For the Cake
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cup strong hot coffee Use a Moka pot so it's basically espresso
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
For the Frosting:
- 1 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 pound confectioners sugar sifted
- ⅓ cup fudge nice quality
- 1/3 cup white chocolate melted
For the Spider:
- 1 Brown peanut M&M
- 1 Brown M&M
- 2 tbsp semi sweet chocolate melted
DIRECTIONS
For the Cake:
- Preheat to 350 degrees.
- Add parchment paper to a sheet cake pan, butter and flour the paper and sides.
- Sift together the dry ingredients (including the sugar) into the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk to combine.
- Add the wet ingredients into a large bowl and whisk together.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredient bowl.
- Whisk to combine then mix on level 2 for two minutes.
- Pour batter into cake pan. Bake for about 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Allow time to cool. Invert onto wire racks to cool fully.
For the Frosting:
- Beat butter in a stand mixer. Add cocoa powder on a lower level.
- Combine confectioners sugar, then salt.
- Add fudge in slowly.
- Mix until incorporated.
For the Assembly:
- Add buttercream to the top of the cake with an ice cream scooper. Spread over with an offset spatula.
- Drizzle a white chocolate spiral.
- Drag a point tool or toothpick through both layers, starting from the middle of the spiral. This will create a web look.
For the Spider:
- Melt semi sweet chocolate. Transfer to a piping bag.
- Pipe ‘L’ shaped legs onto parchment paper with the black gel bag. Transfer to the freezer for 5 - 10 minutes to set.
- Add a brown peanut m&m for the body and a brown m&m for the head of the spider.
- Stick legs around the m&m body.
Notes
- Measure your flour correctly! Adding too much flour to the recipe is the most common mistake. The best, and easiest way to measure flour is by using a scale. If you don't have one then fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle it into your measuring cup, and use a knife to level it off.
- The batter is very liquidy so don’t panic! The cake will end up AMAZINGLY MOIST.
- You can use room temperature or even cold coffee in the batter if you’d prefer.
- Not a coffee fan? Sub in water or milk instead.