We reached out to a couple of our Killer Cakes contestants to get some of their favorite recipes. Here’s some Bloody Witch Fingers from contestant Shanelle Long and a Killer Chocolate Cake recipe from contestant Eszter Summerlin.
Pistachio & Cardamon Witch Finger Shortbread Cookies with Bloody Raspberry Dipping Sauce
From Shanelle Long – @sugarshockcakeco
Ingredients
- 2 sticks Salted Butter (room temperature)
- ½ cup Granulated Sugar
- 2 cups All-purpose Flour
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp ground Cardamon
- 1 cup finely chopped Pistachios (shelled)
- 1/2 cup sliced/Halved almonds (for garnish)
- For the sauce:
- 6 oz Raspberry preserves (seedless)
- 1 tblsp honey
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp lemon juice
Steps
- Using a stand or hand mixer on Lowest speed, mix room temp butter till creamy, about 1 min. Add sugar and mix until just smooth. (We don’t want to incorporate air or make this fluffy) this will ensure your shortbread melts in your mouth!
- Add vanilla
- Slowly add your flour and cardamom, just until mixed and crumbly.
- Now switch to using your hands to bring it into a smooth cookie dough.
- Now add 2/3 of your chopped pistachios into the shortbread dough. Reserve the other third of them to sprinkle on top later. (This will give your witch fingers some fun texture and they even look like green Warts! ) Use your hands to knead the chopped pistachios into the dough so they are well incorporated. But make sure not to overwork the dough or they will be tough.
- Now take your dough and roll it into a log about 1-1/2 inches think. Now cut into that log making 2” cuts. Roll each 2” log into about a 3” finger shape, and place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. If the dough gets sticky, add a little flour to your hands.
- Keep making finger shapes until you use up all of the dough. Add some little crease indentions for the knuckles with a butter knife for extra detail! Now add a silver almond half to the top of each finger for a spooky fingernail! Now place the cookie sheet in the fridge and chill for 1 hour to firm the cookies back up.
- After an hour, preheat your oven to 320°F
- Remove the shortbread dough from the fridge and Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are just starting to turn golden brown. Let cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely. Now add the ingredients for your bloody raspberry sauce and mix well. This makes a perfect dipping sauce for the cookies and is great fun to add a scary treat to your Halloween party table. Enjoy! Variations: for those with nut allergies, you can easily omit the nuts and roll in powdered sugar for mummy fingers!
KILLER CHOCOLATE CAKE
From Eszter Summerlin @ Eszti’sCustomCakes’s
Black chocolate cake (3 6” layers):
- 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1 3/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup black cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 L eggs (room temperature)
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup freshly brewed strong coffee
- 3 oz dark chocolate ]
Steps
- First brew coffee and pour over the chocolate, let it melt and mix.
- Mix all the dry ingredients in your mixer bowl. Mix the eggs, buttermilk, oil and vanilla in a separate bowl and pour it over the dry mixture and mix it on low for a minute and then pour the coffee mixture in the bowl too and mix it until smooth. Don’t over mix. A minute will be enough.
- Pour the mixture into your baking dish and bake it 30 minutes on 350F.
Pistachio Italian meringue buttercream
Ingredients
- 1 lb butter (450g)
- 150g egg whites
- 340g sugar and 80g water
- 200 g pistachio paste
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp pistachio extract
Steps
- First you prepare the syrup. Stir the sugar and water together in a pot and heat until reaching 118C. Meanwhile start beating the egg whites in your mixer on high when your syrup is at 112C. By the time your syrup reaches 118C it’s time to pour your syrup into the beat egg whites. Very slowly, just trickle! Now let it whisk on high for about 10 minutes, until it cools off.
- Turn the mixture low and add your room temperature butter one tablespoon at a time until you added all the butter. Mix it on high for a few minutes, then add the flavoring and the pistachio paste. Mix it a few more minutes longer and it’s done.
Raspberry-cayenne filling
Ingredients
- 4 cups of fresh or frozen raspberries
- 3/4 cup sugar
- I tbs fresh lemon juice
- 2 tsp freshly grated lemon zest
- 1/4 cup + 3 tbs water, divided (1/4 cup added to raspberries, 3 tbs for cornstarch slurry)
- 3 tbs cornstarch
- a generous pinch of cayenne powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Steps
- Place 4 cups frozen or fresh raspberries, 3/4 cup granulated sugar, 1 Tbsp lemon juice and 2 tsp lemon zest, and 1/4 cup of water in a saucepan and heat over medium high heat.
- Stir the mixture until it begins to boil.
- Lower the heat to medium-low, and allow the filling to simmer for 10-15 minutes.
- Turn off heat and remove the pot from the stove. Pour the filling into a metal strainer suspended over a medium sized bowl, and push through using a rubber spatula. Use a decent amount of pressure to really get all the liquid through the sieve. You should be left with about 1/2 cup of seedy pulp.
- In a separate small bowl, make a slurry by combining the remaining 3 Tbsp of water with 3 Tbsp cornstarch. Stir until the cornstarch has fully dissolved into the water.
- Add this cornstarch mixture into the strained raspberry filling, and stir until it is incorporated.
- Rinse out your pot and pour the filling back into it (you don’t want any residual seeds getting into the filling).
- Heat at a low heat, and be sure to stir constantly during this stage to prevent the filling from burning.
- Add cayenne pepper and vanilla extract
- Continue to stir, and cook for a few additional minutes, until the cornstarch’s chalkiness is gone.
- Turn off heat and pour the raspberry filling into a separate bowl to cool. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 1 hour, or preferably overnight.
Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients
- 800g dark chocolate (good quality!)
- 400g heavy cream
Steps
- Heat the cream but don’t let it boil. Pour it over the chopped chocolate, stir and mix with an immersion blender until smooth. Cover it with plastic wrap right on the mixture to prevent skin forming. Let it solidify at room temperature overnight, but at least a few hours. Stir to mix and it is ready to use.
Assemble Your Cake
- Once the cake layers cooled completely (best to freeze them for a couple of hours wrapped in plastic wrap), spread the pistachio bc on the first layer and pipe a dam around the edges. Fill the inside with the raspberry filling. Repeat it until the cake is filled and assembled.
- You can cover the cake with the pistachio buttercream or you can make chocolate ganache and cover the cake with that.
- You can add green food coloring (oil based) to the pistachio buttercream
- If you’d like the raspberry filling to be runnier, then use only half of the cornstarch. That way it should flow when you cut the cake. The green color and the runny red filling should make it a little gory. 😁
- Keep it in the fridge, but you definitely want to make sure that the cake is not cold. Let it sit at room temperature for 3-4 hours even. Leftover needs to go back to the fridge though.
- Eat it within 5 days.
Enjoy!
