Graveyard Cake Recipes

GHOSTS IN THE GRAVEYARD CAKE

Steps:

• Line a 13x9-in. baking pan and an 8-in. square baking dish with foil, and grease the foil. Prepare brownie batter and bake according to package directions, using prepared pans. Cool on wire racks., Break pretzel rods into various sizes; dip into melted chocolate. Arrange into a tree shape on a waxed paper-lined baking sheet., Place melted white candy coating in a heavy-duty resealable plastic bag; cut a small hole in a corner of bag. Outline three small ghosts on waxed paper. Fill in ghost outlines, adding a lollipop stick to each for support. Place unmelted chocolate chips on ghosts for eyes. Let dry completely., Using foil, lift brownies out of pans. Discard foil; place 8-in. square brownie on a large serving plate for graveyard. Spread chocolate frosting over top and sides., Cut remaining brownie into 3-in.x1-1/2-in. tombstone shapes. Combine confectioners' sugar and cocoa; sprinkle over tombstones. With black food coloring, tint vanilla frosting gray; decorate tombstones., Using toothpicks, insert three tombstones into graveyard. Insert tree into graveyard (support as needed with brownie scraps). Insert ghosts into graveyard; sprinkle with wafer crumbs for dirt and coconut for grass. Place remaining tombstones on a serving platter.

GRAVEYARD CAKE

Steps:

• In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda and salt; set aside. In a saucepan, combine butter, water and cocoa; bring to a boil over medium heat. Add to flour mixture; beat well. Beat in sour cream and eggs. , Pour into a greased 13x9-in. baking pan. Bake at 350° for 35-38 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes., Meanwhile, in a saucepan, combine butter, milk and cocoa; bring to a boil. Remove from the heat; stir in sugar and vanilla. Pour over warm cake. Crumble chocolate cookies; sprinkle over frosting while still warm. Cool completely. , For tombstone, use icing to decorate vanilla cookies with words or faces; place on cake. For ghosts, make mounds of whipped topping; use icing to add eyes and mouths as desired. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Just before serving, add pumpkins and gummy worms if desired.

MILK CHOCOLATE GRAVEYARD CAKE

Steps:

• For the cake: Put a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 2 (9 by 2-inch) nonstick round cake pans. Line the bottom of each with a round of parchment paper, and then butter the paper.
• Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt together onto parchment paper. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, 4 or 5 minutes. Add your eggs, 1 at a time, mixing until completely incorporated before adding each additional egg. Mix in the chocolate and vanilla, making sure to combine really well. Turn the mixer to low and slowly add the dry ingredients, alternating with the buttermilk, in 3 batches, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Make sure to let it mix thoroughly.
• Pour half the batter in each pan and spread evenly with a spatula or butter knife. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Remove the pans to racks and allow the cakes to cool for 10 minutes or so. Loosen the edges of the cake from the pan with a knife, then turn them onto the racks. Remove the paper and let the cakes completely cool.
• To assemble: Put some Milk Chocolate Buttercream on top of 1 cake layer, pushing out to the sides a bit. Sprinkle some ground up chocolate wafers on top. Place the other cake layer on top and flip it over so the flat surface is up. Ice with the rest of the buttercream. Don't try to make it perfectly smooth, the more bumpy it is the better, we're creating a graveyard!
• With your black gel, write out RIP on the chocolate sandwich cookies to make them look like gravestones.
• Sprinkle more ground wafers on top of the cake to look like dirt. Pat some more around the sides. Take your chocolate tree and put right through the cake in the back. Add some gravestones and some pumpkins. And the chocolate bones, pressing into the sides like an X. Arrange chunks of rock candy around.
• Combine the butter, salt and 2 cups of the confectioners' sugar in a mixer with the whisk attachment. Beat until light and fluffy. Add the melted chocolates, vanilla and the remaining 3 cups sugar. Whisk on medium-high until smooth and fluffy.
• Put the chips in a heatproof glass bowl over a pot of simmering water. Stir to melt. Fill a zip top bag with the melted chocolate and pipe it out on a baking sheet lined with foil in the shape of a tree. Let cool.
• Put the chips in a heatproof glass bowl over a pot of simmering water. Stir to melt. Add the melted butter to the chips to make the mixture more workable. Take your pretzel stick and push a marshmallow on each side. Coat in the white chocolate, and let dry on parchment paper.

GRAVEYARD CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter a 9-by-13-inch cake pan. Line with parchment paper; butter lining. Dust with flour; tap out excess. Set pan aside.
• Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves in a large bowl; set aside. Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; beat on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Reduce speed to low; alternate between adding flour mixture and buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour. Add pumpkin, and beat until completely combined.
• Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake until golden and a cake tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack 15 minutes. Unmold; peel off parchment. Let cool completely on rack, top side up.
• Set cake and rack on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Pour warm chocolate glaze over cake. Using a small offset spatula, gently smooth glaze over top of cake, letting it drip down sides. Let stand at room temperature, or refrigerate until set. Arrange 6 headstones on top; serve with the remaining.

SPOOKTACULAR HALLOWEEN GRAVEYARD CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Mix together cake mix, water, oil, and eggs according to package directions.
• If your package requires different ingredients to make cake, follow those instructions instead.
• Grease and flour a glass 13x9-inch cake pan.
• If you use a dark or coated pan, do your baking at 325°F.
• Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in a preheated oven for approx 35 minutes (38-40 minutes for dark or coated pans) or until cake is done.
• Allow cake to cool in the pan.
• Spread frosting evenly on cooled cake.
• Sprinkle frosting with crumbled cookies (oreos or whatever you are using).
• Using gel frostings, write sayings on 1/2 of the milano cookies (some sayings might be"Justin Tyme","Yul B Next","RIP","M T Tomb","Will B Back","Barry M Deep", etc).
• Press 1/2 of cookie down into cake and icing to resemble a standing tombstone.
• Arrange ghost marshmallows in a standing position on top of cake.
• Scatter candies and/or sprinkles or sugars on cake to garnish.

CUPCAKE GRAVEYARD

Steps:

• Prepare and bake cake mix according to package directions for cupcakes.
• In a medium bowl stir 1 package of frosting with the cookie crumbs. Frost cooled cupcakes.
• Fill a pastry bag, fitted with a plain tip, with remaining white frosting. Write R.I.P. on each chocolate covered graham cracker cookie. Stand a decorated cookie on top of each cupcake so that it looks like a tombstone. Place the cupcakes on a large cookie sheet that has been covered with green paper. Place paper ghosts and bats randomly through the graveyard. Serve!

GRAVEYARD FAULT LINE CAKE

Steps:

• Place the cake on your cake board in the center of a turntable cake stand. Using your hands, press the crumbs into the side of the cake in a strip around the center of the cake. Create a horizontal strip of crumbs around the center of the side of the cake.
• Place your chocolate icing in a piping bag and cut a small tip. Ice the top and bottom of the cake leaving the crumbed area exposed. Smooth out the icing using your offset spatula and a bench scraper to make the sides smooth. Cover the top of your cake in crumbs to resemble dirt. Chill for 30 minutes.
• If you would like to add an extra dimension you can use copper or gold petal dust to paint the edges of the fault line. Place a small amount of dust in a small bowl and dilute with a few drops of vodka or other alcohol. Using a paint brush, paint along the edges where the icing meets the crumbs (this will be easier to execute if the cake has been chilled).
• To make the decorations, warm the modeling chocolates by kneading them in your hands. Marble some gray, brown and black modeling chocolate together to create a stone color and press into a tombstone mold. (If you do not have a mold you can sculpt the shape using a picture for reference.) Roll long tubes of white modeling chocolate and wrap them around toothpicks. Manipulate the end of the tube to resemble a skeleton hand. Place all your decorations on the top of the cake to create a scary graveyard scene.

HAUNTED GRAVEYARD CAKE

Steps:

• To make the ghosts, heat oven to 110C/90C fan/gas ¼. Whip the egg white in a clean bowl until stiff peaks form. Whisk in the sugar a tbsp at a time and keep whisking for a couple of mins until the mixture is thick and resembles shaving foam. Gently spoon the mixture into a large freezer bag, then cut a 1.5cm hole in one of the corners. Cover a baking sheet with some baking parchment. Carefully squeeze a small circle of whipped egg white out of the bag, pulling upwards as you do to make a ghost shape. Repeat until the mixture is used up - you should get about 15 ghosts. Bake for 1½ hrs until crisp. Can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
• Now make the cake. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Tip the cocoa powder, self-raising flour and sugar into a large bowl, breaking up any clumps of sugar. Mix together the eggs, milk and oil in a measuring cup or bowl, then pour over the dry ingredients and stir everything together until smooth. Grease and line a deep baking dish (20 x 30 x 5cm) with baking parchment. Pour in the cake mixture and bake for 30 mins. Leave to cool, then turn out onto a serving plate. Alternatively, wrap well and store for up to 2 days.
• Finish decorating the cake: heat cream in a saucepan until just boiling. Place the dark chocolate in a large bowl and pour over the hot cream. Stir until the chocolate melts. Use a clean brush to paint a layer of chocolate over 7 rich tea finger biscuits, then set aside to cool. Pour the rest of the chocolate mixture over the cake and smooth over with a knife. Whizz the chocolate cookies, or bash in a freezer bag with a rolling pin, until small crumbs form. Sprinkle over the top of the cake.
• Place the white chocolate in a small bowl, set over a pan of simmering water. Leave for 5 mins or until melted, then spoon into a small freezer bag. Wait for 10 mins so the mixture is not too runny, then cut a tiny hole in one corner of the bag. Pipe out 2 small blobs onto each ghost, place a silver ball on each to make eyes, then pipe out suitable words and shapes on the gravestones. Leave for 30 mins to set, then push the biscuit gravestones into the cake and arrange the ghosts around. To get the ghosts to 'fly', push a thin wire (you can get these from a florist shop - remember to remove before eating) into the bottom of the ghost, then place in the cake, hiding the wire behind a gravestone.