Halloween Graveyard cake is a fun and easy dessert for Halloween!
This cake is so fun! Perfect for a Halloween get together!
This year I wanted to make a Halloween fault line cake with fun colors and using some Halloween candy. I picked up some fun ghost, tombstone, and pumpkin candy from Sam’s Club and settled on a Halloween Graveyard theme.
Don’t miss these other fun Halloween treats:
A typical graveyard cake is made in a 9x13 dish. It is a flat, single layer cake, with crushed Oreos as dirt, and cookies for headstones. That’s great and easy, but I really wanted to make something a little extra for this Halloween.
I thought it would be super fun to make a fault line cake with it looking like ghosts going up through the cake to the graveyard. With a few tweaks and some added pumpkins, I think it turned out super fun!
I love the brown and orange colors- the perfect Halloween Cake!
What you will need for this easy Halloween Cake:
- 1 batch of vanilla buttercream dyed orange
- 1 batch of chocolate buttercream dyed black
- ½ batch of vanilla buttercream dyed green
- 3 layers of cake- 6 inches (for larger cakes see notes below)
- Crushed Oreos
- Halloween Ghosts, Pumpkins, Tombstones, and KitKats
- Halloween Sprinkles (optional but always fun!)
Tools for decorating this Halloween Graveyard Cake:
- Piping Bags
- Piping Tips: Small Writing Tip (Wilton #3), Grass Tip (Wilton #233) (might also want a piping tip coupler so you can swap the writing tip between different colors)
- Cake Scraper/Bench Scraper
- Small Offset Spatula
- Cake Boards (6 inch and an 8 inch)
- Revolving Cake Stand (Turntable)
- Tooth Picks
Such a perfect chocolate cake!
What type of cake should I make?
My 6-inch chocolate cake recipe I used for my German Chocolate Cake is what I recommend for this cake.
Alternatively, you can just make a box cake mix. I highly recommend adding in a few things to make your boxed cake taste homemade. Follow these instructions for my easy chocolate cupcakes, but bake in cake pans according to the instructions in the recipe card below.
These candies are so fun!
Can I make a bigger cake?
Absolutely! I have a delicious homemade chocolate cake that makes a 3-layer 9-inch cake- and it is huge and delicious! You can also make two batches of boxed cake mix and bake in 9inch pans.
For a bigger cake you will also need larger cake boards.
If I make a bigger cake will I need more frosting?
Yes and no. You will need 2 batches of orange buttercream since there is more surface area and filling to cover. I would still only make a half batch of green buttercream and 1 batch of black buttercream and make more only if needed.
Make sure to stack the layers straight!
How to make the cake?
- I recommend for both my boxed cake recipe and my homemade cake recipe to grease the cake pans with butter and flour (or use a baking spray with flour- like Baker’s Joy).
- Bake at 325°F on the second to lowest baking rack position. Baking times will depend on size of cake but for my recipes is it 20-25 minutes. Bake until the center comes out clean when stuck with a toothpick.
- Once done baking, allow the cake to cool completely and level the cakes if needed. Then wrap in saran wrap and freeze (this will help with frosting). Ideally making the cake a day before decorating is best.
How to make black buttercream?
I recommended making my dark chocolate buttercream then adding black food gel to it. As you mix the gel into the frosting it will look dark grey. As the frosting sit it will darken to black.
Don't worry about getting everything perfect! Everyone will love this cake!
Halloween Graveyard Cake Tips
- Make cake the day before and freeze. This will help so much with frosting.
- Add sprinkles to the fault line first before adding the ghosts and pumpkins.
- Slice the back of the ghosts and pumpkins off that you are using for the fault line area to make them thinner. That way they won’t stick out too far.
- Cut the bottoms of the ghosts off, that you use for the fault line, to make them shorter to fit in the fault line (if making a larger cake you won’t have to do this).
- Use leftover frosting for Halloween cupcakes or cookies!
Don’t miss out on these other tasty Halloween treats!
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Watch how to make this recipe!
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Halloween Graveyard Cake
Ingredients
Orange Buttercream Frosting
- ½ cup butter cold and cut into chunks
- 5-7 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tbs vanilla
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- Pinch of salt
- Orange food gel coloring
Black Buttercream Frosting
- ½ cup butter cold and cut into chunks
- ½ tsp espresso powder
- ½ cup dark cocoa powder I used Hershey’s Special Dark
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 5- 7 cups powdered sugar
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- Pinch of salt
- Black food gel coloring
Green Buttercream Frosting (this is a half batch)
- ¼ cup butter cold and cut into chunks
- 3-5 cups powdered sugar
- ½ tbs vanilla
- 6 tbs heavy cream
- Pinch of salt
- Green food gel coloring
Chocolate Cake
- 1 ¼ cup sugar
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- ½ tsp instant espresso
- ⅓ cup boiling water
- ⅓ cup special dark cocoa powder
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ⅓ cup cake flour
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 extra-large eggs
- 1 extra-large yolk
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
Additional decorating items:
- Crushed Oreos
- Halloween Ghosts Pumpkins, Tombstones, and KitKats
- Halloween Sprinkles
Decorating Tools:
- Piping Bags
- Piping Tips: Small Writing Tip Wilton #3, Grass Tip (Wilton #233) (might also want a piping tip coupler so you can swap the writing tip between different colors)
- Cake Scraper/Bench Scraper
- Small Offset Spatula
- Cake Boards 6 inch and an 8 inch
- Revolving Cake Stand Turntable
- Tooth Picks
Instructions
How to make orange buttercream:
- In a mixer whip the butter until it is fluffy. Add in the vanilla and salt and mix until combined.
- Add in powdered sugar and heavy whipping cream. Alternating between the two. I like to add in 1 cup of powder sugar followed by 2 tbs of heavy whipping cream, let it combine and then add the next round of powdered sugar and heavy cream.
- Once everything is added, mix on high for 20-30 seconds. Then add in the orange food gel and mix on medium low until full incorporated.
How to make black buttercream:
- In a mixer whip the butter until it is fluffy. Add in the espresso powder, dark cocoa powder, vanilla, and salt and mix until combined.
- Add in powdered sugar and heavy whipping cream. Alternating between the two. I like to add in 1 cup of powder sugar followed by 2 tbs of heavy whipping cream, let it combine and then add the next round of powdered sugar and cream.
- Once everything is added, mix on high for 20-30 seconds. Then add in the black food gel and mix on medium low until full incorporated.
How to make green buttercream:
- In a mixer whip the butter until it is fluffy. Add in the vanilla and salt and mix until combined.
- Add in powdered sugar and heavy whipping cream. Alternating between the two. I like to add in 1 cup of powder sugar followed by 2 tbs of heavy whipping cream, let it combine and then add the next round of powdered sugar and heavy cream.
- Once everything is added, mix on high for 20-30 seconds. Then add in the green food gel and mix on medium low until full incorporated.
How to make chocolate cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease three 6 inch round cake pans with butter and flour (or use floured baking spray like Bakers Joy).
- Using a stand mixer, mix sugar and butter until fluffy. About 5 minutes.
- While mixing the butter and sugar microwave water for 30 seconds then add espresso to it, stirring until dissolved.
- Whisk cocoa powder, then buttermilk and vanilla into water/espresso mixture.
- In a separate bowl sift flour, baking soda and salt together.
- Once butter and sugar are lighter color and fully mixed, add each egg and the yolk, one at a time, into the butter mixture, letting each one fully mix into the batter before adding the next. Add in oil and mix until fully combined. Then beat mixture on medium high speed for a minute- the mixture will be light and fluffy.
- Fold in ½ of the flour and then fold in ½ of the buttermilk mixture to the batter. Then fold in remaining flour and then remaining buttermilk mixture.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Try baking the cakes on the same rack, or baking them one at a time. This will ensure even baking.
- Once the cakes are done let them cool completely, level if needed, then wrap in saran wrap and freeze.
How to decorate Graveyard Cake:
- Crush Oreos (I like to use a food processor because it’s easy but crushing them in a ziplock baggie works too)
- Add tape to the bottom of your 8 in cake board and stick to your cake turntable. Then add tape to the bottom of your 6 in cake board and stick to the center of the 8 in cake board.
- Place a small dollop of frosting in the center of the 6 in cake board and place your first cake layer on top.
- Add a nice layer of orange buttercream, then and your second cake layer, then add another layer of buttercream, and add your third cake layer.
- Spread a thin layer of orange buttercream all over the cake as your crumb coat. Don’t worry too much about making it super smooth because it will all be covered with the final coat. Once the crumb coat is on refrigerate for 10-15 minutes.
- While cake is chilling, decorate your ghosts and pumpkins. Use the writing tip to make details like eyes and mouths, and lines on the pumpkins.
- Once chilled, add a thick layer of black buttercream all around the center of the cake. Press in the sprinkles and then add the ghosts and pumpkins to the black frosting. I found that halving the ghosts and pumpkins so they were thinner worked well. Chill for another 10 minutes in the refrigerator.
- Add the final orange coat by frosting a large area above and below the black frosting. I found using a piping bag with the end cut off (to make a large circle) worked well to evenly frost these areas. Add frosting to the top of the cake as well.
- Using the bench scraper smooth out the sides, being careful to not mix the orange into the black, but to keep a nice ledge- or fault line.
- Use the offset spatula to clean up the top edge (see my notes on cake decorating here).
- Make several mounds of Oreos on top of the cake, and place KitKats around the bottom of the cake (I halved each KitKat) and then refrigerate for 10 minutes.
- Slide a tooth pick into the bottom of the ghosts and pumpkins, then place on top of the cake. Gently press in the headstones.
- Using the green frosting and the grass tip, pipe on grass around the headstones, and around the KitKats at the base of the cake.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Make cake the day before and freeze. This will help so much with frosting.
- Add sprinkles to the fault line first before adding the ghosts and pumpkins.
- Slice the back of the ghosts and pumpkins off that you are using for the fault line area to make them thinner. That way they won’t stick out too far.
- Cut the bottoms of the ghosts off, that you use for the fault line, to make them shorter to fit in the fault line (if making a larger cake you won’t have to do this).
- Use leftover frosting for Halloween cupcakes or cookies!
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