How to Decorate a Halloween Cake with Fondant

Color your fondant at home to customize the colors on your Halloween cake.

Many Halloween parties include food and snacks, and a Halloween cake can be an awe-inspiring centerpiece at your next Halloween event. While Halloween cakes can be decorated with frosting or whipped cream, fondant-covered cakes often look more professionally made. Fondant can be found in many cake-decorating and pastry stores. Decorating with fondant can be just as simple as decorating with frosting, as long as you have a bit of know-how and the proper tools. Does this Spark an idea?

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Cake
White frosting
Cake knife
Butter knife
Small paring knife
Confectioners' sugar
Rolling pin
White fondant
Icing color in yellow, orange, purple and green
Vegetable shortening

Instructions

- 1
  
  Use your favorite cake recipe and bake three layers for a single Halloween cake. Let your cake cool completely on a cooling rack.
- 2
  
  Trim your layers with a cake knife so that they are flat on both the top and the bottom.
- 3
  
  Frost each layer with your favorite frosting, and stack the layers on top of one another.
- 4
  
  Buy premade white fondant and knead it until pliable.
- 5
  
  Separate half of your fondant from the main mass and add two or three drops of yellow icing color.
- 6
  
  Knead the icing color into the fondant until it is a vibrant yellow color.
- 7
  
  Divide the remaining fondant into three pieces. Using the technique in Steps 5 and 6, color one piece orange, one purple and one green. Set aside.
- 8
  
  Dust a flat workspace and a rolling pin with confectioners' sugar.
- 9
  
  Roll out your yellow fondant until its circumference is 7 to 8 inches larger than that of your cake; if making a square cake, roll out the fondant to be bigger than your cake. Remember the fondant must cover all sides of the cake as well as the top.
- 10
  
  Spread a layer of frosting on the top and sides of your cake to help catch crumbs and to allow your fondant layer to adhere properly to your cake.
- 11
  
  Lift the yellow fondant over your rolling pin and gently place it on your cake.
- 12
  
  Starting from the top of your cake, smooth the fondant down with your hands to force any air bubbles to escape and smooth away any imperfections.
- 13
  
  Smooth the fondant down the sides of the cake and cut any excess off with a paring knife.
- 14
  
  Roll the orange fondant into small balls, and roll a small log of green fondant for each orange ball to create pumpkins and pumpkin stems.
- 15
  
  Use a butter knife and score each orange ball lengthwise to put details on the small pumpkins.
- 16
  
  Place the pumpkins on the top of your cake, in a pattern around its edge, using a dab of frosting to secure each one in place.
- 17
  
  Roll out the purple fondant into a thick layer and cut gravestones out of the fondant with a paring knife.
- 18
  
  Stick gravestones to the sides of the cake with any leftover frosting.

Tips & Warnings

Lightly cover your hands with vegetable shortening before kneading color into your fondant to prevent the color from staining your hands.
Decorate a cake of a slightly smaller size and place this cake on top of the first to create a multitiered cake.
Wash your hands thoroughly in between kneading different colors of fondant to prevent undesirable mixing of colors.