How to Make a Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkin Cake for Halloween?

A pumpkin cake shaped like a jack o lantern is just the kind of showpiece Halloween needs to make people do a double take.

No matter whether you are a beginner baker wanting a classic style or an experienced decorator looking for some inspiration, there’s lots of opportunity to personalise your cakes with decorations such as pumpkin shape, a spooky face or many other.

Planning a party for the little people? A Halloween jack o lantern is great for a kids’ party, and the same idea can be dressed up in dark colours for an adult Halloween dinner.

Jack-O-Lantern Silicone Mould provides a shaped cavity to make the lantern face decoration in one press. You can also use the Jack O Lantern Cookie Cutter to cut the same spooky shape out of fondant or cookie dough.

Why This Cake Is Good?

A jack o lantern cake is easy to spot, which is part of the reason this is such a good idea for Halloween. Everyone instantly recognises what they are looking at by the round orange shape, triangular eyes, jagged smile and little green fondant stem.

It’s a natural Halloween cake centrepiece with its familiar look. You don’t need complex design to make the theme clear.

Depending on what is in your kitchen, there are a couple of ways to build the cake. You can stack round sponges and carve them to make a sphere, make a taller bundt-style cake or keep it simple with a round layer cake covered in orange sugarpaste with a carved face added to the front.

The Sponge Base

In case you want to make a carved pumpkin cake, then you have to think about making a proper sponge base for that. You may find a regular Victoria sponge too light for this, it is better to select one that has a more dense texture.

The chocolate mud cake can also be used; also there is another suggestion, which is a carrot and spice sponge with the pumpkin puree added to the mixture; it provides the necessary moisture and structure that will allow the cake to be carved without falling to pieces.

Another great idea is to have a chocolate bundt cake. With the ring tin you will get ridges that are the shape of pumpkin segments by itself, which is part of the shape before you decorate.

In order to enhance the Halloween theme of your cake with some additional taste, you should add pumpkin spice vanilla extract to the batter because it brings warm and spicy notes. If you don’t have a bundt tin, then stack some round sponges and carve them into the shape of a sphere.

Shaping the Pumpkin

It is much easier to decorate your pumpkin cake once its shape has been properly formed before starting to decorate it.

To make them, stack two or three round sponges with a layer of buttercream between each one, and then use a serrated knife to cut the sides so that they form a rounded dome; make some shallow vertical grooves on the outside to produce the ribbed sections found on a real pumpkin.

When you are satisfied with the shape, put it into the fridge for about 20 minutes. This makes the sponge hard enough so that the carved lines stay after putting the crumb coat on the cake.

The Pumpkin Delight Silicone Mould can be used to make little fondant pumpkins for the base. Place them around the cake for a bigger Halloween scene, without any extra carving.

Covering the Cake

Once you have your pumpkin shape, it’s time to cover your cake. A thin layer of orange toned buttercream will help give a nice smooth finish over the entire carved surface. It needs chilling for 15-20 mins until this first layer of coverage is set hard.

There are two choices for the last covering. Lay another layer of orange buttercream and smooth using a bench scraper or spread orange fondant on the design and gently press into the grooves by hand.

For the traditional jack o lantern pumpkin colour, blend with white buttercream or fondant with the pumpkin soft gel paste food colouring. Add the colour slowly to make the orange colour darker.

After the orange surface has hardened, spray with Pumpkin Edible Lustre Powder Spray. It can be applied over the Halloween jack o lantern cake for a slightly waxy look that helps the pumpkin look like a pumpkin under the glow of a candle.

Carve Out the Jack-O-Lantern Face

This step is when your orange cake takes on the appearance of a pumpkin jack o lantern as you carve out its face, which completes the concept.

The faces can be cut directly from the orange fondant in the shape of triangles eyes, a triangle nose, and a jagged mouth using a knife or fondant tool. However, you do not need to cut directly into the cake if you wish to use black fondant instead and attach it using edible glue.

You also might want to think outside the box when creating those jack o lantern ideas. While we all know what the classic jack o lantern face looks like, why not try some fun ones? Maybe play around with uneven triangle eyes or a wink, even some curling brow lines, layered teeth or anything! A pumpkin stencil makes it easy to draw out your desired facial features before getting into carving it up.

The Jack-O-Lantern Stem

One of those tiny things which makes all the difference between just okay looking and actually good!

Start by rolling a cone of dark green or brown coloured fondant and gently bending it to form a slightly rounded shape and placing them over the top of your cake. Include some thin, green fondant tendrils around the base of the stem radiating outwards to form the vine. The layered honeycombed toppers for pumpkins pressed around the base of the stem are a playful detail that works well for a Halloween cake for kids. The botanical effect is complete with a small leaf shape cut from green fondant and pressed against the stem with any small leaf cutter.

The Glowing Effect

If you want your halloween jack o lantern to look as though there is a candle glowing inside it, you can achieve this effect with just a few simple decorating touches.

Put a small LED tea light in a clear acetate collar around the cake base. Next, add orange and yellow buttercream around the base in a wavy, irregular design to resemble candlestick. It’s also possible to make the glow using an airbrush. Spray a deeper orange around the base, and a paler, more yellow tone towards the centre of the face cutouts. This is what gives the face a soft light look and makes it appear as if it is glowing from inside.

The use of good gel food colours in the amber and yellow colours, in combination with the pumpkin orange tone creates the gradient which gives the glowing effect throughout the entire surface. This is what makes a difference between a Halloween pumpkin cake made at home and one made professionally.

Halloween Cake for Kids

When making a Halloween cake for kids, a simple design will make it easier for their small hands to take part.

Rather than cutting the eyes and mouth out of the fondant, press on the cake separate fondant eyes and a mouth and give the pumpkin a friendly look instead of a scary one.Then just arrange some pumpkin sugar decorations at the base of the cake before drizzling with orange edible shaped pumpkin sprinkles onto a green fondant board. Add some pumpkin honeycomb toppings on top to finish it off!

If you’re making other things to serve on your Halloween table, why don’t you include pumpkin and ghost Halloween baking cupcake cases? Everyone will get a personal pumpkin-themed treat to takeaway along with your main cake. The Halloween range includes all sorts of items, such as themed cutters and moulds, as well as edible decorations and cupcake cases that are appropriate for the complete table display.

Finishing the Scene

Once the cake is decorated, it is also important to check everything else in its surroundings because the board can transform a single cake into the whole Halloween scene.

Make the background of your pumpkin by covering the dark coloured board with black fondant or even better you can just sprinkle some cocoa powders on them. Then spread the mini pumpkins made using a pumpkin silicone mould around the board and add some dried leaves that have been cut from brown and orange fondant; small ghost figures piped with white royal icing can be used to fill in the gaps and provide additional detail.

To give the piece a neat finish, wrap the satin print ribbon that has the image of Halloween pumpkins around the edge of the board. You can produce ten identical decorations at once using a mini pumpkin silicone mould which has ten cavities.

You can similarly use chocolate supplies to melt dark chocolate callets and produce a drip effect on your pumpkin cake, giving the jack o lantern cake a darker appearance.

The Halloween Cake Idea That’s Worth Making

Jack o lantern pumpkin cake will bring the Halloween theme straight into the middle of your table. Your Halloween cake can be as simple or as complicated as your cake decorating skills are.

It goes well for various celebrations too. For children parties keep the face friendly while for adults parties make the face in dark colours and more detailed. Once you master the technique of the shaping and decoration, you can apply the same technique for any other halloween cake ideas.

Choose a solid sponge, shape it before decorating, and use gel colour to create a bright orange shade. Let the face be what gives character to the cake, and then add the board scene using pumpkins, leaves, ghosts, or other such details.

When you have all the necessary cake decorating supplies, which include moulds, fondant, edible sprays, and decorations for the season, then you will be able to put together a complete Halloween cake.