Here is my Halloween themed tray bake. A light and fluffy vanilla sponge tray bake which has been topped with a vanilla buttercream frosting. Coloured bright green and topped with Halloween themed sprinkles, this is a simple and delicious bake with a Halloween twist.
This cake is made up of a simple vanilla sponge recipe. I would always recommend using the best vanilla paste that you can afford. Trust me, it really makes a difference, and if you can, go for paste over essence. The taste is a lot fresher, not as ‘artificial’ and the final product tastes a lot better. For this, I decided to make a slightly thinner tray bake and baked it in a square tin loaf, however you can always make it slightly thicker if you prefer.
To make the cakes I used the all-in-one method here to make things even quicker and easier. Add all of the cake ingredients to a bowl, besides the vanilla extract, and mix with an electric mixer until you have a nice smooth batter. Lastly, add the vanilla extract and give a separate mix. I always recommend that you use a thicker vanilla paste rather than a liquid vanilla extract. I feel like this creates a better, more authentic taste and the runny consistency of the liquid extract can sometimes change the consistency of the batter.
Monster Mash
Place the cake batter into your pre prepared lined square cake tin. Make sure that all of the batter is in the tin and smooth as much as you can with either the back of a spoon or a plastic/silicone spatula. I always give the tin a light bang on a hard surface to help distribute the batter before placing in the oven. Once the cake is cooked and a lovely golden brown allow it to cool in the tin for roughly 5 minutes, then remove from the tin and allow them to cool completely before decorating. This is especially important as you are topping it with a buttercream frosting.
Next make the jam swirl buttercream frosting. This uses my classic buttercream recipe. To make this, start to make a basic buttercream frosting. Mix the unsalted butter in an electric mixer until creamy. Next, add the icing sugar in two batches. I always recommend stirring the icing sugar with a spoon before using an electric mixer. This helps to prevent an icing sugar cloud explosion! After everything is fully mixed together, start to add the food colouring. Again, I always recommend using a thicker food colouring as this creates both a more vivid and colour and helps to maintain the desired thickness of the icing. If you use a runny food colouring it can often add too much liquid to the mixture which creates a thinner icing which can be harder to pipe/use once finished. I used ‘leafy green’ to create this nice bright green colour.
Once the cake is cooled and the icing is ready place on top of the cake. Covering the entire top and sides of the cake. To finish add your Halloween inspired sprinkles, adding a mix match to help create more interesting decorations.
Slice this into pieces to serve, this can either make 6 large pieces or 12 smaller slices. Any leftovers can be stored in an airtight container for roughly 3-4 days.
Ingredients
- CAKE:
- 4 oz / 115 g Self Raising Flour
- 4 oz / 115 g Margarine
- 3 oz / 85 g Caster Sugar
- 2 Medium Eggs
- 1 Tablespoons Milk
- 1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Paste
- ICING:
- 4 oz / 115 g Unsalted Butter
- 8 oz / 225 g Icing Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Milk
- Green Food Colouring - a thicker paste is best to use here. I use 'leaf green'
- Halloween Themed Sprinkled, for decoration
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 160*c Fan Oven/180*c/350*f/Gas Mark 4.
- Grease and line a square baking tin with baking paper.
- Place the self raising flour, margarine, eggs, milk and sugar into an electric mixer, and beat together until light and fluffy.
- Add the vanilla paste and mix until fully incorporated.
- Spoon in the mixture into your prepared tin, making sure that the mixture is evenly distributed.
- Cook for 25 - 30 minutes checking regularly, or until light and fluffy. You can tell it's ready when it springs back when lightly pressed. You could also insert a skewer into the middle of the cake and if it comes out clean, then the cake is ready.
- Once ready, remove from the oven.
- Allow it to sit in the pan for roughly 10 minutes before turning out onto a wired baking tray and allowing it to cool completely.
- Whilst the cake is cooling, make the buttercream frosting icing.
- Add the butter to a mixing bowl and using an electric mixer, blend until creamy.
- Add half of the sieved icing sugar to the bowl and using a spoon, gently stir together until just combined (this helps to prevent an icing sugar explosion!), before mixing with the electric mixer.
- Add the remaining icing sugar and follow the steps above, do not be afraid to overmix, you want this to be nice and smooth.
- Add the food colouring a little at a time until you reach your desired colour.
- Spread the icing on top of the cake, coating it in a nice thick layer. Using a butter knife, the back of a spoon or a palette knife. Ensure that the top and sides of the cake are well covered. You may have some additional icing sugar here, which can be discarded.
- Add the Halloween themed sprinkles all over the cake.
- Using a sharp knife, cut the cake into squares, this can be smaller, more dainty bites, or larger and heartier slabs, it's completely up to you!
Notes
Any leftover cake can be stored in an airtight container for roughly 3-4 days.
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