Boo-tastic Brownie Cake

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I'm headed over to a friend's tonight for dinner and Cub Scout day camp planning. She's grilling up some burgers and I'm taking dessert. When I sent my husband to the store yesterday, I wasn't sure what I wanted to bake, so I had him pick up some brownie mix for simplicity's sake. You know, you just can't go wrong with brownies!

I dreamed up this little cake while torting and filling Katie's birthday cake this morning.  It is comprised of three 6" brownie rounds and a simple, yummy filling.

To make this brownie cake, you'll need:

• 6" round cake pan 
• shortening to grease the pan
• 1 box of your favorite brownie mix (mine even has walnuts!)
• ingredients to make cake-like brownies (typically water, oil, and a couple of eggs)
• 1 cup of cool-whip
• 1 package of cream cheese
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup of white chocolate chips or an equal amount of candy melts
• 1 spoonful of chocolate icing
• wax paper
• ghost cookie cutter

Begin by preheating the oven according to the brownie directions.  Grease your pan with shortening.  Don't forget the sides and that pesky area where the side meets the bottom.  Mix up brownies as directed.  Either divide equally into three different 6" cake pans or just eyeball it and put a third of the mixture in the one pan, bake and repeat for all three layers.  Bake for approximately 15 minutes, but watch it carefully!

When done, turn out on a cooling rack and let cool.  I found that it did best if I popped it out of the pan and then flipped the brownie layer back over to cool right side up.  That way, all the little brownie flakes don't stick to the rack.  While all three layers are cooling, make your ghost and your icing.



Ghost Directions:
Melt your white chocolate or candy melts in the microwave or in a double boiler, stirring until smooth.  Put a piece of wax paper on the counter.  When chocolate is melted, use a spatula to spread the chocolate in a thin, even layer across the wax paper.  Let sit until it is no longer tacky to the touch, but not dried hard, either.  Use your cookie cutter to cut out the ghost shape.  Lift with spatula and place atop one of the brownie layers.  Then, put your spoonful of icing into a plastic baggie, snip a small bit off the corner, and pipe on your ghost's eyes and mouth.  At this time, you can also pipe around the outside of the ghost to cover any rough edges.  Don't do any other decorations at this point!  They will only get messed up when you stack the layers.

Icing/ Filling/ whatever you want to call it.
Combine cream cheese and powdered sugar in a bowl.  Fold in cool whip. If you're like me and forget to measure the cool whip and only dump in the whole container, add more sugar until icing becomes thick.  But, that's only if you're like me, 'cause I like it stiff.

Putting it all together:
Layer your brownie cake as you would any other cake.  Trim the layers, if necessary.  Place your bottom layer on a plate or cake board and plop your filling/icing on top.  Use enough so that it will smoosh out the sides when you put the next layer on top.  Also, make sure it is semi-even so it drips neatly, if a drip can be neat.  Add the next layer and repeat.  Finish with the top layer, which should have your ghost transfer.  Add additional piping and decorations as desired.

If you want additional tips on how to do chocolate transfers, see this handy-dandy photo tutorial.

This recipe was adapted from Pampered Chef's Tuxedo Brownie Cups.  I love that recipe, but I can never eat just one, and the icing is so delicious!  So, I devised a way to get a bigger portion with more of the good stuff.  Who can blame me?