passed, cover the entire cake with a thicker layer of buttercream (about 2/3 of the remainder) and smooth with a palette knife or bench scraper. Return to the fringe for another 30 minutes. While that’s chilling, melt 100g of dark chocolate and mix it into the remaining buttercream. This will help to darken it so we can use less black food colouring. Add small amounts of black gel food colouring until the remaining frosting is completely black.

When the cake has cooled, use a toothpick to mark out his hairline in the buttercream. Fill a piping bag with the black buttercream and pipe it around the hairline. When you’re happy with the outline, use the bag to fill in the rest of the hair. Smooth it down with a palette knife. Before the hair has a chance to stiffen, use the toothpick to drag across the surface and score in lines in the direction of slicked back hair.

Eyes

Roll the white fondant to 1-2mm thick and cut out 2 medium sized circles. Repeat this with the red and the black fondant. Wet one of the white circles with a little sterilised water and lay one of the red circles on top, slightly offset to the right. Repeat with the black circle, this time of top of the red, set even further to the right. Using the same round cutter, trim the excess from the sides. Finally, roll up a tiny ball of white fondant and stick this on top as a light reflection. Gently press it down flat with your finger. Repeat until you have two matching eyes. With a dry finger, smooth around the edges of the eyes to remove any sharp corners.

Attach the eyes to the front of the cake by wetting the back and holding them in place on the cake for a few seconds. To finish, roll a small piece of black fondant into a rope and then fold it into a loose ‘V’. Dampen the back slightly and place it over the eye as an eyebrow. Repeat for the second eye.

Mouth

Roll a small piece of black fondant into a rope and trim to size for the mouth. Attach this to front of the cake, bending it into shape as you go. Sticking with the black fondant, roll two small pieces into small almond shapes and stick to the cake in place for nostrils. Lastly, lets make his fangs by rolling a small piece of white fondant between your palm and forefinger, adding pressure to the end so it tapers into a point. Gently press down to flatten the surface and then attach in place to the cake. Repeat for his second fang.