Spooky Spice Samhain Funfetti Witch Cake
This Halloween funfetti cake is a fantastic festive treat made simple, from a tricked-out box mix. So easy, you'll swear it's magic, but tastes homemade.
Ingredients
- 1 box Halloween Funfetti cake mix
- 1 cup lukewarm water 8 oz
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- ½ cup butter, melted 4 oz
- 3-5 drops red and yellow food coloring equal parts (3-5 drops each)
- 1 cup apple butter 8 oz (half-pint jar)
- 1 pint Halloween Funfetti frosting substitute any vanilla buttercream frosting (tinted orange or purple with food coloring)... or homemade buttercream is delicious if you have the time!
Instructions
Mix and bake funfetti cake layers:
- Assemble ingredients and preheat the oven to 350℉. Butter & flour two 9" round pans (or use your preferred baking spray).
- Melt the butter and mix the cake batter, substituting melted butter for the vegetable oil in the instructions.
- Divide about ⅔'s of the cake batter evenly between the two cake pans. To the batter that remains, add equal parts yellow and red food coloring (or orange food coloring) until you reach the desired shade of orange for your swirl.
- Drop the dyed orange batter evenly into each pan in several dollops. Using a spatula, trace a swirl through the two batters to swirl the orange batter into the plain vanilla batter. Don't overmix- you want the cake layers to have a visible mottling of the batters. Smooth the top lightly if needed, though the batter will even out while it bakes.
- Bake the cakes in the hot oven until a skewer comes out clean (29-33 minutes for 9" rounds). Remove and let cool for 10 minutes, then turn pans upside down to cool on a wire rack. The layers should release cleanly from the pan.
Cool, fill, and frost the cakes:
- Once the cake layers have completely cooled, place the bottom layer on a cake plate, flat side up.
- Spread the apple butter filling on the bottom layer, and top with the second layer, rounded side up. You can also split each of the cake layers in half and use extra apple butter between each layer (you will need at least twice as much apple butter, but spread it more thinly).
- Brush any loose crumbs from the surface of the cake. Spread a very thin layer of the frosting on the cake, sealing the apple butter filling and crumbs in. This is easiest with a thin metal cake spatula.
- Put the cake in the fridge, freezer, or other cold place to set the crumb coat. This step isn't entirely necessary, but will give a cleaner frosted cake with less crumbs.
- Wash the spatula or get out a clean one, and then add the rest of the frosting to the top and sides of the cake over the chilled crumb coat.
- Top the frosted cake with festive sprinkles or gel icing spiderwebs.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!