I’ve always loved Halloween. I’ve dressed up, every year, since I was three. Whether it was being Big Bird, April O’Neil from Ninja Turtles, or the Evil Queen from Snow White – I’ve always been down to dress up. Heck, one of my favorite movie’s is the oh-so-bad-but-I-don’t-care-because-it’s-awesomely-bad Hocus Pocus! Bette Midler in that movie is my spirit animal.
Yup, you know you love it too. Admit it.
But. this year will be different. A whole new level of excitement is upon us.
My son is finally old enough to understand the concept of Halloween, the costumes, and the festive nature of the amazing ordeal. In fact, I’ve been so excited by Halloween that I’ve been planning a theme for our family costumes for over a month.
I’m still debating between Star Wars and Game Of Thrones. Either way my kid’s going to be Chewbacca, or he’s going to be a dragon. (And, yes, Tall Dad will be either Han Solo or Kal Drogo.)
Here’s my issue though – as much as I love costumes, my little lad still likes sweet treats more than dressing up, and he’d rather go play with a cardboard box in the family room than sit with me while I try on my best Princess Leia outfit, or try to fit myself into the best version of Khaleesi I can possibly think of.
I used to love playing with recycled goods as a kid, whether they be milk jugs, egg cartons, or cereal boxes.
Well on a recent trip to Target, I was picking up a ton of Halloween supplies for our upcoming Halloween party, and I saw that the super fun and festive General Mills spooky cereal boxes turn into a castle! I was already trying to think up a cool decoration for my snack table for our party, and I knew that this castle would be PERFECT behind our Haunted Graveyard Cake.
The castle was super easy to put together. The Count Chocula®, Boo Berry® and Franken Berry® boxes clearly had dotted lines for me to cut and assemble the characters, accessories and grand castle. I assembled it while my cakes were baking in the oven.
And let me tell you, this Haunted Graveyard Cake came out pretty darn spooky if you ask me! Just check it out for yourself.
My favorite part are the chocolate trees!
Let me show you how I made this SUPER EASY Halloween Graveyard Cake.
Prep Time: 5 mins
Cook Time: 30 mins
Assembly Time: 5 mins
10 Servings
Ingredients:
- Chocolate Cake Mix & Chocolate Frosting – I used Betty Crocker
- Eggs & Oil for cake mix
- Halloween themed candies
- Chocolate chips (for spooky trees)
- Follow cake instructions as laid out on the box. I decided to make my cake two layers, so I used one large circular cake pan and one smaller cake pan to create the graveyard. You could make this cake in any cake pan! Let your imagination be your guide 🙂
- While cake is baking, melt chocolate chips in the microwave for about 15 seconds, stir, and heat for an additional 15 seconds. Do this until it is melted. Pour melted chocolate into a ziplock bag, and cut off a tiny corner of the bag. It’s now like a fancy piping bag!
- On a foil lined cookie sheet, “draw” your chocolate trees with the chocolate. The messier looking, the spookier they will be! Just make sure your tree trunks are long and wide, because they need to support the tree and branches. Put the cookie sheet and trees into your freezer for one hour.
- When cakes are done, let them cool off completely. I actually like to let mine cool off on the counter, then in my freezer, before frosting them. This also helps them come out of the pans easier!
- If you are doing a multilevel cake like mine, frost the first layer, then add the next layer, and frost that as well.
- Now decorate your cake with the Halloween themed candy! Don’t forget to add your chocolate trees once they have hardened in the freezer.
And there you have it! A totally spooky Haunted Halloween Graveyard Cake!
I literally cannot wait for Halloween and everything it entails. Trick or treating, dressing up, all the decorations etc. Now, I just have to find a way for Bette Midler to become my son’s spirit animal too….
Want some more Halloween inspired spooky snacks?
Talk soon friends,
- 10 Adorable Baby Halloween Costumes
- Halloween Costumes for a Family With A Baby
- About Tall Mom
- ParentCast – A Podcast Dedicated to New Parents, New Babies, and their New Lives Together
I love your Halloween cake idea esp the chocolate trees!! I might have to steal your idea!
Ursula
http://www.blueridgebeautyblogger.com
aw thanks! and please do 🙂
Love this cake…you did a great job! I used to make cakes all the time and haven't in many months. It's such a fun hobby 🙂 Have fun on Halloween!!
It is such a fun hobby – and so easy! Decorations take a tasty cake into a beautiful creation 🙂
I absolutely love this. We are going to a Halloween party on Sunday and I think I am going to bring one of these.
Thank you!! I'd love to hear if you do bring one 🙂
Those chocolate trees are the most creative and easy details I've seen! Totally doable. My kids would love this cake! Plus, it's chocolate. Can't go wrong!
This cake is so cute and it is something my kids couple help with and would love. Those trees are so neat, I would of never thought to make them that way.
I just love how you made the chocolate trees- so smart, they don't have to be perfect, they're 'spooky.' We pick up all three of these Halloween cereals each year!
My kids didn't believe my husband and I when we talked about these cereals, until they saw them in the store. The cake looks great and I love the trees. I vote you go as Star Wars.
we are!!
I love how your cake turned out!! I never thought to make anything like that with melted chocolate chips before.
I love your Halloween graveyard cake, it's simply awesome! Adding the castle made out of cereal boxes was a nice touch. Those are some yummy tasting cereals!
Count Choclula is my hubby's favorite cereal! This is a super cute cake.
I love the cake! I really wish I was that good at decorating, I would love to make this for my family!
Great job! That cake looks impressively elaborate! And now excuse me while I go find some Count Chocula…
This turned out so cool! I love how you were able to use the box like this.
i love everything to do with Halloween, this is so cool!
You did such a great job on this spooky cake! I love the tree so much!!