Meringue Bone Palace Halloween Cake

Name: Meringue Bone Palace Halloween Cake
Prep time: 80 min
Cook time: 135 min
Yield: 12 people
Ingredients: 3 large egg whites; pinch cream of tartar; 165 g (3/4 cup + 2tbsp) caster sugar; 500 g (17.5 oz) frozen mixed berries; 130 g (2/3 cup) caster sugar; 120 ml (1/2 cup) water; 30 g (1/4 cup) cocoa powder; 50 ml (3tbsp + 1tsp) cold water; 100 ml (1/4 + 1/8 cup + 1tbsp) boiling water; 50 g (1.75 oz) dark chocolate (finely chopped); 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda; 100 g (1/3 cup + scant 2 tbsp) butter (softened); 175 g (1 cup) dark muscovado sugar; 125 g (4.4oz) sweetened condensed milk; 2 medium eggs; 2 tsp glycerin (optional); 200 g (1 + 2/3 cup) plain flour; 2 tsp baking powder; 4 large egg whites; 225 g (1 cup + 2tbsp) caster sugar; 250 g (1 cup + 1tbsp) softened butter; 2 tsp vanilla extract; pinch salt; raspberry jam to fill

October 5, 2016 by hannahhossack 51 Comments

Meringue bone palace Halloween cake – moist chocolate cake filled with vanilla meringue buttercream & jam, coated in meringue bones with berry coulis ‘blood’ on the side.

So now it’s October (how already?!) I think it’s acceptable to start posting Halloween things. I love coming up with Halloweeny bakes, it’s a chance to let my gothic creativity run wild and I have so many ideas that there’s no way I’ll be able to make them all.

I actually made this cake a couple of weeks ago but have been waiting till October to post it; I wasn’t quite sure what to call it – meringue bone garden? Pile? Graveyard?

In the end I went with palace but any of the former would fit. Basically it’s a chocolate cake filled with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream and raspberry jam, covered in meringue bones with berry coulis ‘blood’ on the side.

This is the perfect impressive centrepiece for a Halloween party and it doesn’t just look good but it tastes delicious too; the perfect mix of chocolate, vanilla, berries and crunchy meringue.

The chocolate cakes are made with dark muscovado (or dark brown soft) sugar and condensed milk which makes them lovely and soft; the recipe is from Short and Sweet by Dan Lepard which is one of my favourite books; he recommends adding a couple of teaspoons of glycerin to the cake batter to help keep them soft, this is optional but it really does work.

I baked the cakes in three 15cm/6in round tins, but you can also use two 20cm/8in ones if you prefer, though obviously the cake will not be as tall.

This meringue bone palace Halloween cake is easier to make than it looks, and the bones can be baked a week in advance and kept in an airtight container.

The cakes can be baked the day before assembly but once the cake it decorated it should be served straight away if you want the bones to be crisp as they will start to soften fairly quickly. They’ll keep their shape for a day or two but will get sticky and lose their crunch.

My oven is awful for making meringues in (and most other things as well…), even at it’s absolute lowest temperature it doesn’t go below 150C and the heat distribution is terrible so some of my bones came out browner than I would have liked.

We’ll call them aged bones; obviously if you have a better oven than I do then your bones will look fresher, I think the effect works either way though so don’t worry if your meringues don’t come out perfect.

More Halloween Recipes:

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