Spiderweb Spice Cake

Ingredients

• 8 servings almond m&m's 
• 2 cups apples grated peeled
• 1.5 teaspoons baking soda 
• 2.3 cups confectioners' sugar 
• 1 cup brown sugar dark packed ()
• 2 tablespoons dutch-process cocoa powder unsweetened
• 2  eggs at room temperature
• 1.8 cups flour 
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice 
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger 
• 1 tube chocolate icing black
• 8 servings orange food coloring 
• 1 cup pecans coarsely chopped
• 1 cup raisins 
• 0.5 teaspoon salt 
• 0.5 cup cup heavy whipping cream sour
• 1.5 cups sugar 
• 0.5 lb butter unsalted
• 6 oz butter unsalted at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 0.3 cup milk whole

Equipment

• oven
• whisk
• wire rack
• hand mixer
• toothpicks
• wax paper

Directions

1. Make cake: Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease 2 (8- or 9-inch) round cake pans; line with parchment, grease again and dust with flour.
2. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy.
3. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in sour cream, then cocoa, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, ginger and salt. Reduce speed to low; beat in apples and flour until blended. Stir in raisins and pecans (batter will be thick).
4. Spoon batter into pans, smoothing top.
5. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, turn out onto racks; remove wax paper; cool. Refrigerate until ready to use. (Cakes can be made a day ahead, wrapped tightly in plastic and refrigerated, or up to 3 weeks ahead and frozen.)
6. Make brown-sugar frosting: Melt butter over medium heat; stir in brown sugar and cook over low heat, stirring, until sugar and butter are blended, about 5 minutes.
7. Stir in milk and cook over medium heat just until mixture comes to a boil, stirring often.
8. Let cool, about 1 hour.
9. Add confectioners' sugar, about 1/2 cup at a time, whisking until smooth and spreadable.
10. Whisk in vanilla.
11. Add food coloring in small increments until icing is desired shade of pumpkin. Use immediately.
12. Spread about 3/4 cup frosting evenly on top of a layer.
13. Place second layer on first and frost top and sides with remaining frosting.
14. Using black icing, pipe on a spiderweb (see photo). Make spiders with M&M's, adding eyes and legs with icing. (Cake can be loosely covered and kept at room temperature for up to 2 days or refrigerated for up to 5 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.)