Dia De Los Muertos Skull Cakes
I was going to buy the fancy $50 Nordic Ware skull cupcake molds to execute this idea, but I stopped myself. You see, I know me. I love to impulse buy things for the sake of my creative indulgence. And then I feel wildly guilty because it ends up being a one-time thing. I opted for
Here are all the details for my Dia De Los Muertos Skull Cakes
INGREDIENTS
For the Skull Cakes:
2 9”x13” glass baking pans
2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup vegetable oil
1 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 cup applesauce
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup shredded zucchini
For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
2 cups powdered sugar
1 block of room temperature cream cheese (8oz block full fat)
1 stick of room temperature butter (1/2 cup)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For decorations:
36 pansies
Icing bag and tip (I used a ziplock)
INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350.
Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and all spices in a large bowl, then set aside. In another bowl mix oil, sugar, applesauce, eggs, zucchini, vanilla. Combine both bowls adding the wet ingredients to the dry. You don’t need a mixer for this, just some good old fashioned weak mom biceps like me.
Pour your cake batter into two 9”x13” glass baking pans and bake for 20-30 minutes. It only took mine 20 mins, but we’re at sea level. Be sure a toothpick can come out clean to determine doneness.
Let your cakes cool on a wire rack while you make frosting.
Use a mixer to mix frosting, adding all ingredients together, scraping the sides down as you go. Took me about 5 minutes to mix this using my KitchenAid and the whisk attachment.
Once the cakes are cool, I used the skill cookie cutter and got about 9 cakes per pan. I then iced each cake individually, placed fresh pansies* on, and piped on little skull mouths and noses using the leftover icing in a ziplock bag.
I also tried using dried pansies and they looked much less festive, so I recommend using fresh blooms cut same day.
There you have it, some Dia De Los Muertos Skull Cakes!
Enjoy!