This Midnight Chocolate Blackout Cake with Dark Chocolate Spider Webs is the perfect spooky cake to make for Halloween! It’s super moist, filled with rich dark chocolate flavor, and it’s covered in a thick dark chocolate ganache frosting. The dark chocolate spider webs and spun sugar cobweb topping add a fun, festive touch!
(This post is sponsored by Chocolove! Thank you so so much for reading and supporting the brands that I love!)
Halloween is always so much fun. It’s always been one of my favorite holidays, even as an adult. My birthday is the day after Halloween, November 1st, and I just love this time of year in general, so it’s always been a special holiday for me. I love making cakes for special occasions, (and there will be another one on the blog later this week for my birthday!), so naturally, I knew I had to make a spooky cake to celebrate the holiday.
If you love chocolate, this one is definitely for you. The cake is filled with rich dark chocolate flavor, thanks to my favorite Chocolove dark chocolate, dark cocoa powder, and the most decadent whipped dark chocolate ganache frosting. Oh my gosh you guys, it’s SO good.
And I made little dark chocolate spider webs too – which are actually the easiest thing ever! I promise.
All you have to do is melt a little chocolate, put it into a piping bag or ziplock bag, and pipe spider webs onto a piece of parchment, and stick them in the fridge or freezer to set! I didn’t use a stencil or anything. Super super easy. And so cute!
Now the spun sugar cobwebs on the other hand, require a little more TLC. It’s not hard to make, just a little more labor intensive/requires more attention since you’re working with hot sugar. All you have to do, is heat sugar, water, and a little corn syrup over the stove until it’s a golden color, let it cool for a bit, then drizzle it around an upside-down bowl to create a web! I made several of them and stacked them, but this is totally up to you. There’s no right or wrong way to do it, just have fun with it!
It’s totally optional though, so you don’t have to make it if you don’t have time!
In order to make this cake super moist, I used mostly brown sugar, four eggs, a mixture of vegetable oil and butter (I always use oil in my cakes – it’s so much better!), melted dark chocolate, buttermilk, and sour cream. It’s sinfully delicious and not dry at all.
Especially when you add that ganache on top. It’s so creamy, thick, and luxurious. I love it so much!
I will say that this cake is best consumed the day of, but if you want to make the layers ahead of time and wrap them tightly, they should be ok! The ganache is definitely best made day of, because it can harden up and be finicky.
You could even add candy to this cake to make it even more festive, or add it to use up extra Halloween candy!
As if we need any more sugar on Halloween.
Definitely not mad about it though!
Craving that bite.
Midnight Chocolate Blackout Cake with Dark Chocolate Spider Webs
This Midnight Chocolate Blackout Cake with Dark Chocolate Spider Webs is the perfect spooky cake to make for Halloween! It's super moist, filled with rich dark chocolate flavor, and it';s covered in a thick dark chocolate ganache frosting. The dark chocolate spider webs and spun sugar cobweb topping add a fun, festive touch!
Ingredients
For the cake
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup dark cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons espresso powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, loosely packed
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1 (3.2 ounce) bar Chocolove 70% dark chocolate, melted and cooled
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 cup buttermilk
For the whipped dark chocolate ganache frosting
- 3 (3.2 ounce) bars Chocolove 70% dark chocolate, chopped
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For the dark chocolate spider webs
- 1 (3.2 ounce) bar Chocolove 70% dark chocolate, melted and cooled
For the spun sugar cobwebs
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup light corn syrup
Instructions
cake
Preheat oven to 350℉. Grease and flour two 8'' cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Set aside.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, espresso powder, and salt. Whisk to combine and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine the eggs, brown sugar, and granulated sugar and whisk until smooth. Add the vanilla, vegetable oil, butter, melted and cooled chocolate, sour cream, and buttermilk and whisk until just combined.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix with a rubber spatula until just combined. Pour the batter evenly into the pans and smooth out the tops with a spatula. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let the cakes cool for 10 minutes, then remove them from the pans and let cool the rest of the way on a cooling rack.
whipped dark chocolate ganache frosting
Place your chopped chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. In a medium saucepan, combine the heavy cream, corn syrup, butter, and vanilla and heat over medium heat until butter is melted and mixture just begins to bubble around the edges. Pour cream mixture over the chocolate and let sit for 5 minutes. After the 5 minutes, stir mixture until the chocolate is smooth and silky. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Add cooled mixture to the bowl of your stand mixer and whip with the whisk attachment for 4-5 minutes on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.
dark chocolate spider webs
Melt the chocolate over a double boiler, or melt it in the microwave in 30-second increments, stirring in between, until melted. Be sure not to overheat the chocolate, or it will seize up! Let the chocolate cool for 10 minutes or so, then add melted chocolate to a piping bag with a very fine tip or ziplock bag with a tiny piece of the corner cut off. Place a sheet of parchment on a cutting board and pipe spider webs (you can use a stencil if you want, but it's not necessary!). Place in the freezer or fridge for 15 minutes or so or until set!
spun sugar cobwebs
Place a small bowl or ramekin upside down over a cooking rack, with a piece of parchment underneath (this will ensure you don't get hardened sugar on your countertop!) Place sugar, water, and corn syrup in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat. Simmer, stirring frequently, until mixture thickens and reaches a pale golden color. Let cool for 10 minutes, or until mixture forms threads when you drizzle it with a fork.
To test to see if the syrup is ready, dip a fork into it and drizzle the sugar mixture quickly in a circular pattern across the bottom of your bowl or ramekin, repeating several times to create a cobweb "nest". Gently pick up the cobweb off of the bowl, and set it aside. Repeat until you have your desired amount of cobwebs! If at any point the mixture gets too thick, place it back on the stove over medium heat for a minute or two to loosen up.
To assemble the cake
To assemble the cake, place one layer on a serving plate, and spread the top with the whipped chocolate ganache frosting. Top with another layer and spread top with frosting, leaving a little bit left for the sides of the cake. Use the leftover buttercream to "half" frost the sides, to create a "semi-naked" effect. Use an offset spatula or bench scraper to smooth out the sides of the cake. Press the dark chocolate spider webs onto the sides of the cake, and place the spun sugar cobwebs on top. Cut into slices and serve!
Recipe Notes
*Cake is best made and consumed day of, as the ganache frosting can harden too much if left out. If you want to make the layers ahead, they can be made 1 day ahead and wrapped tightly.
*Spun sugar cobwebs are very sensitive to humidity, so if you make them ahead of time, store them in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.
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