Caterpillar Cake for Hallowe'en or a Wonderland Birthday Party

This celebration cake is a combination of sponge cake and cheesecake (so there will be something to cater for all tastes) and is extremely versatile. The version in the pictures was an Alice in Wonderland caterpillar for a teenager's Alice themed birthday party, but with a little imagination and food colouring, could be made into something truly gross (but delicious) for the Hallowe'en table.

Recipe (Sponge Base, used for Mushroom/Toadstool)

Ingredients:

• 5 eggs
• 5 oz caster sugar
• 4 oz plain white flour
• 1.5 oz cocoa powder
• 2 oz butter (melted)
• pinch salt

The base is made from a whisked sponge which I've flavoured with chocolate. If you prefer plain sponge, use 5 oz plain flour and omit the 1.5 oz cocoa powder. You can also add a teaspoonful of strong coffee essence at the final folding in stage or a little grated orange or lemon zest for different flavour combinations.
After baking the cake you can decorate your table with some Halloween horror stickers and can place the cake right at the middle of it.

Method for Sponge Base

Prepare a shallow baking tray (Swiss roll tin) by lining with foil or greaseproof paper. Brush all over with a little melted butter and shake a spoonful of caster sugar and a little flour onto the melted butter (tap the tin against your hand to distribute the sugar/flour evenly over the butter). This gives the sponge a nice finish as well as making it turn out more easily.
Place the 5 oz sugar in a large, heatproof mixing bowl over a saucepan of hot water. Add the eggs and whisk until the mixture has more than doubled in volume, is pale golden and mousse like and leaves a ribbon trail when you take the whisk out (see picture). You really need to do this by hand over hot water, an electric whisk will give a much more biscuity texture.
Add the sifted flour gradually (sift the cocoa powder in with the flour if used) alternately with the melted butter. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and cook for (about) twenty minutes in a moderate oven (180C,300F Gas Mark 4). The sponge needs to be springy to touch and coming away slightly from the edges of the tin.
When the cake is quite cool, cut two circles (use a tea plate as a guide) out of it, spread with the filling of your choice and sandwich together. Cover the top with a thin layer of coloured butter icing and decorate with multi-coloured spots to make the mushroom surface. Place at one end of a large serving plate

Caterpillar (ingredients)

• two packets of ginger biscuits
• 2 oz melted chocolate
• 6 oz marscapone or cream cheese
• 4 oz whipped cream
• small tin of pineapple pieces, crystallised ginger or candied peel if liked
• food colouring
• small tubes of writing icing

Caterpillar (Method)

Dip the top edges of the ginger biscuits in chocolate, reserving one or two undipped for the face (allow one or two extra for mistakes). Whip the cream, combine carefully with the marscapone. Add the finely chopped pineapple, ginger or peel if used.
Begin to build the caterpillar by sandwiching the ginger biscuits together with the marscapone mix keeping the dipped edges together. Make the tail at one end of the plate, bring the body up onto the mushroom base and build a tower for the caterpillar's neck and head. Keep the chocolate dipped edges at the top to give definition and show up against the icing. Draw a face with writing icing on the topmost (unchocolated) biscuit of the tower. Add antennae made from cocktail sticks and little pieces of leftover sponge cake covered in cake glitter to finish.
Decorate with multi-coloured spots, chocolate trails, cake glitter or food colouring as required. For maximum Hallowe'en effect, you can colour the marscapone/cream mixture before you start to build the caterpillar.
This is such a versatile cake which can be made fairly plain or highly flavoured and decorated depending on the occasion.

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