Food / 10 September, 2023 / Christina Walter

Monster Head Cake, Icky Eyeball Cupcakes And More!

Throwing a spooktacular party and need a centrepiece? We love Ocado for inspo when it comes to Halloween cake recipes and Halloween cupcake recipes. What could be more terrifying than a Frankenstein Monster Head cake?! Read on, if you dare!

Frankenstein’s Monster Head Cake

Prep time: 35 mins
Cook time:
Serves: 18

There’s no need to be scared of cake decorating! Food stylist and Fantasy Cakes author Angela Romeo’s Frankenstein’s Monster Head Cake is a fun party centrepiece that’s super-easy to assemble – leaving you time to whip up other ghoulish treats, such as her Zombie Punch and Death by Chocolate Pots. Or, for a spooktacular showstopper, try the Haunted Gingerbread House.

Ingredients

• 3 280g Madeira loaf cakes
• 400g tub vanilla buttercream
• 2 tsp lemon and lime marmalade
• 1¾ tsp green food colouring
• 175g Ready Rolled White Fondant Icing
• 6 drops Black Food Colouring
• 6 pieces liquorice

Method

1. Line up the 3 cakes on a large plate, tray or cake board with the long sides facing each other. Sandwich them together with 75g of buttercream and the marmalade, split and spread evenly.
2. Measure 150g buttercream into a bowl; smooth over the cake using a pallet knife. Scrape off the excess; discard. This is the crumb coat. Chill the cake uncovered for 15 mins.
3. Meanwhile, stir 1½ tsp green food colouring into the remaining unused buttercream. When the cake is chilled, smooth over the green icing as before (reserving a spoonful).
4. Roll out the black and white fondant icing on baking paper to roughly 3mm thick. For the eyes: cut out 2 large white crescents, plus 2 black circles for pupils and stick on with a little buttercream. For the brow and mouth, cut out 2 black strips and roll into long, thin ‘snakes’. Place them on in a menacing expression. Cut out 2 smaller strips; position at each end of the mouth. Repeat to make 2 stitched-up scars.
5. For the nose: knead the white fondant trimmings with the leftover green food colouring. Roll and cut flat pieces, or model a 3D nose. Stick on using the remaining green icing.
6. Re-roll the black trimmings and use a sharp knife to cut out a long, jagged piece for the hair. Position over the top and side of the cake and press in place. Push 3 liquorice pieces bundled together into each side of the cake for the bolts. Store in an airtight container for 2 days.

Icky Eyeball Cupcakes

Prep time: 20 mins
Cook time: 15 mins

Great fun for kids to prepare and even more fun to eat, these easy-to-make cupcakes are a great addition to your Halloween festivities.

Ingredients

• 100g butter, softened
• 100g caster sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 75g self raising flour
• 1 Pinch baking powder
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 150g fondant icing
• 3 Drops food colouring
• 50g icing sugar , sifted

Method

1. Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
2. Add a little beaten egg, mix. Sift together the flour, baking powder & cocoa and add a little to the mixture, beating well to mix. Continue adding the egg and flour mixture in this way until they are all incorporated.
3. Divide the mixture between 12 cake cases and bake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes until risen and springy to the touch. Cool on a wire rack.
4. Divide the fondant icing into 12 and roll into balls, then flatten the base of each one.
5. Decorate using a small paintbrush and food colouring.
6. Add a drop of food colouring to the icing sugar along with 2 tsp of boiling water to form a thick icing.
7. Spoon a little icing over each cooled cake and top with an “eye ball”.

Halloween Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 20 mins

Lisa’s tip: for a smooth cupcake batter, allow all your ingredients to come to room temperature before you combine them, so they mix evenly.

Ingredients

• 250g self raising flour , sifted
• 250g caster sugar
• 500g unsalted butter , at room temperature, half for the cakes, half for decoration
• 4 large eggs , beaten
• 21 ice cream cones
• 200g cream cheese
• 500g icing sugar
• 2 tsp custard powder
• 1 pack food colouring
• 1 pack writing icing

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350°f, gas mark 4, 180°C.
2. Cream the butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy either by hand or use a food processor.
3. In a separate bowl beat the eggs together, then gradually add to the butter mixture.
4. Add the sifted self-raising powder, mix it all together until it has formed a smooth cake batter with no lumps.
5. Line 2 trays with 21 cup cones, spoon or pipe the cake batter into the cones in until each cupcake case is two thirds full.
6. Put the ice cream cone into the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
7. When they are cooked, take them out of the oven and allow them to completely cool to room temperature, ideally place them on a cooling rack.
8. To make the icing , using a paddle attachment in a kitchen mixer, whip the butter until it is pale in colour this takes about 2 minutes you can also use a hand held mixer for this job.
9. Sift the icing sugar and custard powder into a large bowl.
10. Add around a third of the icing sugar to the butter on low speed and mix well.
11. Add another third and then add the vanilla extract, finally add the remaining icing sugar.
12. Then add the cream cheese, and the food colours of your choice.
13. Keep mixing until a uniform consistency is achieved.
14. Decorate your themed ice cream cone cupcakes with writing icing and sweets!

Berry Spooky Halloween Cupcakes

Prep time: 20 mins
Cook time: 15 mins

Simple to make cupcakes that make a huge impact, a trick and a treat all rolled into one!

Ingredients

• 120g butter, at room temperature
• 120g sugar
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 120g self-raising flour
• 250g icing sugar, (for the icing)
• 1 bottle capful orange food colouring
• 1 gel icing tube
• 1 packet liquorice laces
• 1 packet strawberry laces
• 6 blackberries
• 6 blueberries
• 6 raspberries

Method

1. Heat the oven to 170C / 150C fan and line a muffin tin with cake cases.
2. In a mixing bowl beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat in.
3. Gently fold in the flour until it’s all combined and the mixture drops from the spoon with a slight tap.
4. Divide the mixture between the cake cases and bake in the oven for 16-18 minutes or until they’re golden and spring back when gently pressed on the top. Leave to cool. When the cakes are cool, make the icing by combining the icing sugar with 2tbsp water to make a paste.
5. Divide the mixture into two bowls and colour one orange. Ice half the cakes in orange and half in white. Use the black icing tube to draw concentric circles onto the orange iced cakes then, drag the point of a cocktail stick or skewer from the centre of the icing out to the edge. Repeat all the way around, like the spokes of a wheel, to create a web effect.
6. Add a blackberry as the spider in each web and create its legs with pieces of liquorice. Use a raspberry and blueberry together on the white iced cakes to make the head and body of a bug and again create red legs and antenna in the same way.
7. Note: If you’re short on time buy a pack of fairy cakes and decorate in the same way or ice a big spiders web onto a shop-bought Victoria Sponge and cover in berry spiders.

If you loved Ocado’s Halloween cake recipes, you’ll love:

10 Favourite Halloween Recipes For Your Kids’ Party

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