It’s Day Two of Halloween Treats week, and it’s time for my easy Day of the Dead Cake! (Yesterday’s post: Halloween Potato Eyes)
Layers of moist chocolate cake spiced with pumpkin pie spice and instant coffee filled with gooey pumpkin pie spice caramel from sponsor, Litehouse Foods.
And if you’re not a great cake decorator, worry not. Let sprinkles and a fun marshmallow sugar skull topper do the heavy lifting for you. All you’ll need to do is spread on a thin layer of luscious vanilla goat cheese (or cream cheese) frosting and then pat on a boatload of sprinkles!
This is a sponsored post in support of Halloween Treats Week. All opinions are my own. Links to all our sponsors can be found in the body of the post.
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How to Decorate an Easy Day of the Dead Cake
In a word: sprinkles!
Not everyone owns a ton of cake decorating equipment, and not everyone can ice a cake so it is super smooth.
But almost anyone can slap a thin coat of icing on a cake and then cover the entire thing in sprinkles that reflect the theme of your cake!
In this case, I used sprinkles from Halloween Treats Week sponsors Sweets & Treats Boutique and Wilton along with a marshmallow sugar skull lollipop from Treat Street to make my decorating life really easy!
Here’s the rundown:
What You Need to Make an Easy Day of the Dead Cake 3 6″ cake rounds, or 2 larger rounds. It’s your choice. No need to buy special pans, from scratch or from a box. (Note, I do love my 6″ cake pans, though!) filling and frosting, either homemade or store bought All The Sprinkles! A topper of some sort. What Kind of Frosting Should I Use?
I got inspired by my friend’s goat cheese frosting from his wonderful cookbook, All-Time Favorite Sheet Cakes & Slab Pies, so I changed my plan to use cream cheese frosting and made goat cheese frosting instead.
You can absolutely make cream cheese frosting or any other white frosting. Ermine frosting would be a great choice as well.
I do think you should stick with white or light-colored frosting because a white background will blend in nicely with the sprinkles if you accidentally leave any gaps.
What If I Don’t Have 3 Cake Pans?
Worry not. I only have 2 as well.
Here’s what you do:
Pour 1/3 of the batter into each of your two pans, leaving the last third of the batter in the bowl. Refrigerate the leftover batter. Bake the two cakes, let cool for 10 minutes, and then turn them out to finish cooling. You can reuse the parchment paper that you used in the first round of baking, so peel it off one of your layers and put it back in the bottom of one of the cake pans. No need to wash it as long as the cake came out mostly cleanly. Pour the remaining third of the batter into this pan and bake.
The batter keeps fine for a few hours and your third layer will rise just as well as your other layers.
Layering and Decorating the Cake, Step by Step Pipe a ring of frosting on the first layer. Fill in the ring with your filling. (NOTE: If you’re not using a separate filling, you can just spread the frosting on without worrying about piping the ring. Add a second cake round and pipe a ring of frosting on it. Add more filling. Top with the 3rd and final layer and press down gently. Apply a very thin crumb coat of frosting to the outside of your cake and then chill for 30 minutes. Add another thin coat of frosting. (Remember, you’re using a ton of sprinkles, so you don’t need a thick layer of frosting) Press sprinkles all over the top and sides of your cake, covering the frosting as completely as you can. Use your hand to gently press the sprinkles into the frosting so there are no loose ones. This will minimize any mess when cutting and serving the cake. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Add the topper right before presenting and serving. How to Make the Pumpkin Spice Caramel Filling
It was very easy to make the filling for this chocolate Day of the Dead cake.
I took 1/2 cup of my frosting and mixed it with about 1/3 cup of Litehouse Foods Pumpkin Spice Caramel Dip.
That’s it! See?
1/2 cup of frosting in a bowl. Pumpkin Spice Caramel Dip (and that stuff is Excellent on its own!) Plop some into the frosting. Whisk until completely combined and smooth. So, Tell Me About This Chocolate Cake This easy chocolate cake is spiced with pumpkin pie spice to echo the pumpkin spice in the caramel filling. Based on Hershey’s perfectly chocolate chocolate cake, it is supremely moist and full of flavor.
What, this guy? Yeah, I think you can see why I love this cake so much.
The base recipe I used is Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cake. It’s an easy recipe to make since it doesn’t require you to do The Creaming Method.
I love using this recipe as my base for most of my chocolate cakes because it is easy to make and is super moist and flavorful.
It’s a two bowl cake. You can make it with a stand mixer or a hand mixer. You can even make it with a whisk, but your arm may get a little tired.
All you do to make the cake is combine all the dry ingredients--including sugar–in one bowl. Then combine all the wet ingredients in another bowl. Mix the two together for two minutes on medium speed, and then finish with a cup of boiling water. Easy!
For this Day of the Dead themed chocolate cake, I knew I wanted to use the pumpkin spice caramel as a filling, so I used pumpkin spice to flavor the cake along with some instant coffee. So somewhere inside this cake lurks a pumpkin spice latte!
Sponsor Products I Used to Make This Cake
I managed to use products from all our fantastic sponsors in this cake. I can attest to their quality, so I hope you will try out some of their products, especially if they are new to you.
Adams Vanilla Extract Dixie Crystals Sugar, Granulated and Powdered Wilton sprinkles Treat Street Marshmallow Sugar Skull Sweets & Treats Boutique Sprinkles Litehouse Foods Pumpkin Spice Caramel Dip Halloween Treats Week Recipes, 10/8
Before we get down to serious Day of the Dead chocolate cake business, please check out all the other creative Halloween treats our participating bloggers have for you today.
Check out the amazing #HalloweenTreatsWeek recipes from our bloggers today! Pet Ghost Pudding Cups from Big Bear’s Wife Hocus Pocus Cupcakes from Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks Monster Strawberry Cupcakes from 4 Sons R Us Easy Day of the Dead Cake from Pastry Chef Online (you’re here!) Small Batch Pumpkin Cupcakes from Cookaholic Wife Bloody Red Eyed Velvet Cupcakes from Our Good Life Zombie Dirt Cups from Cheese Curd In Paradise Cauldron Cupcakes from Jen Around the World Caramel Apple Blondies from Kelly Lynn’s Sweets and Treats Halloween Hash Snack Mix from Sweet Beginnings Haunted Halloween Dessert Tray from For the Love of Food Oozing Caramel Truffle from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures Ghostly Freakyshake from Lemon Blossoms Pumpkin Cheese Ball ~ Festive Halloween Cheeseboard from West Via Midwest Candy Corn White Russian from Sweet ReciPEAs Monster Pumpkin Spice Caramel Cream Cheese Dip from Katie’s Cucina Spiced Chocolate Monster Truffles from My Sweet Zepol Halloween Bat Sugar Cookies from Intelligent Domestications Let’s Make This Easy Chocolate Cake! A Note About Measurements
I generally try to stick to weights when baking, for both accuracy and consistency. But the perfectly chocolate chocolate cake always comes out, well, perfectly, and it’s written in cups, so that’s what I’m sticking with for this recipe.
For most of my other recipes, I do use a scale, and this is the one I use and recommend:
I really hope you love this easy Day of the Dead cake, you guys! Whether or not you use my recipes for the cake and frosting, if you make one, please share a photo with me, either in the PCO Facebook Group or on instagram by tagging @onlinepastrychef and using hashtag #pcorecipe. Thanks, and enjoy!
Also, please consider rating the recipe. This helps other people decide if they want to make it for themselves.
Easy Day of the Dead Cake Yield: 8 slices Prep Time: 30 minutes Cook Time: 30 minutes Total Time: 1 hour
This easy day of the dead cake is all about the sprinkles. I made a chocolate cake flavored with pumpkin spice and espresso powder. Filled with a gooey pumpkin spice caramel filling and frosted with goat cheese frosting (you can certainly use cream cheese if you'd rather), this cake tastes fabulous, but it's the sprinkles and marshmallow sugar skull topper that make it stand out.
Make the cake as written, or use your favorite recipes or boxed mix and canned frosting. But don't forget the sprinkle trick. It'll make you look like a pro!
Print Ingredients For the Cake 2 cups sugar (I used Dixie Crystals) 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour 3/4 cup American cocoa powder (not Dutch process) 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice 2 teaspoons instant coffee or espresso powder 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 2 large eggs 1 cup milk (I used whole milk) 1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used avocado oil) 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (I used Adams Extract) 1 cup boiling water For the Frosting 4 oz goat cheese or cream cheese 2 oz (1/2 stick) unsalted butter 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (I used Adams Extract) 1 pound (4 cups) powdered sugar (I used Dixie Crystals) 2 1/2 Tablespoons half and half For the Filling 1/2 cup prepared frosting 1/3 cup pumpkin spice caramel dip (I used Litehouse Foods) To Decorate All the sprinkles and a topper that fits the theme Instructions For the Cake Preheat oven to 350F with a rack in the center. Prepare 3 6" pans by spraying with pan spray, lining with a parchment circle, and then spraying again. Set aside. Combine the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, pumpkin pie spice, espresso powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in the bowl of your stand mixer or in a large bowl. Whisk to thoroughly combine and aerate the dry ingredients. Whisk together the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Pour into the dry ingredients and mix on medium speed for two minutes, scraping the bowl as necessary. Mix in the boiling water until completely combined. The batter will be thin. Divide batter evenly among the three pans and bake until done, about 30 minutes. Internal temperature should be 195-200F, and the cake will just start pulling away from the sides of the pan. Remove to a rack to cool for 10 minutes, and then turn out to cool completely. For maximum moist cake awesomeness, wrap each layer in plastic wrap while still hot and put in the fridge to cool. This keeps all the liquid in the cake rather than it evaporating while the layers cool. Fill and frost, then chill at least an hour before decorating. For the Frosting Beat goat cheese or cream cheese, butter, and salt until smooth and creamy. Add the sugar and mix on low speed until mostly combined and then on medium speed. Scrape the bowl as necessary. Thin to spreading consistency with half and half. You may need to use a bit more or less than called for, depending on conditions in your kitchen. Start with 1 Tablespoon and then go from there. Mix on high speed until fluffy. For the Filling Whisk the frosting and caramel dip together until smooth and completely combined. To Decorate Put all your sprinkles in a bowl. Use a rimmed sheet pan to catch the sprinkles that fall off the cake. Hold the cake from the bottom in your non-dominant hand. This will be easier with the cake chilled. You can also place the cake on a 6" cake circle, slicking it down with a bit of frosting, for more stability. Grab a handful of sprinkles, tilt the cake, and press the sprinkles up the sides of the cake, allowing excess to fall into the baking sheet. Continue all the way around the cake, filling in areas as necessary, and tilting the cake to get the best coverage. Press sprinkles evenly on top of the cake. Chill the cake again for at least 30 minutes. Top with a marshmallow sugar skull topper or the topper of your choice. Notes
WHAT IF I DON’T HAVE 3 CAKE PANS?
Worry not. I only have 2 as well.
Here’s what you do:
Pour 1/3 of the batter into each of your two pans, leaving the last third of the batter in the bowl. Refrigerate the leftover batter. Bake the two cakes, let cool for 10 minutes, and then turn them out to finish cooling. You can reuse the parchment paper that you used in the first round of baking, so peel it off one of your layers and put it back in the bottom of one of the cake pans. No need to wash it as long as the cake came out mostly cleanly. Pour the remaining third of the batter into this pan and bake.
The batter keeps fine for a few hours and your third layer will rise just as well as your other layers.
LAYERING AND DECORATING THE CAKE, STEP BY STEP Pipe a ring of frosting on the first layer. Fill in the ring with your filling. (NOTE: If you’re not using a separate filling, you can just spread the frosting on without worrying about piping the ring. Add a second cake round and pipe a ring of frosting on it. Add more filling. Top with the 3rd and final layer and press down gently. Apply a very thin crumb coat of frosting to the outside of your cake and then chill for 30 minutes. Add another thin coat of frosting. (Remember, you’re using a ton of sprinkles, so you don’t need a thick layer of frosting) Press sprinkles all over the top and sides of your cake, covering the frosting as completely as you can. Use your hand to gently press the sprinkles into the frosting so there are no loose ones. This will minimize any mess when cutting and serving the cake. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Recommended Products
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Small Offset Icing Spatula 4.5 Quart Glass Bowl KitchenAid Hand Mixer KitchenAid 6 quart Stand Mixer Fat Daddio's 6 x 2 Cake Pans, Set of 2 Nutrition Information Yield 8 Serving Size 1/8 cake
Amount Per Serving Calories 867 Total Fat 29.6g Saturated Fat 12.3g Cholesterol 83mg Sodium 760mg Carbohydrates 146.5g Net Carbohydrates 0g Fiber 3.2g Sugar 117.9g Sugar Alcohols 0g Protein 11.7g The stated nutritional information is provided as a courtesy. It is calculated through third party software and is intended as a guideline only. © Jenni Field Cuisine: American / Category: Cakes Halloween Treats Week Giveaway! Happy Halloween! It’s October which means it’s time for Spooky Season and this year’s #HalloweenTreatsWeek event! #HalloweenTreatsWeek is hosted by Angie from Big Bear’s Wife & it’s a creepy and haunting week-long event filled with some amazingly wicked Halloween treats, recipes and some frightfully fun giveaways.
“When witches go riding, and black cats are seen, the moon laughs and whispers ‘tis near Halloween.”
For the 2nd annual #HalloweenTreatsWeek event we have 41 fantastically talented bloggers that are sharing their favorite Halloween recipes throughout the week! There are going to be over 160 Halloween themed recipes shared during this year’s #HalloweenTreatsWeek and we can’t wait for you to see them all! Follow the hashtag #HalloweenTreatsWeek on social media and look at the bottom of each post to see all of the Halloween recipes that we’re sharing!
Plus, don’t forget that we have 6 (six) great giveaways for you this week thanks to our amazing sponsors!
Scroll down to take a look! Prize #1
Prize #1 — Dixie Crystals is giving away a “Dinner and Dessert Set” – ONE 6-Quart Cook & Carry Programmable Slow Cooker, a Pyrex mixing bowl set plus some fun Dixie Crystals items like a Dixie Crystal Apron and Cookbook!
Prize #2
Prize #2 — Adam’s Extract is giving away – 1 Gift Pack – including 4oz Adams Best, 1.5 oz Peppermint, 1.5oz Almond, 1 bottle vanilla cinnamon sugar, 1 bottle pumpkin pie spice
Prize #3
Prize #3 —Wilton is giving away a Texturra 7-Piece Bakeware Set
Prize #4
Prize #4 — Sweets and Treats Shop is giving away a large baking box of goodies! Sweets and Treats will send one lucky winner a large assortment of sprinkles and lines and other samples of their products!
Prize #5
Prize #5 — Treat Street USA is giving away a set of Holiday Treat Decorations (1 Gummy Assortment, 1 Marshmallow Snowman, 1 Toy Solider and 1 Gingerbread Men)
Prize #6 Prize # 6– Litehouseis giving away the following: 1 Litehouse® Honeycrisp Apple Cider, 1 Litehouse® Old Fashioned Caramel, 1 Litehouse® Pumpkin Spice Caramel, 1 Litehouse® Butterscotch Caramel & 1 Litehouse® Chocolate Dip, Snack Packs a Rafflecopter giveaway
Giveaway open to US Residents 18 years or older. All entries will be verified. No PO Boxes Please. Prizes will be sent directly from sponsors to winners, bloggers are not responsible for prizes. This giveaway runs from October 7th – October 13th at 11:59PM EST. Winners will be selected soon afterward and contacted by e-mail. Winners will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. There are a total of 6 (six) prizes and therefore we will have a total of 6 (six) winners. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited by law.
Disclaimer: These posts and recipes are part of the week-long event, #HalloweenTreatsWeek but all opinions are 100% mine! We would like to Thank our amazing sponsors: Dixie Crystals, Adam’s Extract, Wilton, Sweets and Treats Shop, Treat Street USA and Litehouse! These wonderful sponsors provided the prize packs for our giveaways and also sent samples and products to the #HalloweenTreatsWeek bloggers to use in their recipes.
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