It’s that spooky time of the year again! And there’s one last weekend to do all things Halloween with our little ones, families & friends…! For my first post, I wanted to share a family favorite: CHOCOLATE CAKE.This Easy peasy recipe is moist, not too sweet and really fun to whip up with the kiddos. Since Halloween is just around the corner we baked it with a twist or should I say a spook-tacular twist! I got the skull cakelet pan from Williams-Sonoma on the weekend and it’s just perfect. A showstopper that is really good quality, very easy to use & a great addition to our baking tools that we will use for many years to come.
Chocolate skull cakelet
Prep time: 10 minutes
Bake time: 30 minutes
Makes 12 skulls
INGREDIENTS
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
- 4 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon orange extract
- 1 cup buttermilk (regular milk works fine as well)
- 1/2 teaspoon black food color, if desired
- 1 teaspoon powdered sugar
First Preheat oven to 325°F.
Prepare the Skull Cakelet pan by brushing with butter and dust with cocoa.
Whisk the flours, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt together. In a separate bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the butter and sugars together until creamy and lightened, about 2-3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Add the extracts. Put the mixer on low speed and add the buttermilk alternately with the dry ingredients in 4 additions. Mix until smooth. Add black food color to desired shade if using.
Fill pan no more than 3/4 full in each well. Tap pan on top of a cutting board covered with a heavy kitchen towel to evenly distribute batter and eliminate air bubbles from the batter. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Allow cakelets to cool in pan 5-8 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack. Repeat with remaining batter.
Garnish as desired with powdered sugar, icing & candy decorations or decorating sprinkles. Makes 12 cakes.
xo, Mel
This post was in collaboration with Williams-Sonoma Carrefour Laval | Recipe adapted from Nordic Ware | Photographer: Vincent Di Placido
