Easy Double Layer Chocolate Cake with Fudge Frosting and Spooky Marshmallow Spider Webs + an Apple Cider French 75 Cocktail

Easy Double Layer Chocolate Cake with Fudge Frosting and Spooky Marshmallow Spider Webs

I made this fun, and incredibly spooky little beauty on The TODAY Show with Jenna & Hoda (airdate Oct. 30, 2024). It’s so fun and fantastic and RIDICULOUSLY chocolate-y! The marshmallow spider webs are so unique and cute. And this Apple Cider French 75 batch cocktail is perfect for the punch bowl at your grown-up Halloween celebration! Have a happy Halloween, everybody, and make this cake!

Prep time 20 minutes
Bake time 28-32 minutes
Cooling time 2-4 hours
Yields 2 9-inch cake pans

Ingredients

Chocolate cake:

1 cup melted butter
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
1 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup very hot water (boiling is best)

Fudge Frosting:

1 cup butter 
1 cup sugar 
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 
4 ounces semi-sweet bakers’ chocolate 
Pinch of salt 
1 1/4 cups heavy cream 
1 teaspoon vanilla 

Marshmallow fluff spider webs:

2 cups marshmallows

Decoration ideas:

Googly eyes
Candy corn pumpkins
Candy corn
Halloween sprinkles
Plastic spiders

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and line baking pans with parchment paper.   

2. In a large mixing bowl, gently mix butter, sugar, flour, cocoa powder, Greek yogurt, vanilla, eggs, baking powder, and salt.  

3. Once it comes together, add hot water. Mix until smooth, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.   

4. Pour the batter evenly into pans, then bake roughly 28-32 minutes.  

5. While cakes bake, prepare fudge frosting. Heat butter, sugar, cocoa powder, chocolate, and salt in a medium-sized sauce pan over medium heat.  

6. Heat butter, sugar, cocoa powder, chocolate, and salt in a medium-sized sauce pan over medium heat.  

7. Cook 4-5 minutes until it starts to bubble around the edges but isn’t boiling.  

8. Slowly add the cream. The grainy texture will melt away, and you’ll be left with thick, glossy chocolate sauce. Stir in the vanilla.  

9. Cool completely (2-4 hours) before frosting a cake or you’ll get a thin glaze instead of a frosted look. To cool the frosting quickly, place the warm frosting in a bowl, then place the bowl in a larger bowl of ice. Whisk until chilled.   

10. Cool cakes completely before assembling. To assemble, set one cake onto a plate and top with half the frosting, smoothing it all the way to the cake’s edge.   

11. Top frosted cake with second cake. Spread remaining frosting over the top and add some swirls with a spoon or butter knife. Leave the sides of the cake unfrosted. 

12. To prepare marshmallow webs, place marshmallows in a microwave safe bowl and zap 20-30 seconds. 

13. Pick up about ¼ cup of the mixture with your fingers and gently knead by gently pressing your hands together and then spreading them apart to create long “webs”.  

14. Lay the webs across the frosted cake and continue until desired webby-ness is achieved. Decorate with candy corn, Halloween sprinkles, googly eyes, or plastic spiders. Enjoy! 

Apple Cider French 75

This recipe makes enough for a 1-gallon drink urn or punch bowl.

Ingredients

12 ounces Florescence Grapefruit & Pomelo Vodka
1 64-ounce (1/2 gallon) jug good apple cider
1 750ml bottle of sparkling rosé
8 cinnamon sticks
1 apple, sliced very thin
Ice to taste

Garnish:

Sprigs of thyme or rosemary

1. Add all ingredients to a drink urn or large punch bowl and stir gently. In addition to garnishing the batch itself, place additional sprigs of thyme and rosemary nearby to garnish individual servings.