Halloween Pumpkin Candy Pail Cake

One of the best parts about Halloween, in my opinion, is the candy!!! (I mean, you can’t go wrong with half off bags of candy the day after Halloween either) And we never get through a holiday without making a cake, so we’re showing you how to make a pumpkin candy pail cake today! How many of you used the traditional jack-o-lantern candy pails when you were young? Raise those hands! These candy baskets have such a fun sense of nostalgia for me, so I’m super excited about this cake. Plus, you could make the inside a pumpkin flavored cake to up those Fall vibes too!

9″ bundt cake pan (here)
Your favorite cake recipe
Buttercream (here)
Lilac food coloring
White and black fondant
Rolling pin
Lots of candy!

1. Using your favorite cake recipe, bake two bundt cakes in the bundt cake pan. Make sure to grease the pan well before pouring in your batter. It’s a little harder to get a bundt cake out clean than it is in a normal cake pan.

2. Allow the cakes to cool completely and cut off the tops of each cake to flatten them. Spread buttercream over the top of one of the cakes and sandwich them together, creating a pumpkin shape.

3. With your lilac food coloring (or color of your choice), color both the remaining buttercream and the white fondant. Try to get these colors as close to matching one another as possible.

4. Spread a very thin layer of buttercream over the entire cake. Roll out your fondant to 1/4″ thick. Make sure you use enough fondant to cover your whole cake.

5. Drape the fondant over the cake and carefully push the fondant down, cutting off excess fondant at the base. Roll out a piece of black fondant 1/4″ thick and cut a strip for the handle of your basket. Tip: leave the handle in room temperature overnight so it dries to the shape, making it easier to attach to your cake.

6. Fill the middle of your cake with candy. Cut slits on either side of the cake for the handle to sit into and press the handle down into the cake. You can add a jack-o-lantern face with black fondant to finish it off if you like!

What’s your favorite Halloween candy? I’m definitely a chocolate kind of gal, and judging by the Instagram poll we did last week, most of you are chocolate lovers too! If you want other ideas for Halloween treats, make sure to check out our Halloween section on the blog!