How to Make a Spooky Tree Cake

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​I like to find cake inspiration in everything around me. One day these $1 Halloween trees from Target caught my eye.

This is exactly my kind of Halloween aesthetic! I like decorations that look more elegant, and goth over bright and cartoony.

It's hard to see in the picture, but these are also covered in black glitter. I'm kind of a sucker for glitter.

Now how to put these on a cake?

You will need:
Black Fondant
Gum Paste
X-Acto Knife
Edible Glitter - Black and Gold
Vodka or Lemon Extract
Cake Turn Table
Cake Board
Large Angled Spatula
Small Angled Spatula
Small Pointed Angled Spatula
Icing Scraper
Piping Bags - reusable or plastic
Couplers
Tips - 2, 3, and 5
Decorating Brush Set
Frosting Dye - I recommend either Celebakes or Americolor

​Start with some black fondant and mix in a bit of gum paste for extra structural integrity. 
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Roll it out into a 1" pill shape, and make a cut with an X-Acto knife. Those are your first branches. Roll each of those out and make more cuts. Keep splitting and rolling, making sure to avoid symmetry, until you’ve got a nice little tree limb that you're satisfied with. Make more of various sizes and shapes. ​

Lay your branches out to dry and use plastic wrap to add some extra dimension.

For a 6 inch cake, you'll need at least four large branches, four medium branches, and eight to twelve small twigs and branches.

Let these dry for two or three days.

​Time for the glitter!

I bought some black glitter from Celebakes for this project, but I found that it wasn’t quite bright enough, so I mixed in my gold glitter from Sunflower Sugar Art. Perfect!


Mix with vodka or lemon extract and paint on each branch. Make sure to get the backs of the branches too. 

For the cake, you’ll want three or four shades of purple for the ombré and a bit of black for the ground.

​More specifically, I mixed in a bit of royal blue with my darkest shade for the night sky, and a hint of orange into the lightest shade for a warm sunset. Just a hint though-- I wanted it to look fairly monochromatic.  

Add some rolling hills. Smooth out with a small spatula.

Gently mark out your placement for four trees. 

Go around the whole cake and add simple Halloween silhouettes. I went with a crooked fence, gravestones, a haunted house, and a small creepy tree. Google “Halloween silhouettes” for inspiration and images to copy.  

Add bat silhouettes and stars to the top and sides. I do a mix of little plus signs and dots for the stars.

Start piping some buttercream trees. For each of mine, I piped the basic shape with a size 6 tip, and then went back and added lines to thicken up the trunk. The texture of the overlapping lines looks great as bark.
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Make them a little warped and twisted, with sprawling roots. Add some branches to the top of the cake as well. Don't go crazy with the branches since you'll be adding the fondant ones as well.

Place cake in the freezer or refrigerator before this next step. You'll want the trees as stiff as possible.

Use the same glitter that you used on the fondant branches, but this time, mix it with a small amount of vegetable oil. This will help it stick to the buttercream.

Gently paint it on the cold buttercream trees.

Now let’s add dimension to this cake!
Start adding your largest branches to the top of the cake. Add a few smaller limbs and twigs sticking out here and there. Make sure to have each fondant piece connected to a buttercream branch.

Use medium and small branches on the sides of the cake.

There may be a few spots where the fondant cracks or warps the buttercream.

​Just go in with a small pointed spatula to correct those areas. ​

I had to take a video because glitter never properly shows up in pictures!

When I designed this cake, I debated for a while whether to use purple, orange, or green ombre. If you choose a different color, I’d love to see it!

Tag me @JuliesSugarMagic on Facebook and Instagram with your own versions!

Happy Halloween!
Stay safe and healthy!