halloween cake

Bloody Rose Cake

October 26, 2021 By Ashley 1 Comment

I’ve made plenty of ganache over the years, but black ganache is the messiest. It’s not that black ganache is made any differently than regular ganache, it just seems like my kitchen is a ganache disaster after using it, no matter how neat I try to be. I say this to poke fun, but really, black ganache is magical. Ganache, in general, has great texture – you can make it as smooth or as textured as you like. Enter my bloody rose cake.

Making black ganache only requires adding gel food coloring to the cream before adding it to dark chocolate. The cream will look a dark gray. The ganache gets this super inky black and I knew it would look amazing for this bloody rose cake tutorial. You can see the texture on this cake, and depth, which can be hard to achieved with fondant.

Though this cake is simple, it is meant to make a statement. I can imagine a cake like this being served at a wedding, or a elevated Halloween party. Looking just beautiful enough, until you realize the damage inflicted on this cake – a bloody spray. Maybe a wedding gone horribly wrong? Or a dinner party that ended on deadly terms?

Whichever this case, this cake was fun to make. I have been wanting to make this cake for a while now. I chose to go with a simple, but elegant, large white rose. I really wanted the “blood splatter” to show. I made this rose out of gum paste, as well as the stem. I’ve been loving the look of the exposed stem look on cakes, and I wanted this cake to make an statement with one stemmed rose.

The rose and the stem are two separate pieces. The flower is simply too heavy to be supported by just the stem against the cake. The stem is made with floral wire, wrapped in thin strips of paper towel, then wrapped with floral tape. I added thorns to my stem with gum paste and smoothed them out to blend into the stem. Secure the stem against the cake with a small piece of bent wire. Insert the flower into the cake above the stem.

I added a few rose leaves to complete the look, and then….

sprayed it with fake blood. It took me a bit to figure out the best way to do this for the effect I was going for. I placed a trifold poster board around my cake and lined my countertop with paper towels. Put on an old shirt, just in case you get back splatter. Then I dipped a large stiffer paintbrush (reserved for my sugar projects) in the “blood” and flicked it at the cake.

I stood back a couple feet before flicking the paint brush to create the spray. The part of the cake closest to you will the most of the spray, but the little flecks that ended up on the cake itself looked awesome and I was happy with the results.

In order to get a realistic blood spray look, the fake blood needs to resemble the viscosity and texture. Too watery and it will absorb into the flower, too thick and it will look spotty and, well, gloopy. Making it allows you to control the texture, and you likely have the ingredients on hand. You need red and purple gel food color, cocoa powder, corn syrup, water and cornstarch. I wanted the blood to look darker, with a tad bit of purple as a nod to the real deal. I’ve included the recipe below.

I love this morbid cake. Spooky season is my jam.

If you make this bloody rose cake, let me know! Drop a comment or tag me on Instagram. I love seeing your bakes and creations.

Enjoy!

Ash xx

For more Halloween tutorials, check out these posts:

Halloween Rice Paper Ghost Tutorial

Halloween Mummy Cake Tutorial

Easy Decorated Halloween Ghost Cookies Tutorial

Print Recipe

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Edible Fake Blood

Prep Time10 mins

Ingredients

1/2 teaspoon cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
3-5 drops red gel food color
1-2 drops purple gel food color
1 tablespoon corn syrup
1-2 teaspoons water

Instructions

Whisk together the cocoa powder and cornstarch.
Whisk in the water, followed by the red gel, purple gel, and corn syrup.
Add any more color if necessary.
To make it thicker, add a little bit of cornstarch or cocoa powder.
To make it more opaque, add more cornstarch.
Too thick, add a little bit of water.
The fake edible blood should be smooth in texture and have the viscosity of melted chocolate used for a drip cake, or a royal icing glaze.

Halloween Rice Paper Ghosts Tutorial

October 20, 2020 By Ashley 2 Comments

Rice paper sails are super popular on cakes these days. Understandably so, as they really add a lot of movement and an ethereal feel to a cake design. If you haven’t used rice paper for cake decorating, you may have still heard of rice paper elsewhere – perhaps in the form spring rolls. That’s right, for this tutorial, the same rice paper used to make spring rolls will be used to make these translucent Halloween ghosts. Luckily, rice paper can be found in most grocery stores and is fairly inexpensive. These Halloween rice paper ghosts are really easy to make, are a super cute addition on Halloween cakes and cupcakes, and and require very few supplies.

Supplies

-rice paper

-a small spray bottle filled with cold water

-non-stick mats/silicone mats

-black edible marker

-styrofoam cake dummy

How to make rice paper ghosts

Usually, when making rice paper sails, the rice paper is submerged into water for a bit to thoroughly saturate it before shaping it. I find that method makes the paper too wet and more prone to ripping. With my method, the paper is moistened little by little until it’s pliable, and easy to shape. Lay a piece of rice paper onto the mat. Spray the paper with water, using your hand to rub the water into the paper to soften it and help the paper absorb the water. Flip the paper over and repeat. Keep flipping the paper and spraying with water until it is a bit elastic, softened and you can no longer see any texture.

Carefully lift the rice paper from the mat. Shape the paper into a ghost-like shape, tapering off the top and bottom but leaving the center billowy. You can also shape some so that just the bottom tapers, leaving the rest of the ghost billowy. Leave the ghosts to dry until it holds its shape but is still a bit pliable, about 4-6 hours.

I wanted some of the ghosts to have some movement and curve slightly, sort of like they’re flying, so while they’re still pliable, the ghosts can be shaped. Curve the ghost around a foam cake dummy in the desired shape. Stabilize the shape by securing the ghost with pins. Let the ghost dry completely, overnight.

Attaching the ghosts to the cake

When the ghosts have dried, they can be decorated. I kept my ghosts super simple by drawing on eyes and an open mouth with a black edible marker. You can definitely get as detailed as you like. For more depth and more realism, you can use a gray colored petal dust to dust in the crevices of the ghost.

To attach the ghosts to the cake, I used clear isomalt attached to lollipop sticks adhered to the back of the ghosts. This makes the ghosts more stable and secure and also allows them to have more of a 3D look, sort of popping off the cake a bit. After heating the isomalt according to packaged instructions, dip the end of a lollipop stick to coat. Adhere the isomalt stick to the back of the ghost, preferably where the paper bunches, to make the stick less visible from the front of the ghost. Hold the stick in place to dry a bit, then leave the isomalt to cool completely.

When the isomalt has cooled, attach the ghosts to the cake by inserting the lollipop sticks into the cake. I recommend inserting them into a cold cake because they will be much more secure, and less prone to falling out or sinking. I overlapped my ghosts and have them facing alternating directions, but the options are endless.

I hope you find loads of creative ways to use these super cute, super easy Halloween rice paper ghosts. If you make these ghosts, tag me on Instagram. I’d love to see them!

Ash xx

For more Halloween tutorials, check out these posts:

Halloween Mummy Cake Tutorial

Black Cocoa Sugar Cookies + Decorated Pumpkins Tutorial

Halloween Mummy Cake Tutorial

October 16, 2020 By Ashley Leave a Comment

I’ve really been loving working with wafer paper lately, wafer flowers in particular, and while I was working on some flowers and planning out some tutorials, the idea for this mummy cake popped in my head. I sketched it out and couldn’t wait to get started. And now, I’m super excited to share it with you. I’ve got a few Halloween tutorials lined up to share in the coming weeks and this Halloween mummy cake tutorial is definitely one of my favorites. Not only is it super cute, and perfect for any Halloween gathering, but it’s super easy to make, you only need a few supplies and it is not at all time consuming as it may look.

Supplies:

3 tier cake (I used 6×5, 8×5 and 10×5 tiers), stacked and covered in white/off-white fondant

Fondant: bright green, white and black (alternatively, modeling chocolate will work here too) – I used Satin Ice

Circle cutters: 1 1/2″ (38mm), 1″ (25mm), 5/8″ (16mm)

Piping tip #3 OR piping tip #4

Wafer paper

Piping gel

Plastic Wrap/clingfilm

Light brown petal dust ( I used Spanish Moss)

Dusting brush

Small brush for piping gel

Making mummy eyes

I opted to go with more of a cartoonish look for my mummy eyes. Super creepy eyes would also be fun here. To make the eyes, you need a few different size round cutters, as well as black, white and green fondant. Plastic wrap is also needed. This helps to make the eyes have more rounded edges and more of a puffed look.

1. Roll the white fondant out to 1/4″ thick. Lay the plastic wrap over the fondant. Cut out two rounds with the largest, 1 1/2″ cutter over the plastic wrap. Set aside.

2. Roll the green fondant out to 1/4″ thick. Lay the plastic wrap over the fondant. Cut out two rounds with the medium sized, 1″ cutter over the plastic wrap.

3. Brush the back of the green circles with a small amount of piping gel. Place the green circles onto the white rounds. I placed mine on randomly.

4. Roll the black fondant out to 1/4″ thick. Lay the plastic wrap over the fondant. Cut out two rounds with the smallest, 5/8″ cutter over the plastic wrap.

5. Brush the back of the black circles with a small amount of piping gel. Place circles onto the green rounds. Again, I placed mine sort of randomly.

6. Thinly roll out some white paste. Use a piping tip size 3 or 4 to cut out 2-3 small circles for each eye. One of the circles goes on the black round, or pupil, and the others are placed the randomly on the green part. Use just a tiny amount of piping gel to attach.

7. With a dusting brush, lightly dust brown petal dust over the white parts of the eye. Add very little at a time. You want just a little bit of color.

Now, the black background for the eyes needs to be placed on the cake before attaching the eyes. To do this, cut out a section of fondant in the center of the middle tier, that is just a little bit bigger than the size of the eyes. Roll out some black fondant the same thickness as the fondant on your cake, and place into the hole. Cut off any overhanging black fondant. The idea here is to make the black fondant flush with the cake, rather than adding an additional layer of fondant on top. Adding an additional layer makes it look a bit too bulky and the black will show more through the wafer paper more once they’re attached.

Brush the back of the eyes with piping gel and place them onto the black fondant.

Wafer Paper Strips

I’ll admit, I thought this part of the cake was going to take me a while. But once the strips are cut and dusted, it takes no time to put them on the cake. Cut the strips on the long side of the wafer paper with a pair of scissors, cutting them from 1/2″ to 1″. I didn’t measure my strips at all so no need to be exact, nor do they need to be perfectly straight. No worries if the wafer rips, or is damaged in any way – use it! I used 15-20 wafer sheets for my strips, but this amount will vary from person to person.

Assembling the mummy cake

With a dusting brush, on the rough side of the wafer paper, lightly dust random areas of the strips with the light brown petal dust. Make sure to keep a variety from strip to strip. You don’t want them to all look the same. I kept my dusting pretty light, but if you’re wanting more of an aged, deeper, darker and dirty mummy, use a darker shade of brown petal dust (or 2) to dust on the strips as well.

I tried to hide most of the ends of the wafer strips, so it has more of a wrapped look, and doesn’t look so segmented. Tuck the ends of the strips as you place them onto the cake. You can definitely keep some of the ends revealed as I did in some areas. Also note that you do not have to cover every inch of the fondant. A few areas peeking through is no big deal. It still blends in and looks cohesive.

Once all the strips are on the cake, go back with your dusting brush and add some more color to the strips if you would like. Also, dust over the exposed fondant so that it blends in more with the wafer paper.

Some notes on serving

Wafer paper is edible, but people don’t generally want to eat it. It’s also a bit of a pain to try to cut through. Before serving this cake, I recommend removing the wafer as you slice and serve it. Also, because wafer paper is easily effected by humidity and water, I would not refrigerate this cake once it’s done. Add the wafer just before delivering the cake if it is for a client or friend.

I hope you guys love this super cute mummy tutorial like I do! Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below or on social. If you make this cake, tag me on Instagram – I would LOVE to see it!

Enjoy!

Ash xx

For more autumn themed tutorials, check out these posts:

Black Cocoa Sugar Cookies + Decorated Pumpkins Tutorial

Floral Piped Royal Icing Cake Tutorial