Halloween Traybake Cake

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This Halloween traybake cake is super easy to make and great for feeding a crowd at your next party. An orange and purple marble sheet cake topped with black buttercream frosting and decorative white chocolate ghosts!

3 pieces of halloween marble traybake cake on a plate

If you want an easy, spooky dessert that you can make quickly to feed a crowd, this Halloween traybake cake is just the thing. It's a purple and orange marble sheet cake topped with black frosting and edible chocolate decorations. It's super fun to make and kids will love it!

Below you'll find everything you need to know about making this recipe, including ingredient and equipment notes, info about edible decorations, top tips and lots more. I hope you find it helpful, but if you'd prefer to jump straight to the condensed version of the recipe, you can find it in the recipe card at the end of the post, along with a video tutorial. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Ready to get started? Here's everything you'll need to make this Halloween traybake cake...

Butter: I recommend using softened butter to make mixing a bit easier. You can either leave it out at room temperature for an hour or two before you start baking, or you can put it in the microwave for about 10 seconds, but just be careful not to melt it.
Sugar: Caster sugar is the best type to use for this cake. This is also known as superfine sugar in the USA.
Eggs: 4 medium eggs will make this cake nice and fluffy while keeping it moist.
Flour: I recommend using self-raising flour for any type of cake if you can. If you only have access to plain/all-purpose flour, you can add 2 teaspoons of baking powder to the recipe separately.
Vanilla extract: For flavour.
Milk: This isn't always necessary but it can help to loosen the cake batter if needed.
Food colouring: You'll need orange, purple and black food colouring to make this tray bake cake. I recommend paste or gel over liquid food colouring if you want super vibrant colours.
Icing sugar: To make the frosting to top the cake with.
Decorations: To decorate my cake, I used Cake Decor spooky mix sprinkles, Dr. Oetker chocolate Halloween decorations and my homemade white chocolate ghosts. Feel free to use whichever edible decorations you like!

Equipment

8x10-inch tin: This is my go-to tin for making any type of sheet cake. If you'd like to use a larger tin, use my cake pan converter to adjust the ingredient quantities too; otherwise, you'll end up with a flat (and probably burnt) cake.
Baking paper: This is to stop your cake from sticking to the tin. You can grease the tin if you prefer but I find baking paper works best.
Mixing bowls: A large one for mixing, 2 small ones for colouring the cake batter, and another small one to make the frosting.
Utensils: A wooden spoon, a tablespoon, a teaspoon and a sharp knife.
Toothpick: Or a butter knife, to create the marble effect in the sponge cake.
Scales: I recommend using a kitchen scale to weigh out your ingredients if you can. I have not included imperial measurements for this recipe as they aren't always super accurate.

overhead shot of halloween marble sheet cake slices

How to make a Halloween traybake cake

Step 1: Preheat your oven to 180°C (or 160°C if you're using a fan oven) and line an 8x10-inch tin with baking paper.

Step 2: In a large bowl, cream together 250g softened butter and 250g of caster sugar. Once smooth, mix in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Step 3: Next, stir in 4 eggs and 250g flour. Add them in a little bit at a time and mix until smooth.

Step 4: Once you have a smooth cake batter, divide it between two bowls. Stir orange food colouring into one bowl and purple food colouring into the other.

Step 5: Take a spoonful of orange batter and place it into the lined tin, followed by a spoonful of purple batter. Repeat until all of the batter is used up. Then use a toothpick to swirl the colours together.

blending the cake mix colours together in tin

Step 6: Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick through the middle comes out clean. Let it cool in the tin for around 10 minutes then carefully flip it out onto a wire rack and leave it to cool completely.

Black frosting

Step 1: To make your frosting, start by placing 70g of softened butter into a medium-sized bowl. Add 150g of icing sugar and 1 tablespoon of milk and mix well. Then mix in another 150g of icing sugar and another tablespoon of milk.

Step 8: Once you have a smooth frosting, stir in some black gel food colouring.

Step 9: Spread the frosting onto your cooled cake, then top with white chocolate ghosts and any other Halloween sheet cake decorations that you like.

Step 10: Let the cake sit at room temperature for an hour or two to let the icing crust over. Then just cut your cake into slices and enjoy!

overhead shot of halloween traybake cake with decorations on top

Top tips

Use gel or powdered food colouring if you can. They will give you a much more vibrant colour than liquid food colouring will.
Make your white chocolate ghosts in advance, to ensure they have enough time to set before you need to decorate your cake.
If you can't find any more edible Halloween decorations, you can use green, black, purple or orange candies such as mini M&Ms or chocolate Smarties.

FAQs

How should I store this Halloween traybake cake?

Keep this cake in an airtight container to keep it soft and fluffy. It'll last for up to 5 days in the fridge and for 2-3 days at room temperature.

Can it be frozen?

Yes, you can freeze your sheet cake for up to 3 months. Either freeze the whole cake on a baking tray until it's solid then wrap it in clingfilm, or freeze individual slices in airtight containers. You can place small pieces of baking paper between slices to stop them from sticking together as they freeze. To defrost, let the cake sit out at room temperature for an hour or two until soft. Do not refreeze.

two slices of marble halloween traybake cake on top of one another

More Halloween desserts:

I hope you like my Halloween traybake cake. Feel free to get creative with the decorations and leave a comment below to let me know how it goes. Enjoy!