This easy Halloween monster cake lives up to its name. With cute monster decorations, marbled cake, and all the monster sprinkles on top, this is an easy Halloween dessert that won’t tax your decorating skills!
For more fun Halloween treats, consider my Halloween pimento cheese spread brain or maybe these pumpkin spice cinnamon rolls.
And please scroll on down to see the rest of today’s #Halloweentreatsweek treats.
For ease of browsing, you can find all my cake recipes in one place. Thanks so much for visiting!
Why You Need to Make This Cake
A fun and easy Halloween cake is just a boxed mix, some sprinkles, and food coloring away!
Color your batter in whatever colors you want, and decorate with whatever sprinkles you like.
For whatever reason, “monster colors” seem to be green, purple, and black, so that’s what my sprinkle mix is. I brought in some Halloween orange with the swirls in my cake.
Pastry Chef Online Participates in Affiliate Programs. If you make a purchase through one of my links, I may earn a small commission. For more information click to read my disclosure policy
So make this guy when you’re feeling crafty but don’t have a Cricut machine. For when you want some spooky dessert action but don’t want to deal with fondant.
Easy monster cake is honestly just as easy as the name implies!
If you decide to make this cake, I have a favor to ask:
When you do make this recipe, it will help me and other readers if you:
✅Rate the recipes using the stars in the recipe card⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
✅Leave a review when prompted in the recipe card✍️
✅Leave a comment on the post📝
Thank you!😘
Coloring Cake Batter
Generally speaking, I don’t like to mix batter any more than absolutely necessary, because it tends to toughen the cake.
The good news is that, with a boxed mix, it’s really hard to overwork the batter, making it easy to divide the batter and stir in whatever colors you like.
You can certainly use regular food coloring from the grocery store. I used a few colors from a set of neon gel colors.
If your food coloring has a dropper top, start with maybe 4-5 drops per color and add more if necessary.
If you don’t have a dropper top, use a toothpick or even the handle end of a fork or spoon to pick up some color and then mix it into your cake batter.
As you can see, I decided to add additional coloring after mixing in the initial amount. I wanted really vibrant colors.
How To Make
As advertised, this really is an easy monster cake.
Let me show you what you need, where to get some of the stuff you might need, and how to put it all together.
Ingredients and Substitutions
Here’s everything you’ll need:
- 1 boxed white cake mix or your favorite white cake recipe
- 2-4 cups of white/vanilla/cream cheese frosting, depending on how lavish you are with your frosting
- gel food coloring (I bought this set)
- monster sprinkles which I got from Sweets & Treats Boutique
- monster toppers (I used these ridiculously adorable little monster rings. So after you serve kids the cake, they can wash and wear the rings. Fun!)
Procedure
Prepare the batter according to the directions from the box or your recipe.
Divide into separate bowls, one for each color you want to use.
Add a few drops of food coloring to each bowl and mix until uniform.
Plop different colors of batter randomly into your pan then swirl loosely with a knife. (See video clip a little bit below)
Bake and cool your cake completely.
You can leave it in the pan or turn it out if you prefer.
Frost all over with frosting of choice, add a TON of sprinkles, and put a monster topper on top of each slice so each piece will have a monster ring.
Equipment You May Need
If you don’t have a 9″ x 13″ cake pan, you are missing out. It’s versatile, and I use mine for everything from cakes to lasagna.
This is the one I have had for years, and it performs really well.
Frosting a Sheet Pan
If you are not a regular cake decorator, you may not have cake circles and squares on hand.
And you might not even have anywhere to store stuff like that.
So, it’s good to know you can serve your cake on an upside-down cake pan (at least 2″ larger in diameter than your cake if it’s a round cake) or a half-sheet pan for rectangular cakes. And sheet pans are way more versatile than cake boards!
Spread a little icing onto the center of your pan to anchor your cake, place the cake where you want it, and then frost as desired.
Once your cake is frosted, use a different color frosting (or not) to spread a thin layer of icing all over the surface of the sheet pan and down the sides to the curled edge.
I think it gives a more finished look to the presentation, it’s not hard to do, and it keeps you from having to buy more throw-away cardboard.
Could I have been a bit neater? Yes. Was I? No. You’ll do better than I did. I have faith in you.
Variations
Consider making a chocolate cake (my chocolate stout cake would be kind of awesome here). Then, you can introduce the monster colors by coloring portions of your frosting.
Or stick with white frosting and use a ton of sprinkles. I don’t think you can really use too many sprinkles, so have at it!
Tips for Success
For the truest colors, you’ll want to use a white cake mix rather than a yellow cake mix.
Spoon the different batter colors into your pan using different spoons for each color to keep your colors from bleeding together and getting “muddy.”
When it’s time to swirl the colors together, use the blade of a dinner knife or a small, thin spatula and run it through your batter in circles.
Visual How-To
I wanted to share this quick video clip with you, showing how I made my swirls.
Monster Cake Q & A
Yes. Use your favorite gluten free or vegan mixes or recipes. Since I am sharing more of an easy decorating technique than a hard-and-fast recipe, you can customize the components to your way of eating.
It’s not strictly necessary to refrigerate it. Keep it covered in a rectangular cake taker. It will be fine for 3 or 4 days. If you do refrigerate it, use a cake mix that doesn’t require butter. Butter cakes get harder in the fridge and will need to sit out for an hour or so before slicing.
Try this spooky-cute Jack Skellington cake my friend Laura made. It’s pretty awesome and requires a bit more decorating skill than this guy.
Questions
A Note About Measurements
Don't let its small price and small size fool you. The Escali Primo is an accurate and easy-to-use food scale that I have used for years. It's easy to store, easy to use, has a tare function, and easily switches between grams and ounces/pounds for accurate measurements.
It will help me and other readers so much if you take a moment to rate and leave a review for this recipe.
You can use the stars to rate 1-5 (5 is best), and leave a review in the comments. It helps me make adjustments if any are needed, and comments help others decide whether the recipe is worth making.
Other ways to share include pinning, and/or sharing on your favorite social media platform.
Thank you so much for taking the time!
Halloween Monster Sheetcake
Note: Calories are based on 12 servings with a generic cake and frosting.
Ingredients
- 1 9 ” x 13″ sheet cake made with boxed mix or your favorite cake recipe
- food coloring I used gel colors in orange, purple, and green
- 3 cups frosting either canned or homemade
- ½ cup Halloween-themed sprinkles
- Monster cupcake toppers or rings
Instructions
- Line the bottom of a 9" x 13" cake pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Make your batter according to package directions.
- Divide the batter among three bowls and color each as desired.
- Randomly spoon the three different colors into your cake pan, and then use a knife to swirl them together. Don't do too many swirls or your colors may bleed together and become muddy.
- Bake until cake tests done, about 30 minutes.
- Cool on a rack for 20 minutes, then carefully turn your cake out on a cooling rack. Place another cooling rack on top of your cake and then flip the whole thing so the top of the cake is up. Allow the cake to cool completely.
- Frost as desired and add sprinkles or other Halloween decorations as you wish.
- Top each slice of cake with a monster ring (or any desired Halloween decoration).
Did You Make Any Changes?
Notes
Nutrition
Thanks for spending some time with me today.
I hope you (and your kids) love this easy monster cake. It really is a fun Halloween sheet cake to make.
Take care, and have a lovely day.
Hi, y’all! I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and hopefully also learned a thing or two.
If you like my style, I invite you to sign up for my occasional newsletter, The Inbox Pastry Chef.
Expect updates on new and tasty recipes as well as a bit of behind-the-scenes action. I hope to see you there!
Join in Today!