This marble Halloween traybake cake is super easy to make and great for feeding a crowd at your next Halloween party. It consists of an orange and purple sheet cake, black buttercream frosting and decorative white chocolate ghosts!
If you want an easy Halloween dessert that you can make quickly to feed a crowd, this marble traybake cake is just the thing. It's a purple and orange sheet cake topped with black frosting and edible spooky decorations. It's super fun to make and kids will love it!
Below you'll find everything you need to know about making this Halloween sheet cake, 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 skip straight to the condensed version of the recipe, you can find this in the recipe card at the end of the post, along with a video tutorial. Enjoy!
Ingredients
Ready? Here's what you'll need...
- 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. Just sure you don't melt it!
- Sugar: Caster sugar is the best type to use for this cake. It's 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 Halloween tray bake. I recommend paste or gel colours over liquid ones.
- 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 just to stop your Halloween marble 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 plus 2 small ones for the cake batter and another small one for 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 super accurate.
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 it's smooth, mix in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
Step 3: Next stir in your eggs and flour, a little bit at a time, until smooth. You'll need 4 medium eggs and 250g of self-raising flour.
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.
Step 6: Bake your Halloween marble cake 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 7: Place 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 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: When the icing has hardened, cut your cake into slices and enjoy!
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.
FAQ
This cake should be kept in an airtight container. It'll last for up to 5 days in the fridge and for 2-3 days at room temperature.
Yes, you can freeze your Halloween marble sheet cake for up to 3 months. You can either freeze the whole cake on a baking tray until it's solid then wrap it in clingfilm, or you can freeze individual slices in airtight containers. To defrost, just let it sit out at room temperature for an hour or two until soft. Do not refreeze.
More Halloween desserts:
- Ghost chocolate strawberries
- Halloween shortbread
- Black and orange pinwheel cookies
- Mummy puff pastries
- Cookie Monster brownies
- Halloween funfetti cupcakes
- Halloween fairy cakes
I hope you like this Halloween traybake cake. Feel free to get creative with the decorations and leave a comment below to let me know how it goes. Enjoy!
Halloween Traybake Cake
Ingredients
Traybake cake
- 250 g Softened butter
- 250 g Caster sugar
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 4 Medium Eggs
- 250 g Self-raising flour
- 2 Tablespoons Milk
- Orange food colouring (start with a small amount then add more as needed)
- Purple food colouring
Black frosting
- 70 g Softened butter
- 300 g Icing sugar
- 1-2 Tablespoons Milk
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla extract
- Black food colouring
Decoration
- Homemade white chocolate ghosts
- Halloween cake decorations and/or sprinkles (I used Cake Decor Halloween spooky mix sprinkles and Dr. Oetker chocolate Halloween decorations)
Instructions
Traybake cake
- Preheat your oven to 180℃ (160℃ for fan ovens). Line an 8x10-inch tin with baking paper.
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar then stir in the vanilla extract.
- Mix in the eggs and flour, a little bit at a time, until you have a smooth cake batter. Add the milk as needed to loosen the batter.
- Divide the cake batter into two bowls. Stir the orange food colouring into one and the purple food colouring into the other.
- Place spoonfuls of cake batter into your tin, alternating the colours as you go. Then use a toothpick to briefly swirl them together (but not too much).
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Don't worry if the colours look a little faded- they'll still be super vibrant when you cut into the cake.
- Let the cake cool in the tin for around 10 minutes then flip it out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
Frosting
- Add the butter to a bowl and mix in the icing sugar a little bit at a time, using the milk to loosen it as needed.
- Stir in the vanilla extract and black food colouring.
- Spread the frosting over your cooled traybake cake. Top with white chocolate ghosts and other edible Halloween decorations.
Video
Notes
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
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