Haunted graveyard cake

Haunted graveyard cake

The perfect centrepiece for a Halloween celebration, this cake is guaranteed to make your party extra spooky

Difficulty and servings

Moderately easy

Serves 10

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 45 mins

Cook time

Cook 2 hrs

Method

  1. To make the ghosts, heat oven to 110C/90C fan/gas ¼. Whip the egg white in a clean bowl until stiff peaks form. Whisk in the sugar a tbsp at a time and keep whisking for a couple of mins until the mixture is thick and resembles shaving foam. Gently spoon the mixture into a large freezer bag, then cut a 1.5cm hole in one of the corners. Cover a baking sheet with some baking parchment. Carefully squeeze a small circle of whipped egg white out of the bag, pulling upwards as you do to make a ghost shape. Repeat until the mixture is used up - you should get about 15 ghosts. Bake for 1½ hrs until crisp. Can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
  2. Now make the cake. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Tip the cocoa powder, self-raising flour and sugar into a large bowl, breaking up any clumps of sugar. Mix together the eggs, milk and oil in a measuring cup or bowl, then pour over the dry ingredients and stir everything together until smooth. Grease and line a deep baking dish (20 x 30 x 5cm) with baking parchment. Pour in the cake mixture and bake for 30 mins. Leave to cool, then turn out onto a serving plate. Alternatively, wrap well and store for up to 2 days.
  3. Finish decorating the cake: heat cream in a saucepan until just boiling. Place the dark chocolate in a large bowl and pour over the hot cream. Stir until the chocolate melts. Use a clean brush to paint a layer of chocolate over 7 rich tea finger biscuits, then set aside to cool. Pour the rest of the chocolate mixture over the cake and smooth over with a knife. Whizz the chocolate cookies, or bash in a freezer bag with a rolling pin, until small crumbs form. Sprinkle over the top of the cake.
  4. Place the white chocolate in a small bowl, set over a pan of simmering water. Leave for 5 mins or until melted, then spoon into a small freezer bag. Wait for 10 mins so the mixture is not too runny, then cut a tiny hole in one corner of the bag. Pipe out 2 small blobs onto each ghost, place a silver ball on each to make eyes, then pipe out suitable words and shapes on the gravestones. Leave for 30 mins to set, then push the biscuit gravestones into the cake and arrange the ghosts around. To get the ghosts to 'fly', push a thin wire (you can get these from a florist shop - remember to remove before eating) into the bottom of the ghost, then place in the cake, hiding the wire behind a gravestone.

721 kcalories, protein 9g, carbohydrate 95g, fat 36 g, saturated fat 11g, fibre 3g, sugar 66g, salt 0.63 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, October 2009.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 1-20

  • Binder photo lally

    22 October 2009

    lally rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    it looks great

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  • Binder photo jackie

    31 October 2009

    jackie commented on this recipe

    i made this for rainbows which they all enjoyed i did the grave stones and ghosts in sugar paste and stuck the biscuits on the cake with butter cream

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  • Binder photo rach

    01 November 2009

    rach commented on this recipe

    i did this cake for my sisters hallenween party and everyone enjoyed it

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  • Binder photo julie

    01 November 2009

    julie rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    made this cake for my hubbys birthday which was yesterday,it easy to make and it is like eating a giant brownie.

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  • Binder photo Ali

    01 November 2009

    Ali rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I used this idea, but a different recipe. The sponge was similar, but the recipe I used was:http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/11269/sticky-chocolate-drop-cakes. From this I made a big square one (using a 26cm x 35cm tin), but any square shaped tin would have been fine. This tasted like chocolate heaven. I also used a green icing, to make it look more like a graveyard. The ingredient was; - 2 avocados stoned and peeled -150g desiccated coconut- 250g of icing sugar - 2tbsp of mint extract. 1/ Peel and stone the avocado's and blend, so is a paste and smooth. 2/ Combine the icing sugar, with coconut, then add fruit and extract. 3/ Whisk until combined and then cover cake. Did not make ghosts, but used headstone idea and used flake to look like dug up mud :) All over a smashing cake!!!

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  • Binder photo Julie3007

    01 November 2009

    Julie3007 rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Great centrepiece and will definately make again.

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  • Binder photo Belinda

    03 November 2009

    Belinda rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Absolutely fab and easy to make - especially as it's staged - the ghost were hit and miss but whatever the form the taste was great! A firm favourit as from NOW !

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  • Binder photo Lydia

    03 November 2009

    Lydia rated and commented on this recipe

    2 stars

    This cake looked fantastic, however I made it for a kids party and it just didn't work. It is a real grown up tasting cake - very dark and bitter, which is fine if that is what you are expecting, but not very good for a bunch of three to seven year olds. If I did it again, I would use a different icing and different cake mix for kids. For adults it would work fine.

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  • Binder photo dhende84

    06 November 2009

    dhende84 commented on this recipe

    Made two of these cakes and got nothing but good comments about the look and taste. I loved decorating it and the ghosts turned out really well. My only comments would be that the Dark chocolate topping was too bitter and I had to add a couple of tablespoons of sugar to sweeten it Next time I may use Nutella or another chocolate spread to save time and get the taste right). Also the white chocolate I used (Green & Blacks white chocolate) for sticking the silver balls onto the meringue didn't melt as well as the dark and I had to abandon the melted white chocolate completely and make icing instead to get the texture I needed to make them stick.

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  • Binder photo Jackie

    03 December 2009

    Jackie rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Made this cake for my son's 11th Birthday party, They all loved it. Very easy to make, they all fought over the ghosts and tombstones. Def make it again, yummmy!!!

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  • Binder photo Yurika

    17 February 2010

    Yurika rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo Lesleymc

    07 April 2010

    Lesleymc rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    Made this cake last Halloween and it was a big success. Will definitely make again.

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  • Binder photo Debbie

    11 April 2010

    Debbie rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Made this for halloween and it was a success. Have made it several times undecorated freezes well good for packing up

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  • Binder photo Hayles

    20 July 2010

    Hayles rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Made this for a Halloween party, really easy to bake and decorate and looks and tastes fab!

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  • Binder photo Lorna

    20 October 2010

    Lorna commented on this recipe

    Made this last Halloween & it turned out brilliantly. Like some others, my white chocolate didn't melt very well so if I made it again I'd probably just use a water & icing sugar mix which would pipe better on the 'grave stones'. Very impressive looking while being relatively simple to put together.

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  • Binder photo debbie

    23 October 2010

    debbie commented on this recipe

    I made this last year for my granddaughters birthday cake she was born on halloween all loved it and was fun to make glad to see on main page.

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  • Binder photo debbie

    23 October 2010

    debbie rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo Nayha

    27 October 2010

    Nayha commented on this recipe

    Reminds me of Halloween

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  • Binder photo DopeyAngel

    02 November 2010

    DopeyAngel rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    I made this cake for a Halloween party and it went down a treat. The cake wa eaten by adults but I wouldn't have thought that it would have been unpleasant for children, it wasn't bitter at all. A bit like chocolate fudge cake IMO. Looked really really impressive though I substituted the white chocolate for icing pens to stick the silver balls on and to write on the 'gravestones'. Really good!

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  • Binder photo Stephanie Ritchie

    02 November 2010

    Stephanie Ritchie rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I made this at the weekend and it was brilliant. So easy to make and my dh said it was the nicest chocolate cake I'd made!

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Difficulty and servings

Moderately easy

Serves 10

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 45 mins

Cook time

Cook 2 hrs

Ingredients

TO DECORATE

  • 1 egg white
  • 50g icing sugar
  • 200ml single cream
  • 200g dark chocolate , finely chopped
  • 125g rich tea finger biscuits
  • 100g double chocolate cookies
  • 25g white chocolate
  • silver balls , to decorate

FOR THE CAKE

  • 85g cocoa powder
  • 200g self-raising flour
  • 375g light brown muscovado sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 200ml milk
  • 175ml vegetable oil
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721 kcalories, protein 9g, carbohydrate 95g, fat 36 g, saturated fat 11g, fibre 3g, sugar 66g, salt 0.63 g

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