Halloween M&Ms Fault Line Cake
A creative and deliciously colorful spooky season cake - make this Halloween M&Ms Fault Line cake with Halloween M&Ms!
Equipment
- 1 10 inch cardboard cake circle (optional, but a flat base to work on makes decorating much easier!)
- large offset spatula (to spread frosting)
- Cake turntable (I know decorators that don't use turntables, but I'd highly recommend one for this cake style - or you may have a frustrating time smoothing the frosting around the fault line.)
- cake scraper or pastry cutter (to smooth frosting)
- large piping bag + star tip (to decorate; linked is a set that contains both)
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake layers
- 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour (350g)
- 2 ¼ cups granulated sugar (450g)
- 1 ¼ cup cocoa powder (100g)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks/250g, at room temperature)
- 4 large eggs (room temperature)
- 1 ½ cups buttermilk (350mL)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Chocolate Cream Cheese buttercream
- 8 ounces cream cheese (one package; softened)
- 1 cup butter (two sticks, softened)
- 5 ½ -6 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup cocoa powder
- 2-3 Tablespoons milk
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt if using unsalted butter
Decorations
- Halloween M&Ms mix (I bought Halloween M&MS at a grocery store,but they're also available on Amazon)
- Edible glitter (optional; to add metallic accent to the fault line)
- New or food-safe paintbrush (optional; to add edible glitter)
Instructions
Chocolate Cake layers
- Preheat an oven to 350℉ (180℃). Grease 3 8-inch cake pans with baker's floured spray and/or line pans with parchment rounds.
- Mix together dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt) in the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle (or hand mixer or whisk) until well combined. Add in bits of softened butter, mixing until no lumps of butter are visible and the mixture looks crumbly.
- Whisk together eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Add to dry ingredients and mix until no dry ingredients are visible. Scrape down the bowl and beat for another 20 seconds.
- Fill the three pans evenly - I find a kitchen scale helpful for this part, and each of mine weighed out to about 550g. Bake for 30-35 min or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow cake layers to cool for 10-15 minutes before removing from pans, and cool completely before frosting. Set in the fridge or freezer to speed up the cooling process if desired.
Chocolate Cream Cheese buttercream
- Beat together softened cream cheese and butter; slowly add in powdered sugar alternating with cocoa powder and milk until frosting reaches desired consistency. Add vanilla and salt if needed and beat until well combined.
Okay! On to the fault line!
- First, trim about an inch off the outside edge of your middle cake layer. Not usually a requirement, but since M&Ms are so much bigger than the sprinkles I usually use for fault lines more room to work with was helpful! Stack your layers (large/small/large) with frosting in between.
- Now you're ready to crumb-coat - if you're unfamiliar with crumb-coating, it's just what it sounds like – spreading a thin layer of frosting over the cake to keep crumbs out of your final layer. I usually do this with my large offset spatula. Don't worry about smoothing the frosting over the middle layer.
- Next, spread a layer of frosting over the middle of your cake, covering the crumb coat. This is where you’ll put the M&Ms! Press your M&Ms into the frosting. Try to get them as even as possible so they don’t create bumps that will make smoothing your frosting difficult.
- Now to create the ‘fault line!’ Use an offset spatula to spread your frosting around the upper border of the cake and cover the top. Of note here – your frosting will spread as you smooth it, so don’t put it on too thick right at first!
- Take your bench scraper in several gentle swipes to smooth the frosting – if you're bumping into the M&Ms with your scraper, add a bit more frosting to that section. Use gentle swipes with the scraper, being careful not to take off too much frosting (or your scraper will start to bump the M&Ms and create bumps in your frosting).
- I found it the easiest to smooth either the top or bottom layer first and then the other – as suggested but @sheri.wilson on Instagram. Repeat the process around the base, adding on a similar layer of frosting and smoothing it with your bench scraper.
- Pipe a few frosting swirls around the top rim of your cake, and add an M&M onto each one. Add a generous sprinkle of M&Ms to the cake top.
Optional - adding edible glitter
- With a new or food-safe paintbrush, outline the top and bottom edges of the ‘fault line’ with edible glitter. If you’d like, you can flick the paintbrush across the top of the cake to add a bit more sparkle to the top!
- Cut in and enjoy! Happy Halloween!
Video
Notes
(Please note nutrition information is an estimate, and may not be exactly accurate.)
Nutrition
Serving: 1servingCalories: 787kcalCarbohydrates: 100gProtein: 9gFat: 39g
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