Let me preface this post by telling you that in spite of the name of this cake, there is no candy corn to be found in it. I really don’t care for candy corn – it’s too sugary – but I do love anything with stripes. So I took inspiration from the colors of candy corn for the design of today’s striped Candy Corn Halloween Cake.
Looking for more Halloween ideas? Don’t miss my pumpkin cake with chocolate leaves, Halloween cupcakes, and haunted house cake.
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What’s in this cake?
There’s so much to love about this cake! To start, there are four layers of cake. Both the cake and the buttercream is striped in brown, orange, yellow and white, and each layer has a different flavor, too.
Then I poured dark chocolate ganache over the top of the cake, letting it drip temptingly over the sides. And lastly, Halloween candy. It’s playful, festive, fun to look at, and fun to eat! If you like candy corn, add that to your candy mix for decorating your cake.
TIP: Before you get scared off by the idea of baking four cakes and mixing up four batches of buttercream, you only have to make two of each. There’s a chocolate layer, of course, with chocolate buttercream. But the other three all begin with a basic vanilla cake batter and buttercream, that you divide up to color and flavor.
How to Make a Striped Halloween Cake
Bake the Chocolate Cake.
This cake has one layer of chocolate cake, and it’s an easy recipe to make. Just combine the dry ingredients, whisk in the liquid ingredients, and your batter is done and ready to bake. It’s such a good chocolate cake, rich but light, moist and fluffy.
Bake the Vanilla Cake.
For the other three layers of cake, you’ll only need to make one batch of batter. My popular Vanilla Cake recipe is a favorite of everyone who’s tried it, and just as easy to make as it is delicious.
After making the batter, divide it into three bowls. Then flavor and color each bowl of batter so that you have a bowl of orange batter (flavored with almond extract), yellow batter (flavored vanilla), and white batter (flavored with coconut extract). Then bake your cakes in separate pans so that you have different colored layers of cake.
I kept all the cake flavors complementary – chocolate, almond, vanilla, and coconut. My favorite bite was a combination of the chocolate and almond together.
Make the Buttercreams.
Next, make the buttercream. Like the cakes, you’ll only need to make two batches, one batch of chocolate buttercream, and one batch of vanilla, which you’ll be coloring yellow, orange and white.
Assemble and Frost the Cake.
The most interesting thing about this striped candy corn Halloween cake is that the stripes of the buttercream on the outside of the cake match the cake layers inside the cake. Make the different colors of cake is easy, and frosting the cake with stripes of buttercream is really not difficult either.
I’ve explained the striping technique in detail in the recipe below, and of course, there are many videos on the Internet that you can watch this technique if you need to visualize the process better. You can also see other examples of striped buttercream in my Neapolitan Cake and my Somewhere Over the Rainbow Cake.
Decorate with Chocolate Ganache Drip and Candy.
Once you’ve frosted your cake, you can relax, because this next part is the most fun!
To make the chocolate ganache drip, just pour hot cream over chopped chocolate and stir until smooth and shiny. Pour it over the top of the cake, letting it drip over the sides.
Lastly, decorate your cake with Halloween candy and sprinkles. The more variety, the better!
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common questions with cake making, so that you can be successful in your own baking! I also suggest reading these comprehensive posts on making Perfect American Buttercream, How to Stack, Fill, Crumb Coat and Frost Layer Cakes and How to Use Piping Bags.
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Candy Corn Striped Halloween Cake
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
- ⅔ cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- ¼ cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 1 tsp espresso powder (optional)
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 large egg
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup boiling water
Vanilla Cake (for Orange, Yellow and White Layers)
- 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
- 1 ¼ tsp baking soda
- 1 ¼ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 2 large eggs
- 2 egg whites (save the extra yolks for another use)
- 1 ¾ cup whole buttermilk, room temperature
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- vanilla, almond and coconut extracts
- orange and yellow gel food coloring
Chocolate Buttercream
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- ½ cup unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa powder
- ⅛ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 tsp meringue powder (optional)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1-2 tbsp milk or cream, if needed
Vanilla Buttercream (for Orange, Yellow and White Stripes)
- 2 ½ cups unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 5 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 tbsp meringue powder (optional)
- 2 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 3-4 tbsp milk or cream, if needed
Ganache Drip
- 2 oz semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate
- 2 oz heavy whipping cream
- assorted Halloween candy and sprinkles
Instructions
Chocolate Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 and grease one 8-inch pan with non-stick spray.
- In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients and whisk vigorously until smooth. Pour into one pan and bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
Vanilla Cake (for Orange, Yellow and White Layers)
- Preheat the oven to 350 and grease three 8-inch pans with non-stick spray.
- In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Add the eggs, egg whites, milk, vinegar and oil and whisk until smooth. Divide equally into three bowls.
- Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and a few drops of yellow food coloring to one bowl of batter.
- Add 1 teaspoon almond extract and a few drops of orange food coloring to the second bowl of batter.
- Add 1 teaspoon coconut extract to the third bowl of batter; this one should remain white.
- Pour into the three pans and bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool the cakes on cooling racks, covered with clean kitchen towels, until completely cool.
Chocolate Buttercream.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, salt, meringue powder and vanilla. Increase speed to medium and whip for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally, until very light and fluffy. Add the milk or cream as needed for desired consistency.
Vanilla Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar, salt, meringue powder and vanilla. Increase speed to medium and whip for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally, until very light and fluffy. Add the milk or cream as needed for desired consistency.
- Divide into 3 bowls. Use gel food coloring to tint one bowl yellow, one orange, and keep the third white.
Ganache
- For the ganache, place the chopped chocolate in a bowl. Warm the cream in a saucepan over medium low heat, just until simmering around the edges, the pour over the chocolate. Stir until smooth and pour over the cake, letting it drip over the edges.
- Note, don't make the ganache until you have the cake assembled and frosted.
Assembly
- Remove the cooled cakes from the pans. Have all of your buttercreams mixed, tinted and ready to go.
- Set a cake board on a turntable. Set the chocolate cake on the cake board. Frost the top of the cake with approximately 1/2 cup of chocolate buttercream, then frost the sides with a thin crumb coat of chocolate buttercream.
- Set the orange cake layer on top of the chocolate. Frost the top of the cake with approximately 1/2 cup of orange buttercream, then frost the sides with a thin crumb coat of orange buttercream, trying not to mix it into the chocolate buttercream on the layer beneath.
- Set the yellow cake layer on top of the orange. Frost the top of the cake with approximately 1/2 cup of yellow buttercream, then frost the sides with a thin crumb coat of yellow buttercream, trying not to mix it into the orange buttercream on the layer beneath.
- Set the white cake layer on top of the yellow. Frost the top of the cake with approximately 1/2 cup of white buttercream, then frost the sides with a thin crumb coat of white buttercream, trying not to mix it into the yellow buttercream on the layer beneath.
- Place the crumb-coated cake in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.
- Fit four piping bags with a medium-sized round piping tip (such as Wilton #12). Fill the bags with the remainder of the chocolate, orange, yellow and white buttercream.
- Set your chilled cake back on the turntable.
- Starting at the bottom, pipe the chocolate buttercream around the cake in even rows, all the way around the cake, making sure each row touches the next. Continue piping around 1/4 of the way up the cake.
- Repeat with the orange, then the yellow, and lastly the white buttercream.
- Now, take a bench scraper or pastry scraper, hold it at about a 45-degree angle to the cake and lightly sweep it around the sides of the cake on a continuous motion – this is where it is extremely beneficial to decorate your cake on a turntable so that you can turn it with one hand while you smooth the buttercream with the other. Without a turntable, this step will be difficult for you. You are not trying to remove much frosting, so use a light hand – you are simply smoothing out any air bubbles and blending the colors together. Sweep around the cake several times, wiping the bench scraper clean with a paper towel each time around, until you’re satisfied with the result. Smooth out the top.
- Make the ganache, then let it cool for several minutes until it's the right pourable consistency. You don't want it to be too warm so that it melts your buttercream, but too cool and it will thicken up to much to pour. Pour it on top of the cake, lightly spreading it towards the edges with an offset spatula and letting it drip down the sides.
- Let the ganache set for about an hour, then decorate with candy.
Just when I think you've outdone yourself..you outdo yourself..you are so talented Heather!
Thank you, as always! 🙂
This is amazing! I think…actually, I know that I need to make this and bring it in for a Halloween potluck at work this Friday. Everyone will be so impressed. That, and coconut cake sounds delicious with the other cakes. Yum!
I made this for a work potluck, too. Lots of rave reviews! 🙂
these last 2 halloween cake are awesome, the fist is just fun and crazy with eyes, this one is classy and fun
Thanks! 🙂
Okay, this has to be the ultimate Halloween cake. Candy on top, candy corn colors, cute little flags…just perfect :3 I'm sure it's delicious too!
It was! So many different flavors and textures. 🙂