This easy day of the dead cake is all about the sprinkles. I made a chocolate cake flavored with pumpkin spice and espresso powder. Filled with a gooey pumpkin spice caramel filling and frosted with goat cheese frosting (you can certainly use cream cheese if you'd rather), this cake tastes fabulous, but it's the sprinkles and marshmallow sugar skull topper that make it stand out.Make the cake as written, or use your favorite recipes or boxed mix and canned frosting. But don't forget the sprinkle trick. It'll make you look like a pro!
1pound4 cups powdered sugar (I used Dixie Crystals)
2 ½Tablespoonshalf and half
For the Filling
½cupprepared frosting
⅓cuppumpkin spice caramel dipI used Litehouse Foods
To Decorate
All the sprinkles and a topper that fits the theme
Instructions
For the Cake
Preheat oven to 350F with a rack in the center.
Prepare 3 6" pans by spraying with pan spray, lining with a parchment circle, and then spraying again. Set aside.
Combine the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, pumpkin pie spice, espresso powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in the bowl of your stand mixer or in a large bowl.
Whisk to thoroughly combine and aerate the dry ingredients.
Whisk together the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla.
Pour into the dry ingredients and mix on medium speed for two minutes, scraping the bowl as necessary.
Mix in the boiling water until completely combined. The batter will be thin.
Divide batter evenly among the three pans and bake until done, about 30 minutes. Internal temperature should be 195-200F, and the cake will just start pulling away from the sides of the pan.
Remove to a rack to cool for 10 minutes, and then turn out to cool completely.
For maximum moist cake awesomeness, wrap each layer in plastic wrap while still hot and put in the fridge to cool. This keeps all the liquid in the cake rather than it evaporating while the layers cool.
Fill and frost, then chill at least an hour before decorating.
For the Frosting
Beat goat cheese or cream cheese, butter, and salt until smooth and creamy.
Add the sugar and mix on low speed until mostly combined and then on medium speed. Scrape the bowl as necessary.
Thin to spreading consistency with half and half. You may need to use a bit more or less than called for, depending on conditions in your kitchen. Start with 1 Tablespoon and then go from there.
Mix on high speed until fluffy.
For the Filling
Whisk the frosting and caramel dip together until smooth and completely combined.
To Decorate
Put all your sprinkles in a bowl. Use a rimmed sheet pan to catch the sprinkles that fall off the cake.
Hold the cake from the bottom in your non-dominant hand. This will be easier with the cake chilled. You can also place the cake on a 6" cake circle, slicking it down with a bit of frosting, for more stability.
Grab a handful of sprinkles, tilt the cake, and press the sprinkles up the sides of the cake, allowing excess to fall into the baking sheet.
Continue all the way around the cake, filling in areas as necessary, and tilting the cake to get the best coverage.
Press sprinkles evenly on top of the cake.
Chill the cake again for at least 30 minutes.
Top with a marshmallow sugar skull topper or the topper of your choice.
Video
Notes
WHAT IF I DON’T HAVE 3 CAKE PANS?
Worry not. I only have 2 as well.Here’s what you do:
Pour 1/3 of the batter into each of your two pans, leaving the last third of the batter in the bowl.
Refrigerate the leftover batter.
Bake the two cakes, let cool for 10 minutes, and then turn them out to finish cooling.
You can reuse the parchment paper that you used in the first round of baking, so peel it off one of your layers and put it back in the bottom of one of the cake pans. No need to wash it as long as the cake came out mostly cleanly.
Pour the remaining third of the batter into this pan and bake.
The batter keeps fine for a few hours and your third layer will rise just as well as your other layers.
LAYERING AND DECORATING THE CAKE, STEP BY STEP
Pipe a ring of frosting on the first layer.
Fill in the ring with your filling. (NOTE: If you’re not using a separate filling, you can just spread the frosting on without worrying about piping the ring.
Add a second cake round and pipe a ring of frosting on it.
Add more filling.
Top with the 3rd and final layer and press down gently.
Apply a very thin crumb coat of frosting to the outside of your cake and then chill for 30 minutes.
Add another thin coat of frosting. (Remember, you’re using a ton of sprinkles, so you don’t need a thick layer of frosting)
Press sprinkles all over the top and sides of your cake, covering the frosting as completely as you can. Use your hand to gently press the sprinkles into the frosting so there are no loose ones. This will minimize any mess when cutting and serving the cake. Refrigerate until ready to serve.