Halloween 2016: Dulche de Leche – Dark Chocolate Mini Layer Cake

Happy Halloween you guys… even tho we do not celebrate halloween really in India, its still fun. Last year i did few things for halloween, this year i have been a wee bit busy with our new venture “Axl’s Little Shop” . We do custom wood back drops for food bloggers/ photographers and food stylist. 
Anywhooo… so i made a mini layer cake for halloween. Its a dulche de leche flavoured cake dark chocolate ganache filling and a dark chocolate drip finally garnished with some sprinkles and white chocolate eyes.
You can however add some dulche de leche for the filling too. 
You can use dulche de leche that is store bought/ made from scratch or made using condensed milk can ( i will post a quick tutorial soon) 

Ingredients:

White Chocolate Eyes:

• White Chocolate – 50gm (melted)
• Choco chips – few (enough for the eyes)

Dulche de Leche Cake: (3 layers x 4 inch ) 

• Flour – 120gm 
• Butter – 100gm 
• Eggs – 2 large
• Brown sugar – 100gm 
• Dulche de leche – 100gm 
• Vanilla – 1 teaspoon 
• Baking powder – 1 teaspoon 

Dark Chocolate Ganache:

• Dark Chocolate – 100gm
• Heavy Cream – 100ml 

Dark Chocolate Drip:

• Dark Chocolate – 50gm 
• Butter – 25gm 

Method: 
White Chocolate Eyes:

• Melt the white chocolate, fill in the melted white chocolate in a piping bag. 
• On a parchment paper, pipe the white chocolate into small dots to resemble eyeballs.
• Place a dark chocolate chip in the middle of the white chocolate to resemble eyes. 
• Let it cool in the refrigerator. 

Dulche de leche Cake:

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius. Grease and line the cake pans with parchment. 
• In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add and beat one egg at a time. 
• Add the vanilla and dulche de leche in the bowl and mix well.
• Sift the flour and baking powder in the wet mix. Mix thoroughly all the ingredients.
• Divide the batter into the cake pans and bake for about 25 minutes. Check from about 20 minutes to see if completely baked using a wooden skewer. 
• Once baked, let it cool on a cooling rack.

Dark Chocolate Ganache:

• Chop the dark chocolate into pieces. 
• Heat up the heavy cream. Add the chocolate chunks in a bowl and pour the hot cream into the bowl. 
• Let it sit for couple of minutes. 
• Use a whisk or a spatula to mix it thoroughly. Let it chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour/ or until its in the spreadable consistency. 

Dark Chocolate Drip:

• Chop the dark chocolate into small chunks.
• In a heavy bottomed pan, add the chocolate and butter.
• Cook on low heat, mix well. 
• Take it off the heat and keep aside for assembling.

Assembling the Cake:

• Slice the tops of the cake layers to make sure its all of the same thickness throughout.
• On a cake board, place a spoonful of ganache. 
• Place one layer of the cake on the ganache, spread a thick layer of ganache. You can also pipe some ganache around the layer and fill it with dulche  de leche. 
• Repeat for both layers of cake. I wanted to make it a naked cake to show the beauty of the layers.
• Spread a layer of ganache on the top of the cake layer.
• When the chocolate -butter mix is at room temperature, pour spoonfuls of it on the top just enough to give it a nice drip.
• Add the halloween themed sprinkles and some of the white chocolate eyes that were made.