Up next in 10
10 Halloween Cake Hacks
10K views
Sep 6, 2024
In this cake decorating video I share 10 Halloween cake hacks to give you that "wow" factor without spending hours in the kitchen! Tell me in the comments which is your favourite! For my online cake decorating school click here: https://www.britishgirlbakes.com/online-courses To read a written version of this tutorial (with photos!) click here: https://www.britishgirlbakes.com/10-halloween-cake-hacks/ SUBSCRIBE to my channel for a new cake decorating tutorial every week!
View Video Transcript
0:00
There are so many design possibilities for Halloween cakes and in this video I'm going to share 10 hacks for quick and easy but impressive
0:08
Halloween cake decorating. The first hack is how to create jet black buttercream
0:13
There are a few tricks for this, the first one being to start with a brown base by mixing cocoa powder and hot water to make
0:20
a paste and adding that along with melted chocolate to your buttercream
0:25
Melt the chocolate at 80% power in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time so that it doesn't overheat
0:31
and seize and let it cool to room temperature before adding it to your buttercream so that
0:35
you don't melt it. Now add black gel and you'll need a lot less than if you'd started with plain
0:42
white buttercream. Next tip, after you've mixed the black in, cover the bowl and leave it for an hour
0:49
for the colour to develop and darken and you'll have a true jet black buttercream, perfect for
0:54
Halloween cakes! Look how dark that is! Create edible spider webs with marshmallows, melting them in the
1:00
microwave for 30 seconds and then stirring them to make, well, a mess and then pinch the mixture
1:06
between your fingers and stretch it out to wrap around a cake, changing the angle and making this
1:11
perfectly imperfect web of stringy, gooey, delicious strands of marshmallow. Cake toppers will stick to
1:18
the marshmallow spider web like this bubbling cauldron in my online striped spider web cauldron
1:23
cake class or these pumpkins which are the next hack! For textured pumpkins, use a medium round tip
1:29
like this number 12 tip, piping curved lines side by side. I usually do four or five lines and these
1:36
lines create the effect of the bulges and grooves in a real pumpkin. Piping them onto parchment is
1:42
easier than piping them onto the side of a cake. Put them in the freezer for 10 minutes to chill
1:47
and set the buttercream and then you'll be able to peel them off the parchment and pick them up
1:51
to stick onto the side of a cake. Halloween cakes don't have to be scary and using non-traditional
1:57
Halloween colours is a great way to make the cake fun instead of creepy. Pale pink pairs really well
2:02
with orange and you can incorporate the orange with a sprinkle border, pushing the sprinkles
2:06
gently into the bottom inch or so of the cake just after frosting it, while the frosting is still
2:11
sticky so the sprinkles will attach easily. Some pretty pink swirls piped onto the top with a 1M
2:17
star tip finish this off nicely, creating a Halloween cake that's whimsical with a touch of
2:22
spooky. These chocolate ghosts are a fun hack! Use white chocolate chips or white candy melts and
2:28
melt them in the microwave at 80% power for 30 seconds at a time so they don't overheat and
2:33
seize. Lay out a piece of parchment paper and spoon a little bit of melted chocolate onto it
2:38
and then use the back of the spoon to smear it out, whisking the spoon away to leave a little
2:43
tail on each ghost. These need to set before you can add details and attach them to a cake
2:48
so leave them at room temperature for about an hour or put them in the freezer for five minutes
2:53
For the faces, melt chocolate chips and add black gel and then pour the melted chocolate into a
2:58
ziploc bag and cut off a corner and then pipe on dots for the eyes and mouth. Peel the ghosts off
3:04
the parchment paper and press them into a cake while the frosting is still soft and sticky and
3:08
they'll attach easily. For really easy homemade cake toppers, cut out cookies in Halloween shapes
3:15
and freeze them for an hour before baking them so that they hold their shape and don't expand
3:19
into blobs in the oven. Let them cool completely and then pipe or spread buttercream to decorate
3:24
them. Holding your piping tip a little bit above the cookie as you pipe will help you get a smooth
3:29
outline and if you want to fill that in, pipe buttercream into the middle and then use an offset
3:34
spatula to spread the buttercream from the edge of the cookie towards the middle to smooth the
3:38
surface. Use black buttercream or melted chocolate tinted black to pipe the face with a piping bag
3:45
or just a ziploc bag with a corner cut off. To attach the cookie to a cake, spread or pipe a line
3:51
of buttercream or melted chocolate up the back of the cookie and press a straw into it and the
3:56
chocolate or buttercream will act as glue. Put the cookie in the freezer for five minutes to set the
4:01
buttercream decoration and the buttercream or chocolate glue on the back of the cookie and then
4:06
push the straw into your cake to secure your cookie cake topper in place. How adorable is this cake
4:13
Piping your design straight onto a cake? To make it easier and neater, draw or trace the design first
4:19
onto paper or parchment paper and then cut it out and hold it against the side of your cake
4:24
after the frosting has set so you don't damage it. Use a toothpick to draw around the edge of the
4:30
shape, creating a guide to pipe onto so you don't have to freehand the shape. Don't like your piping
4:36
Press sprinkles or coloured sugar over the outline. If the frosting on the cake has set you won't
4:41
damage it with the pressure of your hand against the sprinkles but because you've just piped the
4:46
shape onto the cake, that frosting will still be soft and sticky so the sprinkles or coloured sugar
4:52
will stick to the outline easily. Use a paintbrush to brush off the extra sprinkles or sugar and a
4:57
large powder brush works best for large areas but a small stiff brush is best for small areas
5:03
like the spaces in between the grooves of this pumpkin. Adding sprinkles or sugar to the piping
5:08
makes the lines colourful and sparkly but also they'll appear much neater. With parchment paper
5:14
you can create your own stencils. Draw or trace your design, cut it out and press the parchment
5:20
paper against your cake. This only works when the frosting is firm so I put my cakes in the
5:26
fridge for at least an hour before doing this. Spread buttercream over your homemade stencil and
5:31
then smooth it with a cake scraper. With this technique you can make your own free stencils
5:35
in whatever shape and size you like, saving lots of money and creating unlimited cake designs
5:42
After you peel the parchment off you can touch up any smudges in the outline of your shape with
5:46
a toothpick, scraping gently to remove unwanted buttercream. Want to create a design with lots of
5:52
colours? If you don't have several small round piping tips you can pipe your design with ziploc
5:57
bags, filling each one with a bit of coloured buttercream and cutting off a tiny piece from
6:02
one corner of the bag. Then squeeze the bag to push the buttercream through that hole
6:07
Use 5, 10 or however many colours you like without spending forever washing and drying piping bags
6:13
and piping tips in between each colour. You can pipe lines to create outlines or to fill in shapes
6:20
or pipe dots and the more you cut off the corner of your ziploc bag the wider your lines or dots
6:25
will be when you squeeze the buttercream out of the bag. You would never know that intricate cakes
6:30
like this were created with just a few ziploc bags! I hope these Halloween hacks have been useful
6:36
Tell me in the comments which one's your favourite and check out my online cake school for lots of
6:40
cake decorating classes and courses and you'll find the link at the top of the screen and in the
6:45
video description or go to britishgirlbakes.com. If you try out any of these hacks please tag
6:50
British Girl Bakes in your photos on Instagram so I can see your creations! Thank you for watching
#Bakeries
#Candy & Sweets
#Cooking & Recipes
#Desserts
#Holidays & Seasonal Events
#Party & Holiday Supplies