Raise your hand if you LOVE Halloween Cake decorating? Me! I do! Well, now that I know how to make this cake I do. And now I’m going to tell you how to do it.
Let me start by saying that I am a baking amateur – so not a professional! I really like doing it, in like a semi-homemade way. So, start with a box of cake. You can absolutely make a scratch cake, but box of cake is a fabulous alternative. And you will want a least 2 layers of the cake in any size. We made a 6″ cake with 4 layers. Next, you’ll need frosting. I’m not saying you can’t use can of frosting, but I do have an easy recipe:
Buttercream Frosting
• 8 oz. unsalted softened butter
• 4/5 c. powdered sugar
• 2 T milk
• 2 t. vanilla extract
• 2 t. fresh lemon juice
In a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, add 1/2 the powdered sugar plus all of the other ingredients. Beat until moistened. Add the rest of the powdered sugar. If the frosting is still too thick, you can add a tiny bit of milk at a time until it reaches the desired consistency.
Okay, next you’ll need some food coloring, about 6-8 marshmallows, some sprinkles and of course a super cute Halloween themed cake topper. Now you are ready to go!
Start by stacking your layers with buttercream in between each, then frost the outside with a crumb coat (totally imperfect thin layer of frosting to keep the crumbs in). Next, divide your remaining frosting into smaller bowls depending on how many colors you choose and color them with your food coloring (we used a concentrated color in gel form). Now, you can see in the video, this is where I added dollops of frosting randomly spaced all over the outside of the cake. Then, using a frosting smoother (or a hem gauge in my case) run it around the outside surface to smooth it out. You can’t really go around a ton of times, it may turn your frosting gray from over blending.
When your cake is sufficiently frosted, put your marshmallows in a microwave safe bowl, and melt them. After they become more of a sticky liquid, wait just a couple minutes to cool them so you won’t burn yourself! This is the fun part! Grab a bit of the marshmallow goo and stretch it between your fingers and wrap it around your cake – again and again and repeat! This goo is SUPER sticky, so once it’s down on the surface of the cake you can’t touch it with your hands again (trust me).
After you have all your marshmallow spider webs done, now you can add some sprinkles – or some sprinkles like we did – and of course, top your cake with our adorable mini-bunting cake topper!