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 21-40

  • Binder photo Mystic

    03 November 2010

    Mystic rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    The cake recipe for this was lovely, however it was a cake for a childrens party so I made a chocolate butter cream for the topping instead. The kids all loved the decoration and the ghosts went down a treat. Forgot to buy the silver balls so I used mini m&m's instead the orange and green ones. I am not a lover of white chocolate so opted for icing instead for the other decoration. Will be made again!

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  • Binder photo 12 and <3's to cook

    17 February 2011

    12 and <3's to cook commented on this recipe

    This looks emense lol i g2 make this

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  • Binder photo maureen

    06 September 2011

    maureen commented on this recipe

    i made this cake last halloween the kids love it i had one problem with it the biscuits went soggy but i am going to make it again this year any suggestion how to stop the bisicuits going soggy thanks

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  • Binder photo Vyara

    17 October 2011

    Vyara rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo StaciiMarie

    22 October 2011

    StaciiMarie rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo XxxemmaxxX

    22 October 2011

    XxxemmaxxX commented on this recipe

    made this cake yesterday, very easy to make, children loved it, will be doing another for the halloween party.

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  • Binder photo aimeemac

    29 October 2011

    aimeemac commented on this recipe

    My topping just didn't set! Any suggestions?

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  • Binder photo Cath

    30 October 2011

    Cath commented on this recipe

    I would not bother with rich tea biscuits for the gravestones.Within 3 hours of coating them with chocolate they went soggy & fell over.Next time I would ready coated chocolate biscuits.

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  • Binder photo cowen84

    30 October 2011

    cowen84 rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    made this yesterday, but split the cake mix between 2 round cake tins so make 2 seperate graveyards (one for home and one for work!!) my gravestones have gone soggy but they still taste good. maybe coating them in pure melted chocolate would stop them going soggy, but am quite happy with them covered in ganache. yummy yummy!!

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  • Binder photo Waffoo

    30 October 2011

    Waffoo rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Fantastic .. Quite easy to do and looks and tastes great. I got lots of compliments.

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  • Binder photo HappyBunny

    30 October 2011

    HappyBunny rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    My daughter spent hours making this cake today and although it looked fantastic, I would agree with those who say that it's too rich for children. We scraped off the icing and ate the cake on its own. Looks fab though!

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  • Binder photo Annie

    02 November 2011

    Annie rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    I've given this 4 stars as I only made the cake and ghosts. Used ordinary chocolate buttercream. It was lovely and would definitely use the cake for other recipes. Very popular with children and adults!

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  • Binder photo Gabi

    02 November 2011

    Gabi rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I took this cake to a Halloween party and every child who saw it gasped! It looks amazing and tastes amazing! Moist, not too sweet and it was incredibly easy to make! Instead of dark chocolate, I used milk chocolate and substituted the cookies with kit kats whizzed with a bit more chocolate!!! And thanks to all of the above reviews, I ditched the white chocolate and went with icing! Will definitely be making this again next year for Halloween and using the cake recipe for the next time I have a craving for chocolate cake!!

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  • Binder photo Gabi

    02 November 2011

    Gabi commented on this recipe

    I took this cake to a Halloween party and every child who saw it gasped! It looks amazing and tastes amazing! Moist, not too sweet and it was incredibly easy to make! Instead of dark chocolate, I used milk chocolate and substituted the cookies with kit kats whizzed with a bit more chocolate!!! And thanks to all of the above reviews, I ditched the white chocolate and went with icing! Will definitely be making this again next year for Halloween and using the cake recipe for the next time I have a craving for chocolate cake!!

    Flag as inappropriate

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  • Binder photo Gabi

    02 November 2011

    Gabi commented on this recipe

    I took this cake to a Halloween party and every child who saw it gasped! It looks amazing and tastes amazing! Moist, not too sweet and it was incredibly easy to make! Instead of dark chocolate, I used milk chocolate and substituted the cookies with kit kats whizzed with a bit more chocolate!!! And thanks to all of the above reviews, I ditched the white chocolate and went with icing! Will definitely be making this again next year for Halloween and using the cake recipe for the next time I have a craving for chocolate cake!!

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  • Binder photo cereal_killer

    02 November 2011

    cereal_killer rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    At first I had minor problems with ghosts and tombstones, but in the end it was worth the effort - cake was delicious and looked totally awesome, just in style for Halloween! Will definitely make it again :)

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  • Binder photo Lisaac

    02 November 2011

    Lisaac rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Made this with my 2 cousins, everyone loved it. it was quite hard to write with the chocolate though so we used icing pens instead.

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  • Binder photo Hubingtons

    04 December 2011

    Hubingtons rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo Hubingtons

    08 January 2012

    Hubingtons rated this recipe

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  • Binder photo KERRY YOUNG

    31 October 2012

    KERRY YOUNG rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Brilliant - ghosts became splats but the cake is incredible - I used a bit of orange chocolate and it was lovely

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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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