This fun creepy Witches Cauldron Cake will make a great centrepiece at any Halloween party, read own to discover how to make one yourself this Halloween.
With it being Halloween at the end of the month, my boys are started to get a little excited already. This is largely due to the fact that the school Halloween disco is on the 20th and they, like many of the other school children, love this because they get to dress up in fancy dress and so do the teachers and PTA helpers. I have to admit, *whispers* it is my favourite disco of the three held each year too!
The boys and I are thinking that we will go dressed up as Zombies this year – easy enough as I figured I could just find some old clothes for each of us, and rip them up a bit and add some fake blood etc. and white face paint. There is already so many spooky and fun Halloween items for sale on the high street, I recently carried out a Halloween haul review from Poundland which you can see here – so much good stuff at only £1 per item
I mentioned in my video that even if you are not into Halloween, you could still throw a little Halloween themed tea party for your children using some fun food and a few pieces of themed tableware, and some novelty decorations, not forgetting your carved pumpkin too. I must admit I do like the sound of these Chattering Ghost Bunting made from up cycled drink cans too, and perfect for anyone who is crafty and creative. Plus these non scary monster crafts would be lovely to make after school to keep my boys occupied, as would the fab ghost leaves
Anyway,the other night I did just that and surprised the boys with a little halloween inspired tea party after school complete with a show stopping Witches Cauldron Cake – recipe below. The menu included:
Mummy Dogs (Frankfurters covered in strips of cheese served in a roll with blood, i.e. ketchup)
Ghost Crisps (available from M & S)
Cheese & Yogurt Wands (Cheese strips and Frubes)
Mini Pumpkins (crisps from M & S )
Green Slime Smoothie (Innocent kiwi, apple & lime smoothie)
The boys LOVED it, although they did think the Green Slime was a tad too zingy! I quite like the sound of this Slow Cooker Halloween Punch – although it is one for mums and dads only, but I did not have all the ingredients available on this occasion! I have kept the paper plates because I found a tutorial for making paper plate spider webs , so the boys and I are going to attempt this nearer Halloween.
I then presented them with a Witches Cauldron Cake which they both went ‘wow!’ at and could not wait to try, although at the same time they didn’t want me to cut it and wanted to keep it until the 30th! I had to explain that the cake would not be very nice covered in mould lol!
The Cauldron cake was a 6inch sized chocolate sponge, sandwiched with a chocolate buttercream and then covered in Renshaw black fondant icing, and I then added liquorice for the Cauldron Cake handle and some jelly sweet snakes and Butterkist popcorn, and a ghastly witches finger (ginger witches fingers available from M & S) to represent the ingredients and frothy bubbles of the witches brew within the cauldron.
I then sat the cake on top of some breadstick logs, ready to be lit for the fire on which to cook the contents of the cauldron.
Here is the recipe for my Cauldron Cake:
- *For the Sponge*
- 150g Butter + extra for greasing
- 150g caster sugar
- 3 eggs
- 25g cocoa powder
- 125g self raising flour
- *For the Buttercream*
- 100g milk chocolate melted
- 50g butter
- 100g icing sugar
- 1 tbsp milk
- *For the Decorations*
- 250g Renshaw Jet Black ready to roll fondant
- 2 Liquorice wheels
- 1 x 15g bag of Butterkist cinema sweet popcorn
- 1 packet of jelly snake sweets
- 1 x M & S gingerbread witches finger (optional)
- approx 10 breadsticks, broken in half
- edible gold glitter spray
- *Making the Sponge*
- Pre heat your oven to 180oC / 160oC (fan)
- Grease and line a 6 inch loose bottomed cake tin
- Place the butter and sugar into a bowl and whisk until soft, pale and creamy (about 5 mins)
- add the eggs and beat for a further few minutes to make the mixture light and airy
- Carefully fold in the flour and cocoa powder
- Pour into your prepared tin and bake for about 40-45 mins until cooked right through and a knife comes out clean (you may need to cover with foil after 35 mins)
- leave to cool
- *Making the Buttercream*
- Beat the cold butter for a few minutes to soften it, and then gradually add then icing sugar to amen a smooth mixture
- add the milk and beat again and then pour in the melted chocolate and beat until you have a smooth buttercream
- *Assembling*
- Cut the now cold cake into 3 layers/sponges
- Sandwich together with buttercream
- I scooped out a little sponge off the top layer of sponge, and then stuck these bits around the top of the cake with the buttercream, to make the curved top of the cauldron.
- Carefully, turn the cake upside down and cover the base and sides with more buttercream
- Roll out your fondant on a lightly dusted surface to as large a disc as you can and then drape over the cake
- Turn the cake back over and ensure it has covered the cake and left the top now fondant free
- Take one of the liquorice wheels and remove the liquorice and double it up, and it should fit around the top inner circumference of the cake.
- Cover the top sponge with more buttercream and then cover with popcorn and jelly snakes
- Taking another liquorice wheel, unravel it and then double it up and twist it, attach each end to the sides of the cake with ½ a cocktail stick to hold in place
- Add a ghastly gingerbread finger should you have one
- spray the cauldron with the glitter spray
- arrange the breadsticks on your serving plate or stand to look like fire sticks/logs, and place the cake on top.
- Serve and enjoy
My fondant skills are not very good, but I just managed to make this look half decent, and the boys thought it was brilliant – so job done! If I can do this, then anyone can! Surround your cake and party food with some fun Halloween props and you have the perfect Halloween tea party. Plus these Slimer Biscuits, inspired by the Ghostbusters film, would be fun to make and then serve at any Halloween tea party.
I was sent a selection of Poundland Halloween goodies for the purpose of a review. I was also sent a bundle of Butterkist popcorn to use in a recipe, and Renshaw recently sent me some new look packs of their fondant icing to use which I did here.
Hosted by http://lavenderandlovage.com , http://travelsfortaste.com http://joskitchen.co.uk/
Your idea was really great, very creative and the cake turned out amazing.
Thank you so much Anca x
Such a cool idea, I bet the kids loved it. I know Amy would be totally creeped out by the finger but secretly admire the cake 😀
Thank you Carolin. My two thought it was ace and they especially loved the freaky finger lol x
What a brill idea – I bet your boys were over the moon!
they were Mandy, thank you x
Oh wow, so many great ideas, and your cake is amazing! Love the yucky finger on top!
What a fab idea! Such a spooky looking cake, perfect for Halloween. Thank you for sharing with #CookBlogShare x
10 Non-scary Monster Crafts for Kids - Yellow Days
[…] Jenny from Mummy Mishap’s Witches Cauldron Cake […]
That does look amazing Jenny.I bet you’ll all look great dressed as zombies for the school disco.I’ve added your post to my halloween round up.
Thank you Aly x
What an amazing cake! I think it’s lovely you gave your boys a little Halloween tea party and that there were some great healthy things too like the smoothie, even if they boys didn’t really like it! I’m definitely going to have to come up with a Halloween cake for my family now although I’m not sure what it’ll be.
I love what amazing ideas you have come up with yet again – especially the cake.
Thank you Joy x
That cake looks fab. A great centrepiece for a Halloween party!
This looks delicious. Thank you for entering #TeaTimeTreats!