Halloween 'Eyes in the Fog' Cake
Black cocoa frosting, candy eyes, and a bit of cleverly hidden dry ice make this stunning Halloween 'Eyes in the Fog' Cake!
Equipment
- 1 pair of tongs + oven mitts (to avoid ice burns while handling dry ice)
- 1 small plastic cup (to hold dry ice) (I used a shallow cup similar to these; a shot glass could also work)
Ingredients
Cake Layers
- 3 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 2 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter (or 2 sticks, room temperature)
- 1 cup egg whites (about 7 eggs, or use egg whites from a carton if you don’t want to waste any yolks!)
- 1 ½ cups buttermilk (room temperature)
- 2 teaspoons clear vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2-3 drops Red gel food coloring (optional; save and add at the end)
Black Cocoa Cream Cheese buttercream
- 8 ounces cream cheese (one package, softened)
- 1 cup butter (two sticks, softened)
- 5 ½ -6 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup black cocoa powder (wait to add this until you've reserved a bit of frosting!)
- 3-4 Tablespoons milk
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 t. salt (if using unsalted butter)
- 2-3 drops black gel food coloring (optional)
Cake pop filling (optional!)
- 1 box white cake mix + ½ cup oil + 1 cup water + 4 egg whites
- 3-4 drops blue gel food coloring
- 3-4 drops black gel food coloring (see instructions; don't add until later!)
Decorations
- 10-15 pairs Candy eyes ( I liked the look of two different sizes so I bought this set from Amazon!)
- 1 piece Dry ice + few tablespoons hot water – dry ice can be found at most large grocery stores. (Adult supervision recommended!)
Instructions
Cake layers
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare three 8 inch round pans with baker's floured spray (or grease and line with parchment rounds).
- Mix together all dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt) in a stand mixer with a paddle until fully combined. Mix bits of room-temperature butter slowly into the dry mix, on a low speed. Continue to mix until no large chunks of butter remain, and the mixture becomes crumbly.
- Pour in egg whites and mix on low until just incorporated. Mix in the buttermilk on a low speed. Add in vanilla and oil, and mix at a low speed until fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula, then beat on medium speed for about 30 seconds.
- Divide batter evenly between the prepared cake pans (I find a kitchen scale helpful for this part). This guarantees your layers will bake to be the same height. (Optional: add a few drops of red food color to each layer, and marble it in with a small knife or offset spatula.)
Cake pop center (optional)
- Mix cake mix according to package directions, and bake in the pan of your choice – I used a 9x13 pan, but it really doesn’t matter; you’re going to crumble it into cake pop mix!
- Bake for 34-37 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean). The boxed cake mix may not take quite as long depending on the pan; mine took just under 30 minutes.
- Allow cakes to cool for 10-15 minutes on a wire cooling rack before removing from pans. Cool completely before frosting. Set in the fridge or freezer to accelerate the cooling process if desired.
- Once the layers have fully cooled, they can be leveled (if needed) and any caramelized bits can be trimmed from the sides of the cake using a serrated knife. Be sure the layers are completely cooled or chilled before trimming. If you try to trim the layers while they’re still warm, they will crumble and break. (This is a great time to make your frosting!)
Optional: create an 'eye' hole
- To create the hole for the ‘eye’ in the center of your cake, use a glass or medium-sized biscuit cutter to remove the center from one of the three cake layers, and to mark a circle to carve out a small circle out of the other two (to create a circular hole in the center of the cake for the eye!)
Black Cocoa Cream Cheese buttercream
- Beat together softened cream cheese and butter; slowly add in powdered sugar alternating with milk until frosting reaches a spreadable consistency.
- (Optional: Reserve a few tablespoons to make your blue cake pop mix.) Add the cocoa powder and more milk if necessary, vanilla, black gel color, and salt if needed and beat until well combined.
- (Note – frosting’s color will deep if left to sit for several hours or overnight – this lets you get a deeper color with less gel food coloring!)
Optional: 'eye' cake pop center
- Crumble the blue cake with a fork (or your fingers) and stir in reserved frosting to make a thick cake pop mix. Divide the mix in half; leave one half blue and add a few additional drops of black food gel to the other half to create a black mix. Shape the black cake pop mix into a large sphere.
Assembly
- Place a smear of frosting on your cake circle (to keep the cake from sliding while you decorate it) and center your first cake layer in the center. Spread the top of layer with frosting. See below for
- (Optional: Assembling the 'eye'): Spread a layer of blue cake pop mix in the base of the scooped-out hole. Center the black cake pop circle in the blue cake pop mix, and place the second (center-punched) cake layer on top. Fill the empty space around the black ball with blue cake pop mix, and mound it on top to create a blue layer around the black center. Flip the last cake layer over and center it on top.
- Now you're ready to crumb-coat . If you're unfamiliar with crumb-coating, it's just what it sounds like – spreading a thin layer of frosting over the entire outside of the cake to keep crumbs out of your final layer.
- Once your crumb coat has set (this takes about 5-10 minutes in the fridge), add your final layer of frosting and smooth. I like to use an offset spatula and bench scraper for this part. Once your cake is covered, add pairs of candy eyes!
- Now the *really* fun part – dry ice! I carved out a small hole from the top of the cake, and placed a small plastic cup in the hole, using more frosting to hold it in place. This was where I put a few 1-2-inch chunks of dry ice and poured about ¼ cup of hot water over the top to make them ‘melt’ (I think ‘sublime’ is the technical term?) and turn into gas/steam. And there you go – eyes in the fog!
- And you’re done! Cut in and enjoy!
Video
Notes
(Please note nutrition information is an estimate and may not be exactly accurate.)
Nutrition
Serving: 1sliceCalories: 774kcalCarbohydrates: 99gProtein: 9gFat: 38g
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Black Cocoa Cream Cheese buttercream
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