High Altitude Ginger Chocolate Skull Cake for Halloween
This soft and fluffy ginger cake is spiced with ground ginger, frosted with chocolate buttercream, and decorated with mini chocolate skulls for Halloween.
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
Ingredients
Cake
- 3 ¼ cups cake flour, spooned and leveled, then sifted
- 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 large egg whites, room temperature
- 1 ½ cups whole milk, room temperature
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted, and then cooled for 10 minutes
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Buttercream
- 2 cups unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp meringue powder (optional)
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 2 tbsp milk or cream, only if needed for consistency
Chocolate Skulls
- 12 oz chocolate candy melts
- 1-2 tbsp solid coconut oil, if needed to thin the chocolate
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, position a rack in the center of the oven, and spray the bottoms of three 8-inch cake pans with non-stick baking spray. If making half the recipe, spray three 6-inch cake pans with non-stick baking spray. (The photographed cake in today's post is a three layer 6-inch cake.)
- In a bowl, sift together the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and ground ginger. Use a whisk to combine the dry ingredients well.
- In another large bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg whites, milk, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, melted butter, oil and vanilla extract until smooth.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and whisk until combined, about 10-15 seconds. A few lumps in the batter are okay; take care not to over mix. Divide the batter between the cake pans. Tap a few times against the counter to pop any large air bubbles.
- Bake 8-inch cakes for about 21-25 minutes (bake 6-inch cakes for about 18-20 minutes), or until a cake tester or a toothpick comes out clean, and the tops spring back when lightly touched.
- Set the pans on a wire rack, cover them loosely with a clean kitchen towel, and cool completely before frosting. When ready to frost and assemble the cake, remove the cakes from the pans. If the cakes are domed on top, use a sharp knife to slice off a small portion to level the cakes for stacking.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute until smooth.
- With the mixer running on low, add the powdered sugar by spoonfuls, the cocoa powder, meringue powder and the salt, mixing until thick and combined.
- Add the vanilla; increase speed to medium and whip for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl down several times, until light and fluffy. Add the milk only if needed for desired consistency. Note that in warmer weather, when the butter is softer, you'll rarely need to add the milk.
- Fill and frost the cooled cakes with the buttercream.
Chocolate Skulls
- Working with half the chocolate candy melts at a time, melt the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl over a double boiler, stirring with a spatula until smooth. If the chocolate is too thick and stiff, add the coconut oil, a teaspoon at a time, until it smooths out.
- Set the silicone skull mold on a baking sheet to keep it steady. Spoon the melted chocolate into the molds, filling them just halfway full. Rap the baking sheet firmly against the counter to settle the chocolate into all the grooves of the molds. Then use a toothpick or cake tester to swirl the chocolate around in the molds, making sure there are no gaps or air bubbles, especially in the small grooves around the nose and eye sockets. Spoon more melted chocolate into the molds to fill them full.
- Set the mold in the freezer for 15 minutes to harden the chocolate, then pop the skulls out of the molds. Refrigerate the chocolate skulls until needed to decorate your cake.
- The mold I used makes chocolate skulls that are about 1 x 1 1/2 inches in diameter, and each mold holds around 1/2 ounce of chocolate, so I was able to make 2 dozen skulls with 12 ounces of chocolate.
Notes
Leftover cake should be stored in an airtight container or cake carrier, at room temperature, for up to 3 days.
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