How To Make An Amazing Halloween Monster Cake
How to make an amazing Halloween monster cake because that big day is just around the corner! If you’re having a party, you must have a centrepiece and this crafty little creation is perfect. Yes, he’s gory, creepy and can’t hang on to his brains but most importantly… he’s freaking delicious. And just when you think he’s perfect I add this little revelation; he is super easy to assemble. With just a few simple shapes layered on top of one another you can be the Halloween Queen, bow down bitches!
If you’ve been here before you’ll know I usually have work in progress photos to keep you right, I’m really sorry but today they’re missing. The trouble is, this week I decided to film myself during the making of the cake and I got the worst stage fright! My mind went blank and my hands started shaking and when I watched it back I’d spent most of the time accidently covering the important shots with a stray elbow. Total nightmare! Luckily though, this cake is such a doddle, you don’t even need them. And hopefully next week I will get to grips with the filming nonsense and you can be the exclusive audience for my movie debut. Watch out world, I’m gonna be a star! Ha, not!
What You'll Need
4 sponges (you can find my recipe here)
1 bottle of strawberry ice cream sauce (the cheap kind)
5 cups of frosting (1 part butter:2 parts icing sugar)
1 tbsp icing sugar
200g white fondant
100g black fondant
50g grey fondant
20g each of dark green, light green and red fondant
Food colouring; red, brown, purple
Method
Bake the sponges in round cake pans, I used 7 ½ inch pans. When they’re cool, cover in cling film and place into the freezer to chill. After 1 hour they should be cooled enough to assemble. Stack each sponge, one on top of the other with a layer of frosting and strawberry sauce in between. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. Using a knife, carefully carve a flat front into the cake for the monster’s face. Round out the top edges and carve in a dip in the top right front section, this is where the monsters brain will be falling out. Apply a thin crumb coat of frosting. Return to the fridge to chill for 30 minutes. While the cake is chilling, colour the remaining frosting purple. Apply a thick layer of purple frosting all over the cake and smooth the surface with a palette knife.
To make the eyes you need 3 circles, decreasing in size; large dark green, medium light green, small white. Place these on top of each with a little water to help them stick. For the pupil, roll a small ball of back frosting and press into the white. Finally cut out an eyelid using the cutter from largest circle, attach across the top. I find it easiest to assemble everything on a piece of parchment paper. Repeat so that you have 2 eyes and place into the fridge to chill.
No, let’s move onto the mouth. This is built up from layers on top of parchment paper, like the eyes. Start with the base layer in black. Then cut out a tongue shape in red fondant, remember to cut a line at the middle top. Attach this to the black with a little water. The teeth are simply small pieces of white fondant, make some flat topped and some slightly pointed for a little variety. Once the teeth are joined, roll the grey fondant into sausage shapes for the lips. The first time I made this I tried one long strip all the way round but I hated it, so I recommend doing this in 2 separate parts, one for the top lip, one for the bottom. Save any leftover grey fondant for later. Move the mouth to the fridge to chill.
Colour the remaining white fondant with a tiny drop of red and brown food colouring to make the brain. Roll this into sausages and attach to the little indent you carved in the top earlier. Bend the fondant sausages into winding patterns like this.
In a pan, heat half a cup of strawberry sauce with 2 tbsp of icing sugar and a little red and brown food colouring. Whisk this over a low heat until the icing sugar is fully dissolved. Bring it to a light simmer for 2 minutes and then immediately spoon over the brain. Be sure to aim the blood into the cracks because as soon as the mixture leaves the pan it will start to harden so once it’s on the cake you won’t be able to move it. When the brain is coated, drip some sugar blood down the front of the cake, as though pouring out of the wound. Place the cake in the fridge to chill for 10 minutes.
While the cake is chilling, start making the hair. This part is super easy and a little bit therapeutic. There’s something about repeating a simple, physical task that I find weirdly soothing, is that just me? Tell me you guys do it too before I start worrying. The monster man’s hair is just little pieces of black fondant rolled into thin sausages and draped on top, couldn’t be simpler. After the cake is chilled, go ahead and cover his full head.
Now to attach the eyes and mouth and nose. Oh man, if I’d just had ears we could have sung the verse to ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’. So close. The frosting should still be soft enough for them to stick but if it isn’t, don’t worry, just apply a little smidge of fresh frosting to the back of each decoration and pop them on the cake. If you’re panicking that you’ve lost your nose, don’t, we haven’t made one yet. Roll a little piece of grey fondant into a tear shape and stick it the front of the cake then, using a needle or skewer, poke in two little nostrils.
Lastly, we just add a few embellishments in grey; stitches and a mole. If you made last week’s Hocus Pocus cake, the stitches are pretty similar. Simply roll out 1 long, thin, grey, fondant sausage and place it on the left cheek a little bent in the middle. Add on top small, grey, fondant sausages going across. As for the mole, roll out a little circle, flatten it with your finger and pop it onto the right cheek.
Voila! You did it! Now all that’s left is to show off your creation on Instagram so everyone can see how talented you are. Remember to tag me @icinginsight, I love seeing your interpretations.
