A few years ago, I saw a skull cake floating around somewhere on the corners of the web, and it haunted me for years (like all good spooky things). It was a simplistic but stunning cake with rows of skulls on it, but the skulls were painted with luster dust to be super sparkly…needless to say, this fits in with my brand of preferred Halloween decor, what I call, “Classy Spooky” (things that are terrifying, but also really pretty…ask yourself, would Morticia Addams have this in her home? If the answer is yes, you now know what “Classy Spooky” means). No bones about it, I had to try recreating a sparkly skull cake to keep up my Halloween aesthetic…turns out this cake was quite the bone-anza to make, and I am in love with my sparkly little skeleton army.
Time to bone up on those cake decorating skills! You can use any cake and any type of frosting to use as a base for this cake. I used a whipped frosting and vanilla cake combo (recipe below). You’re gonna need a few tools to make a jaw-dropping skull cake of your own. Product recommendations:
-Skull mold
-Luster dust in preferred shade (I used a burgundy shade from Monegasque)
-Halloween sprinkle set with silver pearls in large and small
-Skull and roses cake toppers
I have a video tutorial below, but you can also bone up on how to decorate this cake with the slideshow here.
Recipe and Instructions
Gluten free vanilla cake with whipped cheesecake-flavored frosting
A sparkly skeleton cake perfect for Halloween celebrations
Ingredients
CAKE*1 box of gluten free yellow cake mix (I used King Arthur brand)
*112 grams (1/2 c) fat free Greek yogurt
*2/3 cup fat free or skim milk
*38 g (2 TBS) unsweetened applsauce
*4 eggs
FROSTING
*CHILLED mixing bowl needed (I freeze mine for an hour)
*1 ounce box of sugar free cheesecake pudding mix
*1 quart of cold heavy whipping cream
*1/3 cup of Lakanto powdered monkfruit
*Gray and black gel dye
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 and grease three 6-inch round pans and add bake even strips.
- Whisk yogurt and applesauce together in a stand mixer on low for 30 seconds before adding half the cake mix.
- Add eggs in, one at a time, on low, before adding milk and remaining batter, mixing on medium-high.
- Pour batter evenly into pans and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean from the center.
- Allow cakes to cool fully before frosting.
- To make frosting, dump the whipping cream and pudding mix into a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Whip on medium-high for 3 minutes, or until stiff peaks are forming and frosting sticks to the whisk when the mixer is raised.
- Finally, add in the powdered monkfruit and gel dye, and blend for 30 seconds.
- Place a layer of frosting in between each cake round and frost the entire cake, smoothing as best as you can with an angled spatula and bench scraper.
- To decorate skull cake, follow along with the photo gallery or video tutorial above, and view links to recommended products at the top of the blog.
- Keep cake covered and in the fridge. It is best served at room temp, so remove from fridge 30 minutes before eating. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Macros12 servings
330 cal/42.9 c/15.5 f/4.6 p per slice
Kate Bakes Cakes 