![\"Tree](\"https:\/\/cake-geek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Tree-Spirit-Cake-Tutorial-Halloween-on-Cake-Geek.com_.jpg\")
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This unique tree spirit cake tutorial, taken from Helena Garcia’s The Wicked Baker<\/em>, shows you how to create the perfect centerpiece for your family Halloween party this year.<\/p>\n It’s just one of many weird and wonderful creations in Helena’s imaginative new book that is a must for Halloween fanatics and bakers alike.<\/p>\n Helena explains the inspiration behind the cake: “Turn this Scandinavian classic holiday bake – the yule log – into a<\/span> dark fairy tale. Although a yule log is based on a <\/span>rolled chocolate sponge, I\u2019m stacking this one. And <\/span>since I\u2019m breaking the rules, I\u2019m also adding peanut <\/span>butter to the sponge and the frosting. Of course, feel <\/span>free to use your favorite chocolate cake recipe for <\/span>this idea \u2013 I\u2019m just a rebel at heart and I think this <\/span>cake is pretty damn tasty.<\/span>”<\/p>\n Serves 8<\/span><\/p>\n For the frosting:<\/span><\/p>\n To decorate:<\/span><\/p>\n The day before you want to serve the cake, preheat the <\/span>oven to 160\u00b0C fan [350\u00b0F\/Gas mark 4] and oil 4 x 10-cm <\/span>[4-in] round cake tins.<\/span><\/p>\n Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda, baking <\/span>powder and salt together in a large bowl and set aside.<\/span><\/p>\n Cream the peanut butter and oil together in an electric <\/span>mixer on medium speed. Add the eggs, one by one, <\/span>beating well between each addition. Add the buttermilk <\/span>and vanilla and continue mixing.<\/span><\/p>\n Turn the mixer to low and add all the dry ingredients.<\/span><\/p>\n Dissolve the coffee granules in the hot water and add <\/span>to the mixture.<\/span><\/p>\n Divide the batter between the prepared tins and bake <\/span>for 30\u201335 minutes until a skewer stuck into the middle <\/span>comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tins for 5 minutes <\/span>before transferring to a wire rack. Let the cakes cool <\/span>completely before frosting.<\/span><\/p>\n For the frosting, combine the peanut butter, cream <\/span>cheese, vanilla and salt together in an electric mixer.<\/span><\/p>\n Add the icing sugar, alternating with the milk until you <\/span>get a spreadable consistency. You may not need to use <\/span>all the milk.<\/span><\/p>\n Stack the cakes with a layer of the frosting between each <\/span>cake. Now crumb coat the stack by coating the cake with <\/span>a layer of frosting and smoothing the side and top with <\/span>a bench scraper. Secure with a couple of long wooden <\/span>dowels pushed down through the layers and refrigerate <\/span>overnight to let it set.<\/span><\/p>\n To decorate, roll the modelling chocolate and shape into <\/span>ropes of different sizes and lengths. This step is quite <\/span>tedious but it\u2019s worth it!<\/span><\/p>\n Score the rope pieces with the back of a knife, or use <\/span>modelling tools if you have them, to imitate tree bark.<\/span><\/p>\n Stick the pieces onto the cake using frosting. On the <\/span>front half of the cake, make a dent in the eye and mouth <\/span>areas (see photo), or create your own expression, such as <\/span>a Jack O\u2019 Lantern or a scared ghost.<\/span><\/p>\n Create the arms and base of the tree using more <\/span>modelling chocolate and blending it into the tree.<\/span><\/p>\n Mould some around the eyes and cheeks for definition.<\/span><\/p>\n Finish the look by painting some brown food colour in <\/span>the cracks and brushing black powder colour around the <\/span>inside of the eyes and mouth to create depth.<\/span><\/p>\n Extracted with permission from The Wicked Baker<\/em><\/a> by Helena Garcia (Quadrille, STG\u00a312.99). Photography \u00a9Patricia Niven.<\/p>\n More on Fall & Halloween cake decorating:<\/p>\n This unique tree spirit cake tutorial, taken from Helena Garcia’s The Wicked Baker, shows you how to create the perfect centerpiece for your family Halloween party this year. It’s just one of many weird and wonderful creations in Helena’s imaginative new book that is a must for Halloween fanatics and bakers alike. Helena explains the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26145,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[344],"tags":[248,243,157],"class_list":["post-26144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-seasonal-cake-decoration","tag-autumn-sugarcraft-tutorials","tag-fall-cake-decorating-tutorials","tag-seasonal-cakes","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cake-geek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cake-geek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cake-geek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cake-geek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cake-geek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26144"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cake-geek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31363,"href":"https:\/\/cake-geek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26144\/revisions\/31363"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cake-geek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cake-geek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cake-geek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cake-geek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Tree Spirit Cake Tutorial: Ingredients<\/h4>\n
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Tree Spirit Cake Tutorial: Instructions<\/h4>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/cake-geek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/The-Wicked-Baker-by-Helena-Garcia.jpg\")
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