Haunted Cemetery Cake

This is a chocolate cake with fun Halloween decorations on top. In this Instructable, we focus on the decorations and just use a mix for the chocolate cake, but we might end up adding instructions for a homemade cake soon!

We used square marshmallows for the gravestones, green icing for the grass, coffee grounds for the dirt, pretzels for the fence, and marshmallow fondant for the bones and skulls.

This cake design was designed and made by me and some of my friends. I hope you like it!

First of all, gather all your ingredients and supplies.

Ingredients

• Two boxes of Ghiradelli double chocolate cake mix - we chose to use cake mix for simplicity, but you could also use your own chocolate cake recipe. If you are using Ghiradelli cake mix, you will also need:
  • 2/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 4 eggs
• Square marshmallows, also called s'more marshmallows, for the gravestones
• Black and green icing food coloring to color the gravestones with and dye the green icing (for grass) and black icing.
• 2 cups of butter, for the icing
• 2 teaspoons vanilla, for the icing
• 1 tablespoon milk, for icing
• Powdered sugar, for icing and bones
• Toothpicks
• Thin pretzel sticks, for the fence
• Coffee grounds, for the dirt
• Marshmallows for the bones, any type of marshmallow will work

Supplies

• Two cake pans (we used two so we could stack them)
• Mixing bowls, measuring spoons, etcetera.
• Microwave-safe bowls
• Electric mixer
• Icing piping bags with different attachments

Like I said earlier, we chose to use a cake mix, but you could use your own chocolate cake recipe if you wanted.

For Ghiradelli double chocolate cake mix, just follow the instructions on the box (see pictures above). We used two boxes and made two cakes so we could stack them.

To make the gravestones, Cut the square marshmallows in half (see picture), then use the black icing dye to color the gravestones grey. We just mixed some dye into some water, and then brushed the black water onto the marshmallows to color them grey. Then we put the gravestones in the fridge so they could dry faster.

Chop two cups of butter into chunks and put the butter in a mixing bowl, then mix it up using an electric mixer (we had to microwave the butter for about 20 seconds to soften it up first). Then add two teaspoons of vanilla and a little powdered sugar. Mix it some more, taste it, and keep adding powdered sugar and blending it until it reaches your desired sweetness level. Add approx. one tablespoon milk, then mix until light and fluffy.

Take about one third of the icing and dye it green with green icing dye. Then take just a tiny bit of icing (a little more than one tablespoon) and dye it black or dark grey with black icing dye. Leave the rest of the icing white.

Take one of the cakes and cut the rounded part of the top off. Then use an icing piping bag and squeeze icing out on the top of the flat cake surface. Use a spoon to spread the icing out, put a perimeter of icing around the edge of the cake, and place the second (rounded) cake on top of the first (see picture). Then put more icing on the sides of the cakes and use a knife to smooth it out (see picture).

Add some green grass to the top of the cake using a piping bag; we used a weird "jagged-edge" attachment. Put grass around the edge of the cake and also add a "pathway" going through the middle of the cake.

Put some of the black or dark grey icing in a piping bag with a very thin, fine, round attachment. Then carefully write whatever you want on the gravestones. We simply did a squiggly line under the word RIP (Rest In Peace).

Then, stick toothpicks into the bottom of the gravestones and then stick the toothpicks, with gravestones, into the cake!

Then add some more grass in between the gravestones, if you want.

Take some pretzel sticks and poke them into the cake, around the edges, to make a fence.

Then take some coffee grounds and sprinkle them on the pathway and in front of the graves, or wherever you want. Our coffee grounds really look like fresh dirt (see picture)!

Place four marshmallows in a microwave safe bowl (see picture), and then add two tablespoons of water to the bowl. Then place the bowl into a microwave and microwave the marshmallows for 45 seconds. Then take the marshmallows out of the microwave and make sure they are soft (they should be thick and syrupy, if they aren't, microwave them for longer). Add powdered sugar until moldable (similar to play-doh). You might have to put the fondant in the fridge overnight so it can firm up a little.

Once you get your fondant into a play-doh-y texture and thickness, you can use a toothpick and your fingers to mold the fondant into little skulls and bones to place around the cake.

Congratulations on finishing a Haunted Cemetery Cake! My dogs are hoping they'll get a little of the cake! Unfortunately, it's made of chocolate... But maybe they'll get one of the marshmallow bones!

If you have any questions, please leave a comment and we will try to reply as soon as possible.

Let us know in a comment if you have any cool ideas of your own to add to this cake!

Thank you everyone!