With just 5 days to go until Halloween is upon us you may be thinking that you need some treats to celebrate with, look no further than my super simple Halloween cake!
A little disclaimer from the off, most of the decorations were pre-made and shop bought sugar decorations. You could very easily make your own though with some icing but I wanted to make a post where you could quickly make a cake which is Halloween themed without spending hours on the decorations. Guess what, you’re reading it!
Now, I won’t pretend either that this bake was fail free – I did try swirling green food colouring through the middle of the cake for a ‘spooky’ effect. Unfortunately it didn’t show up clear enough and is simply a different shade of yellow.
Let’s get into the post!
Ingredients:
I used the same recipe which I used in my Lemon Loaf post which was a Goodfood recipe found here. I added the chocolate chips and food colouring for this recipe.
Cake:
- 225g Butter (unsalted)
- 225g Caster Sugar
- 4 Eggs
- 225g Self-Raising Flour
- 100 – 150g Chocolate Chips
- Zest of 1 Lemon
- Juice of 1 – 1 1/2 Lemons
- Green Food Colouring
Drizzle:
- Juice 1 1/2 – 2 Lemons (I use extra for a stronger flavour)
- 85g Caster Sugar (Icing Sugar can also be used)
Recipe:
- Heat oven to 180C (Fan) 160C (Gas 4).
- Mix butter and sugar together then add the eggs, one by one.
- Sift in the flour, lemon juice and lemon zest and mix well. Add the chocolate chips. (I didn’t know this but if you cover your chocolate chips in flour it’ll help them stop sinking when the cake is baking – mine all sunk!)
- Stir in the food colouring, I used several drizzles over the top of the mix. It didn’t go the desired green colour sadly and instead went a slightly brighter yellow colour. That’s okay though, trial and error!
- Bake for 50 minutes – 1 hour, the original recipe states 45 minutes – 50 minutes but I found the cake wasn’t properly cooked in this time.
- Whilst the cake is cooking mix together the lemon juice and sugar for the icing and drizzle over the top – remember to skewer the top first to make some holes!
Decorating Time:
The idea behind this post was that I designed and thought out the cake to be a quick and simple recipe so that if you didn’t have an awful lot of time to make a cake you could easily make this. For that reason then the majority of the decorations were shop bought, however, you could easily make them if you have more time.
Decoration elements:
- White Chocolate Ghosts (Sainburys).
- Sugar Pumpkins, Ghosts and Skulls (Sainburys).
- Chocolate Biscuit Soil (Crushed Double Chocolate Digestives).
- Chocolate Gravestones (Shaped Double Chocolate Digestives dipped in melted chocolate).
- Melted Milk Chocolate.
- Cotton Wool Ball.
The look of the cake is a haunted graveyard so naturally I needed some form of soil and gravestones to make it look realistic. I made these very easily by crushing double chocolate digestives and sprinkling them over the icing whilst it was still wet. This helped it to stick to the cake, melted chocolate also works very effectively.
To make the gravestones I simply carved one of the same digestive biscuits to make the soil, into the shape of a gravestone. I covered it in melted chocolate and allowed to set before placing on top of the cake. Tearing apart cotton wool balls gave the mist effect on the front of the cake and behind the ghosts. I also used cocktail sticks to ensure the gravestones didn’t fall over as nobody wants that!
I hope you have enjoyed this Halloween style cake – which is your favourite bit? Let me know in the comments if you’re planning any Halloween baking and what your plans are for the occasion!
All photography used in this blog post is my own.
Your cake looks delicious. Hope its easy. I’m going to give it a go with kids.
Thank you! It really is, hardest part it trying not to eat it all straight away! Hope it goes well!
How cute! looks like a good recipe! Atowle|https://formationvacations.com/
Thank you!
This looks awesome! Thanks for sharing! 😊
https://jendbibliophile.wordpress.com
Thank you! 🙂
This Halloween cake looks so cute! I’ve never really made a cake for Halloween before but I’ve seen so many blog posts recently of some baked Halloween goodies so I think I might have to this year!
Chloe xx
http://www.chloechats.com
This cake looks amazing you are so talented mine definitely wouldn’t look like that lol might try with kids then can blame them if it turns out rubbish lol xx
Thank you! Hahaha that’s a good idea, I’m sure it wouldn’t be rubbish though! xx
This is amazing!! Would love to try it 🙂
Thank you! Let me know if you do! x
Lemon and chocolate together?! Really?! I never thought about mixing them! Now I’m too curious and I want to try haha
Thank you for sharing this recipe!
See, I thought the same thing but after googling I saw so many recipes I thought I can’t really go THAT wrong? It did work, add a little extra but do enjoy a plain lemon cake as well of course! x
This is so adorable!
Hehe, thank you!
You’re welcome!
That looks fab! So simple to make too! We’re not having a party this year – but will safe for next year.
Nina x
http://justnina.co.uk
Thank you! You can definitely make it without a party! x
I love this idea 🙂 I have been looking for something to bake for Halloween. I would have to adapt this to make it gluten free, but I LOVE the idea of buying the store bought decorations. Thanks for the inspo. Rach
Thank you, I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I’m sure you’d be able to do that pretty easily it’s a nice, non complicated recipe! Hope you enjoy if you do make it!
Love the white chocolate ghosts!
x Sofia
http://www.thecozie.co
It was very yummy! x
Gosh, you did a great job! Can’t wait to try it out.
Lots of love,
Eef.
Thanks so much, let me know what you think!
That turned out so cool! I would totally fail to bake something similar 😂
Thank you so much, ah you never know! Give it a try and if it’s a disaster say it’s even more Halloweeny themed haha! x
Makes me hungry for some
You have an excuse to make some then. 😉
It looks so delicious! 😍 And the cotton wool ball adds to that spooky, misty feel too. My fav part tho is the chocolate soil. Anything with crumble-y stufv can get messy when you eat it but I LOVE it 😄
Thank you so much! It was VERY VERY messy but it was all worth it in the end I think. 🙂
Ahhh this looks incredible Imogen and i bet it was very tasty
Thank you lovely x
This cake looks incredible, I must try this recipe out!
Thank you, hope you enjoy it.
Your baking photos are sooooo good. Hopefully I can try out some of your recipes as I love to bake 😊
That means so much, thank you! Let me know which you decide to make 😀
Thank you for sharing this recipe it looks amazing! Cake is my weakness and the fact that this is cake and Halloween theme is so good. Now, I need to recreate it.
Brooke x
http://www.brooke-pearson.co.uk
You’re more than welcome, I’m glad you enjoyed it. Eek you’ll have to show me photographs if you do! Have fun! 😀 x
These cakes look amazing!! Definitely going to try making one with the kids!! 🧡
Thank you, hope you all enjoy making one! 🙂
Oh wow this cake looks amazing! Love the decoration.
Thank you so much. 🙂
Aw how cute. I love a good chocolate cake too.
Thank you, you’ll definitely enjoy this one! X
OMG this looks so good!
Thank you! 😀
Such a simple design but I looks amazing! I really love it and will give it a try next year.
Thank you so much! 😀
Looks amazing. I especially like the fun decorations on the cake.
http://www.fashionradi.com
Thank you!