30 Easy Halloween Cakes

Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and caldron bubble… 

If you’re looking to brew up some spooky, sweet, or scary Halloween cakes for everyone’s favorite fall holiday, then you’ve come to the right place. 

These Halloween cakes run the gamut from gloriously gross (chocolate skull cake) to adorably awesome (Frankenstein cupcakes) and hit everything in between. 

So whether you’re looking for something devilishly decadent or sinfully scrumptious, this list has you covered.

The hardest part will be choosing between all the fantastic options. 

And if you need help with that, don’t ask me; I usually make way too many Halloween cakes and desserts because I can never decide on just one.

30 Sweet and Spooky Halloween Cake Recipes

1. Halloween Dirt Cake

Halloween dirt cake is simply dirt pudding cake with a touch of Halloween flair.

It has the same rich, silky smooth pudding-cream cheese center between two Oreo “dirt” layers.

However, you’ll add Nutter Butter tombstones, candy corn, and candy pumpkins to make a spooky Halloween graveyard scene that’s too cute to be scary.

2. Graveyard Cake 

The graveyard cake is similar to the Halloween dirt cake, but it requires a few more ingredients.

It also has different decorations – gummy worms and marshmallow ghosts, to name a few.

3. Black Magic Bat Cupcakes

I never knew you could do so much with an Oreo and some candy eyes. These are the most adorable bats you’ll ever see.

Plus, these are so simple, even beginner bakers with no “artistic” talent can make them. 

And the combination of Hershey’s special dark cocoa and espresso gives them a rich, marvelous taste.

4. Halloween Spiderweb Pumpkin Cake

This eerie spiderweb cake is rich, decadent, and so much fun!

You’ll make the spiderweb “icing” using stretchy, stringy melted marshmallows, and it looks almost like the real thing. 

Aside from that, everything else is pretty standard – everyday baking ingredients, buttercream frosting, etc.

Still, it’s a lot of fun and ideal for Halloween.

5. Ghost Halloween Cupcakes

As long as you can ice cupcakes, you can make these boo-tiful ghost cupcakes with no trouble.

Once the cupcakes are ready, it only takes 10 minutes to turn them into screaming little ghosts.

6. Candy Corn Poke Cake

It doesn’t get much easier or much more festive than this candy corn poke cake, and candy corn haters, take a step back!

And candy corn, along with a box of white cake mix, the baking ingredients you’ll need to make it, food coloring, sweetened condensed milk, and whipped topping, is all you’ll need for this cake.

You’ll use the food coloring to make the cake look like candy corn.

Then, you’ll top it with whipped cream and actual candy corn. It’s sweet, light, and moist.

7. Mini-Pumpkin Cakes

I love these tiny cakes because they’re so realistic and look like actual pumpkins. They’re gorgeous and so authentic looking! Luckily, they taste fantastic, too. 

You’ll fill each one with cream cheese and all your favorite fall spices (cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, nutmeg, etc.), so they smell as good as they look!

8. Earthquake Cake

There’s nothing more terrifying than a natural disaster, so this earthquake cake is theme-appropriate. Plus, it’s insanely delicious and impossible to turn down. 

It’s got layer upon layer of deliciousness – coconut, pecans, rich, gooey chocolate, German chocolate cake, and cream cheese icing.

You’ll find ways to enjoy this cake year-round.

9. Chocolate Skull Cake

If you’re looking at this cake thinking, “I could never make that,” don’t worry; 99% of what you need for this cake comes from a skull-shaped baking pan. 

All you have to do is mix the ingredients, bake, and ice the cake. The pan does all the hard work.

Even the “blood” pouring out of the top is nothing more than a chocolate drizzle!

So grab the pan and have fun!    

10. Leftover Candy Cookie Cake

If you’re looking for a way to get rid of all that leftover Halloween candy at once (that doesn’t involve scarfing it all down in one sitting or trashing it), make this leftover cookie cake.

It’s similar to the giant cookie cakes at Great American Cookie but thicker and more cake-like. Then, you’ll decorate it with whatever candy you have. 

It’s 100% chocolate cookie yumminess. 

11. Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Halloween Cookie Cake 

Try this one instead if you’re looking for a slightly healthier version of a Halloween cookie cake.

It’s gluten-free and features the spectacular combination of oatmeal and chocolate chips. 

Decorate it however you like, but if you follow the recipe, you’ll need confectioner’s sugar, milk, and M&Ms.

12. Pumpkin Roll

Pumpkin rolls aren’t spooky or scary, but they are the quintessential fall dessert.

With their rich cream cheese swirls and their pumpkin pie spice, it’s tough not to love them. 

13. Pumpkin Cheesecake 

Speaking of quintessential – Halloween isn’t complete without a pumpkin cheesecake either! And this double-layer cheesecake is the best of the best.

The bottom layer is plain, tangy cheesecake, and the top is cheesecake with the pumpkin puree and all the aromatic and flavorful fall spices. 

It’s a double dose of deliciousness.

14. Black Cat Cupcakes

Once you make your chocolate cupcakes, all you’ll need to turn them into mysterious and mischievous black cats is dark chocolate frosting, Oreos, and a few hand-selected candies.

Jelly beans work great for eyes and noses, and black licorice makes great whiskers.

15. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Poke Cake

Light, moist chocolate cake covered in a rich, soft peanut butter icing and crushed peanut butter cups… Can’t you just imagine how phenomenal this cake would be?

With this recipe, you don’t have to imagine. You can make it yourself tonight. Only share if you’re feeling generous. 

16. Witch Hat Cupcakes

Making these charming cupcakes from scratch takes a little over an hour; however, you could always buy bakery cupcakes and start from there.

In that case, grab ones with green frosting if possible. (Purple works well, too.)

Then top each with half of an Oreo Thin, a circle of yellow frosting, and a Hershey’s Kiss. 

Add the top, yellow section of candy corn for a hat buckle, and you’re all set! 

17. Twix Cake

For a lot of people, Halloween is all about the candy, and so is this cake! Well, it’s all about Twix, anyway. 

It’s a chocolate cake covered in homemade caramel icing and decorated with caramel and chocolate sauces and broken Twix bars.

It’s simple, elegant, and 100% chocoholic-approved.

18. Trick or Treat Cake

Whether you decide to make this a poke cake or not, people will love it. 

It’s gorgeous with its white, brown, and yellow swirl, and the sweet and simple frosting is a nice change from elaborately decorated cakes with five-mile-high icing.

If you want to make it extra Halloween-themed, scatter a few pieces of candy corn on the top. 

19. Pumpkin Halloween Cake Pops

Cake pops may not be as popular as they were a few years ago, but they’re still tasty and fun, especially when each one looks like a tiny Jack-o-Lantern!

Best of all, you can make enough to feed 20 in a little over an hour, and they’ll be a massive hit with the kids. 

20. Frankenstein Cupcakes

Frankenstein (more accurately: Frankenstein’s monster) may be a big, scary movie monster, but there’s only one word to describe these fantastic Frankenstein cupcakes: precious.

They just look so charmingly confused. Of course, you can decorate yours differently – to look scary, happy, etc.

But I prefer the confuzzled Frankenstein, myself.

21. Halloween Rice Krispie Treat Cake

You can do all kinds of fun things with Rice Krispie treats, like making them in a bundt pan and turning them into Rice Krispie treat cake. 

You’ll make them the same way as always, but the shape will be different.

Then, you’ll use icing and sprinkles to Halloween it up! (You can do the same thing for other holidays, as well.)

22. Chocolate Goblin Food Cake

Despite its unappetizing name, this heavenly chocolate cake is one of the lightest, most chocolatey cakes you’ll ever taste.

It’s the kind of homemade chocolate cake your grandma used to make with only 10 common ingredients, and one bite of it will make you nostalgic for your childhood.

23. Pumpkin Patch Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

Without the pumpkins on top, this cake would just be a chocolate peanut butter cake – an insanely rich, insanely sweet, and insanely delicious chocolate peanut butter cake, that is. 

However, you’ll make it festive by adding peanut butter balls decorated with chocolate to look like tiny pumpkins to the top. 

Just make sure you add enough peanut butter pumpkins because everyone will want to try one.

24. Wicked Witch Cupcakes

All you’ll need to turn any cupcakes into wicked witch cupcakes are Halloween-colored straws and some boot cut-outs, which you can make yourself. 

It helps if the cupcakes are chocolate with green or purple frosting, though, as those are traditional “wicked witch” colors.

25. Kit Kat Candy Cake

All you’ll need to make a Kit Kat candy cake are two box-cake cakes baked in round pans, icing, 11 Kit Kat bars, and your chosen decorations. 

The decorations on the cake in the recipe are more geared towards Easter, but you can use this cake for any holiday by swapping up the decorations. 

Instead of mini-chocolate eggs and a pastel ribbon, use candy corn, candy pumpkins, orange and black M&Ms, and a bright orange ribbon. 

26. Halloween Icebox Cake

Again, this cake looks like it takes a lot of work and skill, but it doesn’t. It’s actually a no-bake cake that takes less than 30 minutes to make. 

Just assemble your ingredients per the recipe and then decorate the cake however you like.

Those adorable bat sprinkles are a winner, though, so I’d definitely get some of them.

27. Halloween Monster Mash Cake

At its core, this green and purple cake is simply a rich, phenomenal homemade cake with buttercream frosting.

To make it more Halloween-like, you’ll simply need the right food coloring.

People will ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ at the layers of purple and green and the deep black frosting and decorations, but this cake shouldn’t take you much longer than an hour to make. 

28. Candy Bar Mug Cake

If you’re looking for a cake that’s just for you and that can help you use up your extra Halloween candy, you can’t beat this 2-minute mug cake.

Simply mix angel food cake mix and your choice of vanilla or chocolate cake mix in a Ziploc bag. 

Once it’s mixed thoroughly, put three tablespoons of the mix and two tablespoons of water into a mug you’ve sprayed with non-stick spray.

Add your candy bars and microwave for a minute.

Then add more candy and chocolate or caramel syrup, or eat it plain. 

If you don’t like it the first time around, you can always make more in another minute and do something different with the add-ons. 

29. Devil’s Food Cake

Some people call Halloween “the devil’s holiday,” so why not serve devil’s food cake?

It’s fluffy and fudgy, and the double-decker chocolate is a chocolate lover’s dream.

And the good news is that it takes less than an hour to make, and you probably have everything you need to make it in your kitchen already.  

30. Jack- O’-Lantern Cake

For this cake, you’ll need two boxes of spice cake mix, vanilla frosting, red and yellow food coloring, a green ice cream cone (for the pumpkin stem), Oreo cookies (for the eyes), and black fondant. 

The cake itself is spicy, moist, and super tasty, but I think we can all agree that the real excitement in this one comes from the fact that it looks like a Jack-o-Lantern.