I know that when Halloween arrives, we don’t always want to make complex recipes that take hours. This Halloween loaf cake is perfect for that because the chocolate cake is simple and the marshmallow web trick is even easier.
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Halloween Loaf Cake
The base for this Halloween Loaf Cake is my chocolate bundt cake recipe. This recipe uses half the amount of ingredients because I used a 22x11cm/8x4in pan instead of a bundt pan. The result is a very moist chocolate cake that’s also very simple to prepare. The addition of the spider webs is ideal because it has a very nice contrast with the dark colour of the cake.
Marshmallow spider webs
To make the webs that go on this Halloween loaf cake you just have to melt marshmallows in the microwave. Don’t leave them in there too long so you don’t burn yourself. Then comes the fun part: you take a bit of the marshmallow, stick the fingers of your hands together with it and then spread them apart. You will see the web effect immediately. Since it’s sticky, it will adhere to the cake. You can use this effect also on chocolate cookies, alfajores, brownies, cakes and more. What I like the most about this Halloween Loaf Cake is that you achieve a great result with not a lot of effort with the help of marshmallows. Wherever you arrive with a cake like this, you’ll surprise everyone.
The final touch
To make the garnish on this Halloween Loaf Cake, I added royal icing eyes that I made myself, you can also buy them. You have the use the marshmallow web to stick them in place. I like to make them myself because you can make them in different sizes and with different expressions which adds personality to them. You can also group them in threes or just have a lonely one. Monsters can have all kinds of eyes! You can also just ignore them if they seem over-complicated for you.
Halloween Loaf Cake
Print Pin RateIngredients
For the chocolate bundt cake
- 90 g unsalted butter at room temperature + more for buttering the pan
- 25 g vegetable oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 190 g granulated sugar
- 35 g cocoa powder ideally 100% cacao
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla essence
- 120 ml milk any kind
- 175 g all-purpose flour + more for flouring the moulds
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 100 g dark chocolate chips or dark chocolate, chopped if not using any, add 20g cacao powder to the batter
For the spider web
- 50 g marshmallows
Instructions
For the chocolate bundt cake
- Beat the butter, sugar, salt, oil and cocoa powder until it becomes lighter in colour and looks very creamy. Ideally, you want to use an electric mixer for this but it could also be with a whisk. If you're using a stand mixer, make sure to stop every once in a while to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula.
- Add the eggs and beat once again until fully incorporated and creamy once again. I remind you that if you're using a stand mixer you need to pause to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula to incorporate everything nicely.
- Add the milk and vanilla and beat to mix. You will notice that the mix curdles, but that's completely normal and comes back with the flour.
- Add the flour and baking powder and beat to mix them in. Don't mix more than necessary though or your cake could turn out to be tough.
- Add the chocolate chips using a spatula.
- Butter up your pan with room-temperature butter. Make sure that you're spreading a thin layer that goes into all the corners of the pan.
- Sprinkle flour in the pan and tap it as you rotate it to spread it evenly. Finish by turning it upside-down with a good tap so that it releases the excess flour.
- Pour the batter into the pan and bake it in a preheated oven at 180°C / 350°F for 1 hour-1 hour 15min.
- It will be ready when you can insert a skewer or pointy knife and it comes out without any raw dough. Remember that you could see a bit of melted chocolate from the chocolate chips and that's completely normal.
- I like to remove my cake from the pan as soon as it comes out of the oven :). Let it cool down completely before making the spider webs.
For the spider webs
- Place the loaf over a couple of bowls or dishes to separate it from the surface. This will allow you to cover it evenly with the spider webs.
- Melt the marshmallows in the microwave for 30-40 seconds.
- Grab a bit with the tips of your fingers and hold the fingers of both hands together. When you separate them, the marshmallow will form a web. Use it to cover the cake, it will stick to it.
- Finish by adding sugar eyes, which need to adhere to the marshmallow.
