Halloween is just around the corner and I have had some fun coming up with ideas and recipes for Halloween themed bakes! I was inspired by this cookie monster fudge by eat at our table and I decided to do a traybake version.
Traybakes are so easy to decorate, cut and serve which makes them perfect for parties. This isn’t a particularly Halloween themed bake, so it would be perfect for a Halloween party or just for a kids birthday party.
The key to getting a really light and fluffy sponge is to use Stork instead of butter. You will never get the same results with butter as you will with Stork as butter makes the cake much heavier. Caster sugar also helps create a light and fluffy cake as the finer sugar crystals are more easily absorbed into the Stork/Butter. It really does make a difference.
When it comes to the buttercream, you really need to use a gel based food colouring. The food colouring you can buy from the supermarket is just not strong enough and won’t work. I like to use the Sugarflair gel food colourings which you can get online.
I used chunks of oreos and chocolate chip cookies to decorate but you could use a variety of your favourite biscuits.
Enjoy!
Adrianna x
Cookie Monster Traybake
Ingredients
For the sponge
- 5 Free-Range eggs Medium
- 230 g Butter/Stork
- 230 g Self-raising flour
- 230 g Caster sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract or Vanilla bean paste
For the Buttercream and decoration
- 150 g Butter
- 300 g Icing sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- Blue gel food colouring I use Sugarflair
- Edible googly eyes
- 6-8 Oreos Chopped
- 6-8 Chocolate chip cookies Chopped
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 180C/160C Fan and grease and line a 10 x 8" traybake tin or 8"/20cm square cake tin. Set aside.
- Using a mixer, cream together the butter/Stork and light brown sugar until light and fluffy – around 3 minutes. Add the eggs, vanilla and flour until just combined- around 30 seconds.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the centre of the oven for around 30-45 minutes. The cake will be ready when a skewer or knife inserted into the centre is clean. Leave to cool completely.
- To make the buttercream, mix the butter for a minute, then gradually add the icing sugar. Add the vanilla. Beat together for around 3 minutes, then add the blue food colouring. Mix well until there are no streaks of blue and the colour is evenly mixed through – this may take a few minutes.
- Spread the buttercream onto the cake using a palette knife, spoon or spatula. Add the googly eyes and the chopped oreo's and chocolate chip cookies. Cut into 12-16 squares. Enjoy!
Notes
If using an 8″/20cm square cake tin, the cake may take a little longer to bake.
Use gel food colouring for the buttercream. Ordinary food colouring won’t work as it is too weak. I like to use Sugarflair gel colouring.
Cake will last 4-5 days stored in an airtight container.
