21 Oct 2006 12:01 PM

Spiderweb Spice Cake

Spice cake: 11/2 sticks (6oz.) unsalted butter, at room temperature; 11/2cup sugar; 2 eggs, at room temperature; 1/2 cup sour cream; 2 Tbsp. unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder; 1/2 tsp. baking soda; 1 tsp. ground allspice; 1 tsp. ground cinnamon; 1 tsp. ground ginger; 1/2 tsp. salt; 3 apples, peeled and grated (2 cups); 13/4 cups flour; 1 cup raisins; 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans

Brown-sugar frosting: 2 sticks (1/2 lb.) unsalted butter; 1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar; 1/4 cups whole milk; 21/4 cupsw confectioners' sugar; 1 tsp. vanilla extract; Orange food coloring; 1 tube black icing; Peanut or almond M&M's

Make cake; Preaheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease 2 (8-or9-inch) round cake pans; line with parchment, grease again and dust with flour.  Beat butter and sugar with an eletric mixer until fluffy.  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). Spoon batter into pans, smoothing top.  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.  Refigerate until ready to use.  (Cakes can be made a day ahead, wrapped tightly in plastic and refigerated, or up to 3 weeks ahead and frozen.) 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.  Stir in milk and cook over medium heat just until mixture comes to a boil, stirring often.  Let cool, about 1 hour. Add confectioners' sugar, about 1/2 cup at a time, whisking until smooth and spreadable.  Whisk in vanilla.  Add food coloring in small increments until icing is desired shade of pumpkin.  Use Immediately.  Assemble cake: Spread about 3/4 cup frosting evenly on top of a layer.  Place second layer on first and frost top adn sides with remaining frosting.  Using black icing, pipe on a spiderweb . 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.)

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