This spiced pumpkin Halloween birthday cake from Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain is such a treat.
You might find it a bit strange adding pumpkin or butternut squash to a cake, but it's no different from adding carrots to a carrot cake. Pumpkin has a natural sweetness to it and it adds moisture to the sponge , making it light, fluffy and so moreish. This Halloween birthday cake is topped with chocolate-covered Oreos as spiders and has a drip effect topping too.
Ingredients
For the sponge:
- 450g pumpkin or butternut squash, grated
- 80ml whole milk, room temperature
- 4 medium eggs, lightly beaten
- 1tsp vanilla essence
- 350ml olive oil
- 420g caster sugar
- 500g plain flour, sifted
- 2tsp baking powder
- 1tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1tsp fine sea salt
- 1tsp ground cinnamon
- 1tsp ground ginger
- 80g golden linseed
For the buttercream frosting:
- 300g unsalted butter, softened
- 600g icing sugar sifted
- 1tsp ground cinnamon
For the ganache:
- 100g dark chocolate (70%), finely chopped
- 2tbsp golden syrup
- 25g unsalted butter, cubed
- 50g mini green and blue Smarties
For the Oreo Spiders:
- 4 Oreos, any flavour
- 100g milk chocolate, melted
- 8 liquourice laces, each cut into 4
- 8 candy eyes
WEIGHT CONVERTER
Method
- Pre-heat the oven to 190, fan 170 or gas mark 3. Line and grease the inside of 2 deep 20cm cake tins. In a large mixing bowl add the grated squash, milk, eggs, vanilla essence, olive oil and sugar and give it all a good mix until well combined.
- Sift over the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and spices and mix through until well combined. Add the golden linseeds and give it all another mix through.
- Divide the mixture equally between the two prepared tins and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 45-50 mins. The cakes are baked when they slightly come away from the sides but double-check by inserting a skewer - if it comes out clean, it's ready.
- Once baked, remove from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool - leave them until they are completely cold.
- For the buttercream frosting, using an electric whisk combine the butter with the icing sugar and cinnamon until light and fluffy. Once ready, sandwich the two cakes with a generous amount of buttercream and cover the top and sides using the remainder.
- Next, make the chocolate ganache. Melt the chocolate, syrup, butter and 60ml water in a bowl over a pan of simmering water until the mixture comes together when stirred. Set aside to cool for 30 minutes before topping the cake.
- For the Oreo spiders, using a knife, separate the Oreo in two, so one half has all the filling and the other has none. Dab a little of the melted chocolate onto the centre of each half biscuit with filling and stick 8 pieces of liquourice onto it to create legs, top with the other half of the biscuit and leave in the fridge to set for 5mins.
- Line a tray with greaseproof paper and put the Oreos on a wire rack on top of the tray. Spoon melted chocolate over each Oreo and add the candy eyes then leave to set in the fridge for 15 minutes.
- Pour the chocolate ganache over the cake and gently spread over the top to create a drip effect, top with mini Smarties and Oreo spiders to serve.
Top tips for making this Halloween birthday cake
If you're not a fan of Oreos, you could try other sandwich biscuits instead.
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