13 Spooky Halloween Cakes Fit for Ghouls and Goblins
Halloween Pumpkin Bundt Cake
Add almond flavor to a vanilla cake, then turn it into a pumpkin with this Halloween Bundt cake recipe. This Halloween cake's decoration is more than just frosting: The entire cake is shaped like fall's favorite fruit (yes, a pumpkin is actually a fruit!). A wafer ice cream cone dipped in green frosting makes a perfect stem.
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Spooky Rock Candy Cake
With the help of candies and plenty of green frosting, this Halloween birthday cake is perfect for a spooky celebration. To turn up the fright level, decorate the cake with small plastic spiders and top with a few black taper candles.
Buy It: Glitter Black Birthday Candles, ($3, Party City)
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Dirt and Worms Cake
This Halloween dirt cake is made with a triple dose of everyone's favorite flavor—chocolate! Rich dark chocolate cake layers are frosting with fudgy frosting. Finish this Halloween cake idea with crushed chocolate cookies, gummy worms, and candy corn.
Test Kitchen Tip: Swirled lollipops and plastic spiders make easy Halloween cake toppers.
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Ghost Cake
This Halloween cake is so fun to decorate. Meringue frosting—swirled on to look like ghostly clouds—makes a hauntingly cool Halloween cake decoration.
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Creepy Worm Cake
This fun Halloween cake idea is all about the toppings! To create your own, use your favorite homemade cake recipe (or make one from a mix!). Frost the cake with homemade buttercream icing. Finish the cake with creepy-crawly Halloween cake toppers like these assorted gummy worms and candy eyes.
Buy It: Wilton Candy Eye Balls, ($3, Target)
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Candy Corn Poke Cake
Drizzled with candy corn syrup and topped with homemade whipped cream, this Halloween sheet cake recipe is a sweet crowd-pleaser. Top the finished cake with crunchy salted peanuts and a sprinkle of candy corn.
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Skeleton Graveyard Cake
No bones about it—Halloween baking doesn’t have to be difficult! This graveyard cake is both spooky and tasty. For the decorations, pipe meringue into bone shapes and bake to set.
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Jack-O'-Lantern Cake
With bright orange frosting and chocolate wafer jack-o'-lanterns, this easy Halloween cake can be as friendly—or as frightening—as you'd like. To make, simply frost a layer cake with orange icing, put the remainder of the icing into a cake-decorating bag fitted with a 1 or 2 tip, and pipe faces onto the cookies. Place the jack-o'-lantern creations on top of and around the base of your Halloween cake.
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Spider Halloween Cake
With its gumdrop stem, pumpkin shape, and pumpkin flavor, this cake both looks and tastes like Halloween. Rolled-out gumdrops create the cute vines and leaves.
Editor's Tip: Roll out black gumdrops, cut into triangle shapes, and assemble on the Halloween cake to create an edible jack-o'-lantern, or use a tube of chocolate frosting to pipe on the final touches.
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Scaredy-Cat Ice Cream Cake
This cat cake is like a Halloween brownies, but in cake form. And with the brownies and ice cream used to create this cake, the black cat won't be the only one grinning. Use green apple-flavor twist candy for whiskers, gumballs for eyes, and sweet orange and yellow dyed fondant for the Halloween cake’s signature black cat grin.
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Chocolate Spider Cake
With a cake body and rolled wafer cookie legs, this Halloween spider cake is more likely to make your guests feel delightful than frightful. Use licorice, chocolate pieces, and other candies to create the creepy crawler's face.
Halloween Baking Hack: Use a store-bought chocolate cake to cut your kitchen time in half.
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Scary Skull Cake
This scary skull cake may startle your guests because it's rolling in worms, but this sweet treat is still worth a try. And with our free pattern, you won't have to be a mad scientist to concoct this Halloween themed cake.
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Apple-Maple Spice Cake
This spooky spiced Halloween Bundt cake holds tricks and treats for all of your goblins and guests. Enjoy the sugar and spice in both the cake's recipe and the festive apple Halloween cake decorations.
Buy It: Nordic Ware Jubilee Bundt Pan, ($38, Williams Sonoma)