Bring a little monster mischief to your Halloween table with a cake covered in colourful buttercream, playful piping and edible eyeballs! This fun decorating idea combines different colours and textures to create a whole crowd of friendly monsters.
You don’t need perfectly even swirls or matching faces. The mix of shaggy fur, spiky stars and wonky eyes is what gives this cake its character.
What you’ll need
- A round layer cake, filled and stacked
- A sturdy cake board
- Buttercream for the crumb coat
- Food colouring in your chosen colours (we recommend Colour Mill Oil Blend)
- Piping bags
- Assorted piping tips (Wilton have tip sets with popular tips)
- Couplers sized to fit your piping bags and tips (optional)
- An offset spatula or cake scraper
- Edible eyeball decorations
- A cake turntable (optional)
1. Start with a crumb coat
Place your stacked round cake on a cake board and spread a thin layer of buttercream over the top and sides. This crumb coat traps loose crumbs and creates a base for your colourful piping.
Use an offset spatula or cake scraper to smooth the surface, then chill until firm. It doesn’t need to look flawless, as the monster decorations will cover it!
2. Mix your monster colours
Divide your remaining buttercream into five batches. We’ve used teal, orange, raspberry, purple and black for a bright Halloween look, but you can choose any combination you love.
We recommend Colour Mill Oil Blends for vibrant, rich colours. Start with a small amount, mix thoroughly and gradually add more until you reach your desired shade, following the product’s directions.
3. Prepare your piping bags
Fill your piping bags with the coloured buttercream and choose a selection of large decorating tips.
Use compatible couplers to make switching tips easy. You can change the tip on a filled bag to create several textures in the same colour, or move a cleaned tip between bags for a different colour. Check that your couplers accommodate your chosen large tips.
Try these designs:
- Rosettes: Use a large open star tip, such as a 1M, and pipe a swirl from the centre outwards.
- Spiky stars: Hold a 4B tip close to the cake, squeeze, then stop squeezing before lifting away.
- Round dollops: Use a large round tip, such as a 2A, to pipe clusters of buttercream dots.
- Flower shapes: Use a 2D drop flower tip to add little flowers or textured clusters.
- Shaggy monster fur: Use a 234 grass tip to pipe strands, working from the bottom of each patch upwards so the fur overlaps.
4. Pipe a patchwork of monsters
Pipe small sections of colour across the sides and top of your cake. Make each patch a different shape and size, alternating colours and textures as you go.
Place a shaggy teal monster beside some orange rosettes, add a purple cluster of dollops underneath, then fill a gap with raspberry stars. Small black swirls or stars add contrast between the brighter colours.
Continue until the crumb coat is covered, filling any little gaps with stars or dots. Turn the cake regularly so you can decorate all the way around.
5. Add the edible eyeballs
Now for the part that brings your monsters to life! Gently press edible eyeball decorations into the buttercream while it’s still soft.
Give one monster a single giant eye, another two mismatched eyes and a shaggy monster three little eyes. Mix up the sizes and placement for funny expressions and plenty of personality.
Ready for a monster celebration!
Your colourful creation is ready to take centre stage at your Halloween party. Pair it with spooky tableware, Halloween balloons and a few playful decorations for a party table that’s more sweet than scary.
Shop everything for Halloween Baking at Sweet Pea Parties.
Cake inspired by Sugar & Sparrow
