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Halloween Cake

Kids will love picking off the sweets and biscuits from this fun Halloween graveyard cake, complete with biscuit tombstones.

By bbcfood · From Open Recipes · 21 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 35,031 recipes mention both. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 10
Prep1 hr
Cook1 hr

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F, gas 4). Grease and line two 20cm (8in) round cake tins.

  2. For the chocolate sponge, beat 250g (9oz) butter and 250g (9oz) caster sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla and the 4 eggs one at a time.

  3. Fold in the 200g (7oz) self-raising flour and 50g (2oz) cocoa powder until smooth. Divide between one prepared tin and bake for 25 to 30 minutes until set and a skewer comes out clean.

  4. For the spiced layer, melt 100g (3½oz) butter, 175g (6oz) light soft brown sugar and the golden syrup in a pan. Cool slightly, then beat in the 1 egg.

  5. Stir in the 350g plain flour, ½ tsp ground ginger and 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda, adding a splash of water if stiff. Spoon into the second tin and bake for 25 to 30 minutes until set and a skewer comes out clean.

  6. Cool both cakes on a rack. Beat 125g (4½oz) butter, 250g (9oz) icing sugar, 2 tbsp cocoa powder and 1 tbsp milk until smooth to make a chocolate buttercream.

  7. Sandwich the cakes together with about half the buttercream, then spread the rest over the top and sides.

  8. Melt the chocolate gently in a bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, stirring until smooth, and drizzle or spread over the cake.

  9. Crush the Oreos or bourbon biscuits roughly and press around the sides. Pipe or spread the white icing on top and decorate with Halloween sweets.

By bbcfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Sugar + vanillatop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together35,031 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Vanilla + cocoa powdertop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together2,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Sugar + syruptop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together5,841 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Vanilla + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together1,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Butter + flourtop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together122,858 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Sugar and vanilla share little aroma chemistry, yet 35,031 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, flour, cocoa powder, syrup):

  1. Cinnamonbetter flavor fit
  2. Nutmegbetter flavor fit
  3. Gingerthe original
  4. Cloveabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, flour, cocoa powder, syrup. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).