Halloween Cake Recipes That Are Terrifyingly Delicious

ANITA CALERO

Who needs candy when there are these bewitching cakes to slice into? Our selection of tricky treats includes chocolate cakes, cheesecakes, and spice cakes all decked out in supremely scary decorations.

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ANITA CALERO

Candy may get top billing on Halloween, but cakes are just as worthy of this creepy holiday, as these spectacular creations go to show. There are spiders on fondant (with vanilla cake underneath), witches on ganache, and tombstones on buttercream. In this collection of Halloween cakes, two themes emerge: chocolate and spice (somehow lemon and blueberry just don't feel right for a day that's actually more about night).

On the chocolate side, non-squeamish bakers will love a creepy crawly chocolate cake with crunchy malt balls studding its ganache center. Ganache also stars in a chocolate cake adorned with a vibrant serpent, its design stenciled on glossy ganache.

What's the most suitable of desserts for October 31st? Why a devil's food cake! Especially when it's surrounded with red tuile cookies that look like flames to evoke a spooky vibe; and yet another devil's food cake (is there a more sinisterly named treat?) takes the form of a towering haunted house, with a winding nougat staircase leading up chocolate buttercream grounds to the entrance. It's a masterpiece of spookiness and sugar craft.

Pumpkin meets chocolate in a scare-worthy take on Boston Cream Pie. Dare we say this version is better than the original? Martha's Graveyard Cake also features pumpkin, there's a pumpkin spice base; with a warm chocolate glaze poured over the top so it "bleeds" down the sides. Top it with espresso shortbread headstones to mark each slice. How's that for suitably spooky, slightly over-the-top, and as advertised, entirely delicious?!

In this collection you'll also find cheesecake just right for Halloween, an added bonus is its webby topping—and the treat is that it's a no-bake version.

Better get baking before the ghouls arrive! These Halloween cake recipes are sure to inspire your supernatural side.

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Raven's Nest Cake

Addie Juell

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Dramatic indeed but scarily simple to make, I trick you not; the dark chocolate nest is made with a magical technique. It tops a simple chocolate cake, richly frosted with vanilla buttercream. Be very careful with the raven, a witches bird that is said to talk.

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Haunted-House Cake

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A masterpiece of dreadful delight this. Set atop a steep hill of devil's food cake, this forbidding cookie house features caramelized-sugar windows, black-licorice spires, and sunflower-seed shingles.

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Boston "Scream" Pie

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The construction-paper vampire bats don't have fangs but make no mistake: They hope to suck the sweet and spicy filling out of this scary pumpkin-chocolate cake take on Boston Cream Pie. Watch out for that oozing chocolate glaze.

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Graveyard Cake

Sang An

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No spectral menu is complete without this creepy pumpkin spice sheet cake covered in a bleeding chocolate glaze. Espresso shortbread tombstones mark each slice.

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Creepy-Crawly Cake

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Look carefully! This elegant chocolate layer cake is filled with decadent ganache but there's more—are those malted milk balls in the filling or bugs?! Decorating the cake with rubber cockroaches will have your guests and ghouls wondering.

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No-Bake Spiderweb Cheesecake

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A dangerously addictive combination this, do watch out for you might be lured into the chocolate web that tops this innocent vanilla cheesecake and never leave.

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Snake Cake with Venom Glaze

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Beneath this ganache-covered cheesecake topped with a coiled serpent, lies a dessert hour full of surprises (and a chocolate crust).

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Halloween Cake Pops

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Let everyone get in on decorating these pound cake pops. Assemble a scarily good selection of bats, bones, and cake sprinkles in eerie orange and creepy black so once you dip the pops in melted chocolate, your ghouls can add the frightening finishing touches.

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Devil's Food Cake with Flame Tuiles

Kate Sears

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A ring of fire (tuiles) dance around a dense chocolate cake so decadent it was named for the devil himself.

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Halloween Cake Recipes That Are Terrifyingly Delicious

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