Candy Bucket Cake
Submitted by betty.riordan
A showstopping Halloween candy bucket cake: stacked Bundt and round cakes carved into a jack-o-lantern, wrapped in orange fondant staves with a licorice handle and a candy-filled top.
YIELD
30 servingsPREP
2 hrsCOOK
35 minREADY
3 hrsThis is less a weeknight bake and more a Halloween centerpiece. The clever bit is the construction: two Bundt cakes and a round are stacked so the hollow of the top Bundt becomes a real bucket you can fill with candy.
Orange-tinted frosting glues the layers, then strips of fondant get pressed on from the base upward to mimic a bucket’s staves. A jack-o-lantern face is carved right into the surface and the cutouts piped with dark chocolate so the eyes and grin pop.
A handle twisted from two ropes of licorice finishes the illusion, and the top brims with snack-size candy. It is a Food Network showpiece, the kind of cake that earns gasps at the party.
Pro Tips
- Chill the cake between steps so the frosting and fondant firm up and the stack stays put.
- Level the cakes before stacking; flat, even layers keep the tall bucket from leaning.
- Roll the fondant on wax paper dusted with cornstarch so it lifts cleanly instead of sticking.
- Map the face with a paper template and toothpicks before you cut, so the jack-o-lantern looks intentional.
Variations
- Tint the frosting and fondant another color and skip the face for a plain party pail.
- Use any boxed cake flavor you like; the construction works the same.
- Heap the top with popcorn or wrapped chocolates instead of loose candy.
Ingredients
Cooking spray
2 18.25-ounce boxes spice cake mix
8 large eggs
2 cups buttermilk
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 16-ounce tubs vanilla frosting
Orange gel food coloring, for tinting
Cornstarch, for dusting
12 ounces orange rolled fondant (available at craft stores)
1/2 cup dark chocolate frosting
2 long black licorice strings
Snack-size candy, for topping
Directions
Spray one 8-inch-round cake pan and two 6-cup Bundt pans with cooking spray. Beat the cake mixes, eggs, buttermilk and oil with a mixer; divide among the pans. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 25 minutes for the round cake and 30 to 35 minutes for the Bundts; let cool.
Tint the vanilla frosting with orange food coloring. Trim the flat sides of the Bundt cakes and the top of the round cake to make level. Turn 1 Bundt cake upside down; spread with frosting. Top with the round cake, more frosting and the other Bundt cake, then frost the whole cake and chill 30 minutes.
Lightly dust a sheet of wax paper with cornstarch. Roll out the fondant on the paper into a 21-by-8-inch rectangle, about ⅛ inch thick. Cut into 12 strips, 8 inches long and 1 ¾ inches wide, tapering the ends as shown.
Attach the fondant strips to the cake, lightly pressing and smoothing them from the base of the cake upward. Refrigerate the cake 30 minutes.
Draw jack-o'-lantern eyes, a nose and a mouth on paper and cut them out; attach to the cake with toothpicks. Score around the cutouts with a paring knife, then remove the toothpicks and paper.
Trace the scored lines with the knife, cutting through the fondant and slightly into the cake. Pry out the pieces with the tip of the knife.
Cut a 1-inch-deep circle out of the top of the cake. Put the dark chocolate frosting in a resealable plastic bag; snip the corner and pipe the frosting into the cutouts.
Twist the 2 strings of licorice together and insert into the top of the cake to make a handle. Fill the top of the cake with snack-size candy.
Photograph by Kat Teutsch
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