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pink halloween cake with a purple ganache drip decorated with sprinkles and pink monsters.
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5 from 2 votes

Pink Halloween Cake

Three moist vanilla sponge layers with pink vanilla buttercream, a purple white chocolate drip and Halloween sprinkles!
Prep Time1 hour 30 minutes
Cook Time25 minutes
Chill Time35 minutes
Total Time2 hours 30 minutes
Course: Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: Fusion
Diet: Vegetarian
Servings: 16 servings
Calories: 824kcal
Author: Kachina

Ingredients

Vanilla cake

  • 350 g unsalted butter softened
  • 400 g white sugar caster or granulated
  • 3 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 7 eggs
  • 100 ml milk
  • 4 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 400 g plain all-purpose flour
  • 5 teaspoon baking powder

Pink buttercream

Purple ganache drip

Decorations

Instructions

Vanilla cake

  • Preheat oven: 180°C / 160°C (fan) / Gas Mark 4 / 350°F
  • For the sponges, cream together the butter, sugar and oil using a spatula, electric hand mixer or stand mixer, until light and pale.
  • In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, milk and vanilla until combined.
  • Beat half of the wet ingredients mix into the butter mix.
  • Sieve in half of flour and beat in until smooth, then stir in the remaining wet mix.
  • Sieve in the remaining flour and the baking powder, folding in until only just combined.
  • Divide the batter evenly between three greased and lined 8-inch cake tins and bake in the oven for 25-30mins until risen and skewer comes out clean from the middle of the cakes.
  • Allow the cakes to cool in the tins for 20mins before removing and transferring to a wire rack while you make the frosting.

Pink buttercream

  • Beat the butter (either by hand, using an electric mixer or stand mixer) until pale, light and fluffy. This could take several minutes.
  • Sieve half of the icing sugar into the butter and beat until combined, then repeat this with the remaining half of icing sugar.
  • Add in the vanilla extract, milk and salt mixing until only just smooth.
  • Stir in pink food colouring, a few drops at a time, until you get the desired pink colour.

Assembly

  • Place roughly ⅕ of the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a nozzle of your choice (I like an open-star tip like Wilton 1M) and set this aside for later.
  • Once the cake sponges have cooled, place one onto a flat plate or cake board and spread roughly ¼ of the remaining buttercream on top.
  • Place the second sponge on top and spread on another ¼ of buttercream.
  • Place the final sponge on top and cover the cake (top and sides) in the rest of the frosting, smoothing lightly with a spatula and cake scraper.

Purple ganache drip

  • Heat the cream over a double-boiler or in the microwave (20 secs at a time), until hot but not boiling.
  • Add the broken up pieces of white chocolate to the hot cream. Let it sit for 5mins and then stir until smooth. You can heat this in the microwave another 20secs at a time if not fully melted and smooth.
  • Stir in purple food coloring (or red plus blue) until you get the desired colour.
  • Allow the ganache to cool at room temperature for 15-20mins, until the ganache is still runny but has cooled and thickened.
  • Dip a teaspoon in your ganache and test a drip at the top edge of your cake. If this creates a thick line and only runs partway down the side, you’re good to go. If it hits the bottom, refrigerate your ganache for 5mins and try another test drip. Repeat until your test drips are to your liking.
  • Drip ganache from your spoon at the edges of your cake until you have enough drips. Then fill in the middle of your cake top, smoothing gently with an offset spatula until you get an even layer.

Decoration

  • Decorate the sides of your cake with candy eyes and other Halloween sprinkles between the drips.
  • Using the buttercream set aside previously, pipe big swirls onto the top of the cake in a ring and place candy eyes into each swirl.
  • Top your cake with more sprinkles and enjoy!

Video

Notes

Storage: Store your cake in an airtight container for up to 4 days at room temp. If it's hot where you live, store it in the fridge.
Freezing: You can cut your cake into pieces and freeze for up to 3 months, wrapped in cling film and foil.
Helpful swaps:
  • You can swap the plain flour for self-raising flour of the same quantity and reduce the baking powder in the recipe down to 1 tsp.
  • Instead of pink food colouring, you can use a small amount of red colouring.
  • Instead of purple food colouring, you can use a mix of red and blue colouring.

Nutrition

Calories: 824kcal | Carbohydrates: 102g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 45g | Saturated Fat: 27g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 12g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 179mg | Sodium: 198mg | Potassium: 113mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 82g | Vitamin A: 1342IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 132mg | Iron: 2mg