Halloween Bat Cake

A moist rich vegan pumpkin spice cake filled with a decadent pumpkin spice buttercream and finished with a ombre of creamy Italian meringue buttercream and candy bats. This is the perfect cake for anyone, and can be enjoyed people of all ages!

For cake

2 cups gluten free flour

4 tbs flaxseed meal 12 tbs water

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup coconut cream or dairy free sour cream

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 can pumpkin purée 15oz

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp allspice

pinch of ground cloves

1 tsp vanilla extract

For the Pumpkin Buttercream

1 cup vegan butter unsalted

¼ cup pureed pumpkin

1/2 tsp salt

4 cups confectioners sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp instant espresso

1/4 tsp nutmeg

¼ tsp allspice

1/4 tsp ground ginger

For the Italian Meringue Buttercream

Aquafaba or Aquaflaxa 1½ cups

Granulated Sugar 2 cups

Water ¾ cup

Cream of Tartar ¼ teaspoon

Softened Vegan Butter 3 sticks

Solid Vegetable Shortening ¾ cup

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the bats

one cup of dark candy melts

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Combine flaxseed and water and let sit for 10-15 min
• Butter and flour 3 six inch cake pans.
• In a large mixing bowl, beat together the flaxeggs, sugar, oils, sour cream, vanilla and pumpkin.
• Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, salt and spices;
• add to wet ingredients and mix thoroughly.
• Spread into prepared pans.
• Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes or until centers are springy to the touch and the edge is pulling away from the pan.

• Beat the butter, salt, and pumpkin together in the bowl or your stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.
• Sift in the sugar, spices, and instant espresso and beat until smooth and creamy.
• Add more sugar if needed to thicken consistency.

• First reduce the 1½ cups of aquafaba by bringing it to a boil then simmering for about 20 minutes until it is to 1 cup volume
• Refrigerate until cold
• Once the aquafaba is cold you will start whipping it with the cream of tartar on medium to high speed while you cook the sugar syrup at the same time
• Combine the water and sugar together in a heavy bottom sauce pot and bring to a boil over high heat.
• Attach a candy thermometer and cook to 240°F It should take about 10 minutes to reach temperature which is approximately the same time it takes to get the Aqafaba to stiff peaks.
• Slowly pour the hot sugar syrup into the whipping meringue as shown in the video.
• Once all the sugar syrup is added continue whipping to cool down the meringue and you can help it cool faster by placing a bowl of ice water under the mixer bowl.
• Add the vegan butter and shortening only once the meringue has cooled to below 100°F
• Whip smooth then add the vanilla extract
• separate the meringue into 4 separate bowls and make 4 different shades of orang e

* you will need to rewhip the meringue before you frost the cake

• Print out 3 pages of bat outline.
• Arrange them side by side.
• Add a sheet of parchment paper
• Melt the candy melts and transfer to a piping bag.
• Snip off the tip.
• Pipe the outline of each bat.
• Set aside to dry.

*some of your bats will break but you should have enough to decorate the cake

• Pipe pumpkin buttercream between each layer.
• Cover completely, smooth with a bench scraper and off set spatula.
• Transfer to the fridge to chill.
• Give each batch of the Italian meringue buttercream a quick whip.
• Transfer each color into piping bags and snip off the tips.
• Starting with the darkest orange, pipe each color of Italian meringue in a gradient.
• Smooth with tools and transfer to the fridge again.
• Carefully separate bats from the parchment paper. They can be very fragile!
• Attach bats by gently pressing onto the buttercream.