Cemetery Cake

$10 - $15 (based on 2016 prices)
Makes one cake

This creation was inspired by a Halloween staple: dirt cake (get the traditional recipe here). For this version, I kept the edible dirt concept and used it as filler between the cake's layers. Although I made the treat from scratch, the time-pressed haunter can achieve the same results with a store-bought mix and frosting.

Cake

• 2 1/3 Cups flour
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• ¾ Teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ Cups sugar
• ½ Cup butter
• 3 Egg whites
• 1 Cup milk
• 1 Teaspoon vanilla
• 1 10.7 oz. bag of Oreo cookies

Frosting

• 2 ½ Sticks softened butter
• 5 Cups powdered sugar
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla
• 2 Tablespoons milk
  

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and, in a large bowl, sift together baking powder, flour, salt, and sugar.

2. Add butter, egg whites, milk, and vanilla to the dry ingredients and beat with a hand mixer on low for roughly three minutes or until everything is well blended.

3. Pour the batter into greased baking pans and bake for thirty minutes or until the cake reaches a golden brown and a toothpick inserted in their centers comes out clean.

4. As the cake cools, make the frosting. In a large bowl, beat the butter with a hand mixer until it becomes creamy. Then, gradually add milk, vanilla, and sugar and beat until the mixture becomes fluffy.

5. In a food processor, mince the Oreo cookies. You can chop them into fine crumbs or leave larger chucks to give the dirt a more realistic look. To prevent the cake from being too sweet, remove the cream.

6. Assemble the cake, frosting the first layer and adding a coat of crushed Oreos. Garnish the final version with the remaining Oreos. To emphasize the cemetery theme, top the cake with rubber worms and a skeleton's hand.