For those ready to get their bake on this Halloween – this project is for you! It’s a two tier confetti-fied Haunted Village Cake complete with a landscape of haunted house sugar cookies. Each house has a mini specter with spooky-cute details like candy tombstones and spider sprinkles.The cookie dough recipe will make more cookies than you need to decorate the cake, however, if you’re planning Halloween party, you may choose to serve them on the side or package them for take-home favors. You may buy the cookie cutters as linked in the blog post, or use my template (see recipe notes for instructions).It's best to make this cake over the course of 2-3 days. It spreads out the work, and gives the cookies a chance to completely set overnight.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat three 6-inch round cake pans and four 8-inch round cake pans with flour-based baking spray. Set aside.
Sift together the first 4 ingredients into the bowl of an electric mixer and whisk to combine.
In a large mixing bowl, stir together the sour cream, water, eggs and extracts. With the mixer running on low speed, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Scrape the bowl down and mix again.
When the batter is consistent, remove 1 cup of batter to each of 3 bowls. To one bowl add neon orange food color. Mix, and add more as needed to achieve a vibrant orange hue. Repeat the process with the neon green and purple food colors. Set the three bowls aside.
To the remaining batter, fold in the confetti sprinkles. Divide the confetti batter evenly between the prepared pans, 1 cup per 6-inch pan, and about 1 1/2+ cups per 8-inch pan. Next, add spoonsful of each colorful batter to each pan and swirl the batters together with a butter knife or skewer.
Bake for 25-30 minutes for the 8-inch pans, and 20-25 minutes for the 5-inch pans. – or until the cake springs back in the center when pressed. Remove the cakes from the pans to wire cooling racks. Cool completely. Level each cake using a cake leveler. (Save the cake scraps for cake pops or just eat them!)
Purple buttercream and black stencil
In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, mix together the butter and confectioners’ sugar. Begin on low speed until crumbly, and then increase to high and beat for 3 minutes.
Add vanilla and beat again for another minute. Add milk or cream a little at a time until the mixture is spreading consistency. Beat until light and fluffy.
Remove 1/2 cup of the frosting to a small bowl. Mix in 1 teaspoon of super black food color and mix well. Add more food color if needed to achieve a consistent black color. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and set aside.
To the remaining bowl of frosting, add 1 tablespoon of neon purple food color. Mix well until a brilliant shade of purple is achieved. Add more food color if needed to deepen the hue.
Place a dot of frosting on an 8-inch round cake board. Place an 8-inch cake layer on top. Cover with a thin layer of purple buttercream. Repeat step with the next three cake layers. Spread an even thin crumb coat layer of frosting over the cake and refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes. Add a second, thicker layer of frosting to the cake and smooth evenly using a bench scraper or cake smoother. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
Place a dot of frosting on a 6-inch cake board; top with a 6 inch cake layer. Fill and frost as previously instructed with the 8-inch tier – repeating the crumb coat layer and final smooth layer. Refrigerate until firm, 30 minutes. Reserve any leftover buttercream in an airtight container.
Stencil the cake
When the 8-inch tier is firm, remove it from the refrigerator. Hold the flexible stencil flat against one side of the cake with one hand, while you spread on the reserved black frosting using an offset spatula with the other hand. Scrape away the excess black frosting using a bench scraper and gently peel off the stencil to reveal the branch design. Refrigerate the cake until the stenciled area is set, about 5 minutes. Repeat the process around the rest of the cake (about 4 stenciled areas total). Store both tiers in the refrigerator uncovered while you prepare the sugar cookie decors.
Sugar cookies
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the butter and sugar together until just incorporated. Do not over-mix at this stage, or the cookies may spread while baking. Add the egg and vanilla extract. Mix again on low speed, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl intermittently as needed.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Add to the butter and egg mixture. Mix on lows peed until a dough is formed and there are no longer any streaks of butter in the mixing bowl. The dough will often clump around the paddle attachment while being mixed. This is normal and a good sign that your dough is the right consistency. If your mixture does not come together and is crumbly, add ice cold water 1 tbsp. at a time until the dough clumps.
Roll the dough flat between sheets of parchment paper and chill until ready for use, at least 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Use haunted house motif cookie cutters to stamp shapes from the dough (or use the provided template linked in the blog post). Transfer them to the prepared pans. Use mini fondant cutters to cut out windows and doors. Chill the shapes in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. Bake cookies for 12-15 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly brown on the edges. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Re-roll scraps and repeat process.
Allow all the cookies to cool completely before icing.
Royal icing and decors
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, sift in the confectioners’ sugar and meringue powder; whisk on low speed until combined. Add the water and beat on medium-high speed until thickened and pure white. Mix in the flavoring. Scrape down the bowl and beat again. Divide the frosting into three bowls and cover them with damp paper towels. Tint one bowl with black gel food color and mix until a dark black color is achieved. Stir neon orange food color into a second bowl until a bright orange color is achieved. Tint the last bowl neon green and mix until a consistent bright green color is achieved.
Mix in just drops of water at a time to each bowl and stir well, repeating this process until the icing thins to flood consistency. It should be thick and pourable like a milkshake but not too runny. Run a spatula through the icing to check; the indention should disappear by the count of 10. If it disappears more quickly, it is too thin, and you'll need to add in additional sifted powdered sugar.
Transfer the three flood frostings to disposable piping bags and close the ends with rubber bands. Prep three tall drinking glasses with a wet paper towel in the bottoms of each. Snip a small hole in the end of the black icing piping bag. Outline a cookie with the icing and then flood the center with the icing. Use a toothpick or a scribe tool to push the icing into any gaps or blank areas. Repeat with 1/3 of the cookies. Reserve the remaining black icing by folding over the snipped end and standing it upright into a glass. Repeat the process with another 1/3 of the cookies and the orange icing, then the final 1/3 of the cookies with the green icing. Let dry completely, about 4 hours or overnight.
Melt each color of candy melting wafers according to the package directions. Transfer to small piping bags. Snip a hole in the ends and pipe the candy into the corresponding cavities: white candy melts for ghosts and skulls; black candy melts for bats and cats, orange candy melts for pumpkins, and green for their stems. Mix together black and white candy melts to create grey and pipe into tombstone cavities.
Place the mold in the freezer and chill until solid. Gently remove candies from their cavities while they are still frozen. Repeat molding process until all of the candy is used (this makes a LOT of molded candies – plenty enough for all the sugar cookies!).
When the cookies are set, use the reserved icing to adhere the molded candy to the cookies. Use ghosts and black cats to haunt windows. Place tombstones and pumpkins beside doors.
Decorate the cake
Place the 8-inch tier on a cake stand or serving platter. Spread a small dot of leftover buttercream in the top center of the cake and top with the second smaller tier. (If the cake is traveling, use a long dowel to anchor the two tiers together.)
Use the reserved buttercream to dot on the back of the haunted houses. Place 5 decorated house cookies, spaced evenly, around the bottom tier of the cake. Affix extra molded candy pieces around the houses. Place 5-6 decorated houses end-to-end around the edge of the top tier. Add candy bones around both tiers of the cake.
Store the cake loosely covered in plastic wrap. Bring to room temperature before serving. Serve slices of cake with accompanying haunted houses.
Notes
If using the template provided, print on paper slightly heavier than copy paper. Or, print out on regular copy paper, cut out the houses, and trace them onto a piece of heavy card stock.Make sure the cookie dough is well chilled, then place the templates on top of the dough. Cut out dough shapes using a small paring knife or a kitchen dedicated X-acto knife.
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