An October Birthday Cake

For the past three years I have baked Country Living's Halloween cake for my sister's birthday. Her birthday is in October but we don't always get around to celebrating it right on her birthday, thus the Halloween/fall theme always seems appropriate. Here is last year's cake. This spooky spider cake is number four.
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I think they must use a vacuum to suck off the excess sprinkles before they remove the spider template. Otherwise, how do you explain the pure white frosting? I think my extra sprinkles make it spookier, right? Right?

The actual recipe for the cake hiding under my Betty Crocker cookbook white frosting is the one from last year's cake. This year's recipe called for a box cake plus a few additions. I remembered that we really liked the moist, dark chocolate from last year, so I reused this recipe. It has become my standby chocolate cake recipe.

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Classic Chocolate Cake- Halloween Style[from country living]

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Ingredients
2 cup(s)flour
1/2 cup(s)cocoa
1 teaspoon(s)baking powder
1 teaspoon(s)baking soda
1 teaspoon(s)salt
3/4 cup(s)butter, softened
2/3 cup(s)granulated sugar
1/2 cup(s)dark brown sugar
3eggs
1/4 cup(s)sour cream
2 teaspoon(s)vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup(s)milk
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Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour, two 8-inch-round cake pans (for layer cake; pictured), Set aside. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and set aside.

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Beat the butter and sugars together in a bowl using an electric mixer on medium-high speed. Beat in the eggs. Reduce speed to medium-low. Stir the sour cream, vanilla, and milk together and add it in thirds, alternating with the flour mixture. Beat until batter is smooth, about 3 more minutes.

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Divide the batter equally between the prepared pans and bake until a wooden skewer inserted into the center tests clean. For layer cake, it should take about 25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
Trim cooled cake layers, if necessary, to make level.
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And you? Have you been baking anything yummy lately?