How to Make a Brain Cake for Halloween
There are some popular Halloween party games you may be aware of which involve food. They require players to place their hands in a covered container, meaning they can't see what's inside. What is inside are various foods which can feel like unpleasant or scary body parts which make children laugh out of fright. Peeled grapes become loose eyeballs, dried apricots are severed ears and spaghetti takes the place of rotting worms. While they may feel like these scary items, when you look at them, you see them for what they are.
Not so with this brain cake from oneHOWTO. It looks just like the real thing, being as realistic as it is delicious. We show you show how to make a brain cake for Halloween as the perfect centerpiece for your party table. Just make sure no one squishes it thinking it is a game!
Ingredients:
- For the cake:
- For the frosting:
You'll need:
- A round or oval baking pan will come in handy so that the sponge cake, the base of the cake, has the shape of a brain.
Steps to follow:
There are many ways to make a brain cake recipe for Halloween, but the first step in any of them requires making a sponge cake. To prepare a very simple one, the natural yogurt, the two eggs, the oil and the sugar in a bowl and beat until homogenous. You can even add some drops of food coloring to give the sponge a more brain-like appearance inside.
In another mixing bowl, sift the flour and mix it with the dried yeast. Add the flour in increments into the bowl where you have the wet mixture, stirring as you do so. Do it in batches if you cannot mix and add at the same time. Keep going until you have a homogenous paste.
Preheat the oven to about 185 ºC/360 ºF. While it reaches the right temperature, take a round baking pan and rub it with oil. If you have a ‘brain’ shaped pan, all the better. If not, you can mold it afterwards.
Place the bowl to the oven and let the cake cook for about 30-40 minutes.
Since it's pumpkin season, you can also choose to make this Halloween brain cake recipe with a pumpkin sponge cake as a base. Read our related article to learn how to make a pumpkin cake.
While the cake is baking, prepare the frosting. Mix the butter and cream cheese when they are at room temperature. When you have integrated the two ingredients, add the powdered sugar little by little. Mix very well until it is even.
Once the cake is done. Remove it from the mold and let it cool on a rack. You will have to trim the sides to make it more of a brain shape, but this can be done easily with a sharp knife. Just ensure you don't take too much off too soon. Take small slivers off one by one until you have the shape you need. Cover evenly with the frosting.
Leave in the fridge for 30 mins until it is set.
While your brain cake chills, you will need to make the ridges of the brain out of the white fondant. This looks like it may be complicated, but you just have to mold little sausages and then bend them to look like the ridges of a brain. Use a picture of a brain as reference. Each one should be about 10-15 cm (4-6").
Now you have everything ready to assemble your brain cake for Halloween. Take the frosted cake out of the fridge. With a knife, mark a pronounced longitudinal central line without breaking it completely (this way you will shape the two cerebral hemispheres). Take the cylindrical strips of fondant and place them in a twisted ‘S’ shape on the top of the frosting. The frosting will work to adhere it.
Finally, decorate the cake with strawberry syrup and/or jam to simulate blood and you have a perfect brain cake for a Halloween dessert.
Now you know how to make this easy, realistic and delicious recipe for a brain cake for Halloween, we encourage you to find other ways to have the perfect Halloween party with these articles on how make ghost Halloween cookies and DIY Halloween party decoration ideas.
If you want to read similar articles to How to Make a Brain Cake for Halloween, we recommend you visit our Festivities & Celebrations category.
Tips
- You can make your Halloween brain cake, based on any type of cake you fancy. We have made it easy for you with a basic sponge pound cake, but you can also make it with a chocolate sponge cake, simply adding a few tablespoons of cocoa powder, flavored with orange or lemon, to the mixture, incorporating a little zest of these citrus fruits or even prepare the sponge of a red velvet cake, ideal for Halloween.
- If you like white chocolate, a good idea is to put some white chocolate chips in the frosting, adding them to the mixture of butter, cream cheese and sugar.
- If you don't have a round or oval baking pan, don't worry, you can make the cake in the one you have and then cut it with a knife to give it the shape of a brain.