Masala Menu
Every Halloween party has one cake that everyone crowds around. This year, let it be yours. Here are my five favorites, from cute to properly creepy: a messy mummy, a self-decorating monster eye cake, a giant pumpkin, a bleeding skull and, at number one, a red velvet cake topped with lychee eyeballs.
Halloween baking is all about the reveal: the moment someone sees the cake and laughs, or shrieks. I went through dozens of recipes and kept five that look nothing alike, so there’s one for you whatever kind of baker you are, from “I have 35 minutes” to “clear the weekend”. This is the first of Pepper’s Picks, my countdowns of other creators’ best recipes, from cute to properly spooky.
My five cakes at a glance
| # | Cake | Time | Serves | Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Mummy Cake | 1 hr 5 min | 10 | Easy |
| 4 | Monster Eye Cake | 35 min | 5–6 | Easy |
| 3 | Giant Pumpkin Cake | About 4 hr | 30+ | Showstopper |
| 2 | Bleeding Skull Cake | 2 hr 30 min + chilling | 20 | Showstopper |
| 1 | Spooky Eyeball Cake | 55 min | 12 | Easy |
5. Mummy Cake (CakeWhiz)
I’m starting with the friendliest cake on my list, and the easiest to get right. A vanilla sheet cake is covered in strips of white buttercream piped at random with a petal tip, so the “bandages” are meant to look messy. Two peppermint patties topped with candy eyeballs peek out from between the strips, and a dusting of cocoa, crushed Oreos and a few gummy worms make it look like it just climbed out of the tomb.
- Time: about 1 hour 5 minutes · Serves: 10 · Level: easy
- Why I picked it: it’s the cutest one, and the piping hides any wobbly lines.
- Pepper’s tip: don’t try to pipe neat lines. The messier your bandages, the more it looks like a mummy.
- Good for: kids helping out, school parties, first-time cake decorators.
4. Monster Eye Cake, no frosting needed (Easy Cooking with Molly)
This is the one I’d make when you’re short on time: the fastest cake here, and the cleverest shortcut. It’s a one-bowl chocolate yogurt cake (the egg is optional), and before it goes in the oven, candy eyes and pretzel sticks are pressed into the raw batter. They bake right in, so your cake comes out already decorated: dozens of eyes staring up at you, with no frosting, piping or chilling.
- Time: 35 minutes · Serves: 5–6 · Level: easy
- Why I picked it: the whole thing is done in about half an hour, and nobody has to touch a piping bag.
- Pepper’s tip: press the candy eyes and pretzel sticks in just before the pan goes into the oven, so they bake right into the top.
- Good for: a last-minute bake on the 31st, small households, anyone who doesn’t like frosting.
3. Giant Pumpkin Cake (Anna Olson)
This is the one your guests will take photos of. Two pumpkin-spice bundt cakes (with white chocolate chips) are stacked flat side to flat side, so their ridges line up into one big, round pumpkin. It’s covered in orange buttercream, with a “stem” in cocoa buttercream and green fondant leaves on top. It’s less spooky and more autumn harvest, so I’d happily bake it again for Thanksgiving.
- Time: allow about 4 hours, including cooling · Serves: 30 or more · Level: showstopper
- Why I picked it: it’s big enough to feed the whole party, and the bundt pans do most of the shaping for you.
- Pepper’s tip: when you stack the two cakes, turn the top one until its ridges line up with the bottom one’s. That’s what makes it read as one round pumpkin.
- Good for: big gatherings and potlucks.
2. Bleeding Skull Cake (The Scran Line)
Clean, white and a little terrifying: this is my pick for a grown-up party. Red velvet layers are wrapped in smooth white Swiss meringue buttercream and piled high with white chocolate skulls made in a 3D skull mold. Then red syrup is piped into each skull’s eye sockets, so it pools and drips down the sides of the cake. Cut into it, and the red velvet inside finishes the job.
- Time: about 2½ hours, plus chilling · Serves: 20 · Level: showstopper
- Why I picked it: the white-and-red look is striking, and it’s grown-up spooky rather than cute.
- Pepper’s tip: get your 3D skull mold before baking day. It’s the one piece of kit this cake can’t do without.
- Good for: adult Halloween parties and confident bakers with a skull mold.
1. Spooky Eyeball Cake (Supergolden Bakes)
My number one, and the spookiest of all. Red velvet layers with a vanilla frosting have “blood” made from cranberry juice running down the sides. The eyeballs are the genius part: each one is a lychee with a cocktail cherry and a candy eye tucked inside, so it looks gruesome but tastes like fruit. Pushed onto skewers at different heights, they stare out from the top of the cake.
- Time: about 55 minutes · Serves: 12 · Level: easy
- Why I picked it: it’s the biggest reaction for the least effort, ready in under an hour, and kids love it.
- Pepper’s tip: fill the lychees and push them onto the skewers close to serving, so the eyeballs look fresh and glossy.
- Good for: family Halloween, trick-or-treat night, anyone who wants the “wow” without a full day of decorating.
How to pick the right one
Still deciding? Here’s what I’d tell a friend:
- Short on time: the monster eye cake (35 minutes, no frosting) or the eyeball cake (under an hour).
- Baking with kids: the mummy cake: messy piping is the whole point.
- Feeding a crowd: the giant pumpkin (30+ slices) or the skull cake (20).
- Want gasps: the bleeding skull cake or the eyeball cake.
Planning your Halloween bake
I find the bigger cakes much easier over two days: bake and cool your layers the day before, then frost and decorate on the day. Leave the fresh-fruit and candy toppers (the lychee eyeballs, the gummy worms) until close to serving so they look their best. Check each recipe for its own make-ahead and storage notes before you start.
Save the links in Masala Menu
By the time baking weekend comes, recipe links are lost somewhere in my browser tabs. So I keep mine in Masala Menu, and here’s how you can too:
- Copy the recipe’s link from any of the five pages above.
- Paste it into Add a recipe. The app fills in the title, photo, ingredients and method wherever the page publishes them.
- Tag them “halloween”, so next October they’re one filter away.
- Drop the cake into your plan for the day you’re baking, and with Pro, write what you need onto that week’s grocery list.
New to saving recipes from links? Here’s how recipes work in Masala Menu.
Making sweets too? Here are my 5 favorite Halloween candies and sweets to make at home.
Whichever cake you pick, don’t chase perfect. Wobbly bandages and lopsided drips only make a Halloween cake spookier. Bake it with friends or kids, take a photo before the first slice is cut, and remember to save one for yourself, because these never last the night.
Happy baking, and happy Halloween! 🎃
