Halloween Cake. Fondant Halloween Cake Tutorial

Today I’m showing you how to make a Halloween Cake with a step-by-step tutorial. I will explain all the tricks and techniques that you need to make your own Halloween Cake.

The day when the living dead go out of their tombs to cause fear and panic among the living is arriving! The scary night of Halloween is one of the special dates marked every year on my calendar. I like to think of the amount of fondant cakes or chocolate sculptures that I can make, inspired by witches, pumpkins, zombies, deceased, ghosts and all kinds of bloody and monstrous dudes.

Today I will write the recipe for a Halloween Cake and on my next post, I’ll show you how to make a Halloween sculpture with modelling chocolate.

Halloween Cake: step-by-step

As you may know, I don’t usually model with sugar paste but sometimes it’s good to make an exception. This time I couldn’t resist the temptations of small-scale modelling. On this post I want to take the opportunity to explain how to model with fondant or gum paste (I normally use Renshaw’s Flower & Modelling Paste).

Techniques that you will learn making this Halloween Cake

Modelling with sugar paste
How to make fondant figures
How to cover a cake with fondant
How to get perfect edges on fondant cakes
Modelling details
How to create a soil effect

Essential tools for the Halloween Cake

Like I always say, it’s essential to prepare all the materials before starting making a cake. To make this cake, you’ll need:

1 Cake drum (25cm diameter)
1 Dummy (17,5cm diameter + 10cm high) or some cakes (17,5cm diameter, some filling and chocolate ganache)
2 white wires, gauge 20
1 white wire, gauge 26
Modelling tools set (I use the Sugar Shapers by Innovative Sugarworks).
Some brushes
Black satin ribbon (15mm thick)
Rounded cutters set
Fondant rolling pin (small and big)
Pizza cutter
Toothbrush (unused!)
Floral pliers
1 Skewer
2 Fondant smoothers

Edibles for the Halloween Cake

500gr of black fondant Renshaw Extra
100gr of grey fondant Renshaw Extra
100gr of white Renshaw’s Flower & Modelling Paste
30gr of Renshaw’s Flower & Modelling Paste coloured with ProGel Terracotta.
15gr of Renshaw’s Flower & Modelling Paste coloured with ProGel Yellow and ProGel Khaki.
Dark chocolate cake, crumbled in small pieces
ProGel Terracotta, Khaki, Yellow, Mint Green and Caramel
Rainbow Dust Black Magic, Aubergine, Chocolate and Lemon Tart
Edible glue by Rainbow Dust

Halloween Cake recipe

Make two strips with the modelling paste. Make sure one of the ends is a bit thicker than the other. Press the thinnest end with your finger to create a foot.

2. Fold the foot by pinching it and cut the end of the leg diagonally, so that you can fit it to the body.

3. Wet a white wire gauge 20 with some edible glue and prick it in one of the legs from the foot, until it shows on the other end.

4. Cut another wire of the same gauge but 1,5cm longer for the other leg. This second wire has to be pricked from the thigh downwards, keeping it from emerging from the foot. This leg will stay lifted and we’ll only prick it to the body, that’s way the wire must be pricked differently.

5. Take a medium size portion of Renshaw’s modelling paste and shape it into a teardrop. Then, press the lower part in order to create a pair of clefts, from which we’re going to fit both legs.

6. Wait a few hours until the legs and the body have hardened before continuing with the modelling. If you stick the body to the legs before they’ve dried properly, the legs won’t hold and will break. Once it’s dry, apply some edible glue on the vertical leg. Also apply some edible glue on the wire. Prick the body in the wire and make sure it’s straight. Be careful not to over press it, as you can break the leg.

7. For the arms, make two strips with some modelling paste and flatten one of the ends with your fingers. Insert a white wire gauge 26 into the arm, previously brushed with some glue, and stop before getting to the hand. Let dry for a couple of hours.

8. For the head, make a not very big egg with some modelling paste. With a modelling tool, create a hole for the mouth pressing with the tool downwards.

9. With a rounded tool, press the lower part of the mouth upwards, that way you’ll create an expression of terror.

10. With the same tool, make the eye sockets.

11. With a sharp tool, make two small and centered holes above the mouth and between the eyes to create the nose.

12. Colour some modelling paste with ProGel Caramel.

13. Make two equally sized balls and glue them to the holes. You can colour some modelling paste with ProGel Mint Green to make the tongue and a little worm.

14. Paint the eye pupils with an orange edible pen (by Rainbow Dust).

15. Prick a wire gauge 20 into the body. Let the wire emerge for 2cm so that you can prick the head later.

16. Apply some edible glue on the wire and prick the head.

17. After a few hours, the other leg must be dry enough. Pull the zombie out from the dummy and lie it down. Prick the other leg in a right angle and hold the leg with the help of some skewers. Let dry for a few hours.

18. After a few hours, lift the sugar figure and prick the arms in it, applying some edible glue on both wires.

19. Shade the eyes, arms and legs with some Rainbow Dust Black Magic. The black colour will give the zombie a decrepit look.

20. Stretch some modelling paste and cut some thin strips 5mm wide to create bandages. Shade them with Rainbow Dust Black Magic and Aubergine.

21. Apply some edible glue on the bandages and roll them in the body. You’ll get a funny look if you roll them poorly. It will look terrifying.

22. Stretch 500gr of black fondant and cover the dummy with it. You can sprinkle some icing sugar to keep the fondant from sticking to your working surface.

23. Wet the dummy with some water in order to stick the fondant to the cake. First, remove all wrinkles with a fondant smoother. Do it always in spiral.

24. With two fondant smoothers, create perfect edges by pressing to the ends.

25. In order to get a fluorescent green, colour a ball of modelling paste with ProGel Yellow and Khaki. You’ll get a spectacular colour!

26. Cut some circles of three different sizes to make the some scary eyes.

27. Colour some modelling paste with grey and cut some irregular shapes to make some tombstones. You can texturize the, with a toothbrush. Shade them with Rainbow Dust Black Magic.

28. Make a tombstone with some grey paste and shade it with black powder colorant. Insert a skewer into the tombstone and prick it to the cake.

29. Prick the zombie in the Halloween cake.

30. Crumble some dark chocolate cake in order to create a soil effect. Put it on the tombstone and at the feet of the cake.

31. Colour two balls of paste with ProGel Terracotta and make some marks on them with a sharp modelling tool in order to create a pumpkin.

32. Shade the marks with Rainbow Dust Chocolate.

33. You Halloween Cake is ready. You can add some spiders, bats, bloody fingers, skulls or whatever you like. Imagination has no borders!

How are you going to design your Halloween Cake?

I hope this tutorial helps you model figurines with sugar paste. As I always say, the most important thing is to create, learn and have fun. I’d love to learn about your Halloween ideas. I encourage you to tell me about your Halloween cake design.

I don’t want to say goodbye without thanking you for visiting and for leaving some comments here and on my social media. I’m so happy to know that these tutorials can help you. I really look forward to keep writing and sharing some ideas and tips with you.

See you soon!

Marc Suárez