One of my favorite parts of being a mom has been the opportunity to dream up and create birthday cakes for my 4 children. Over the years I have done every themed party and cake imaginable. Since my oldest child was born in October, she often liked having a Halloween themed party with all the fixings…Halloween munchies, costumes, and of course a Halloween style birthday cake. Years ago, I put together this Patchwork Halloween Cake for one of her parties. I guess the inspiration came from my love of sewing and quilting. I thought, why not divide up a plain cake into different patches of color and decorate each with a different whimsical scene so it looks like a patchwork quilt. Although it looks very difficult, it really is just a sheet cake decorated with lots of yummy, colorful icing and different types of Halloween candies and decorations.
It is harder now that all my kiddos have grown up and most live away from home. I wish I could overnight a cake to them every time they celebrate a birthday. But, I will do the next best thing…share their favorite birthday cakes that I made over the years, share my incredible love I have for each one of my children, and let everyone know what a gift being a mom has been. So, happy birthday, Ashley. I love you with all my heart!
- 2¼ cup all purpose flour
- 1½ cup sugar
- 3½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1¼ cup milk
- Canola Oil
- 8 oz butter, 1 stick, softened
- 1 T vanilla
- 3 large eggs
- 4 oz butter (1 stick)
- 1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 cups powdered (confectioners) sugar
- Icing coloring pastes (I used purple, orange, green and just left some of the icing white)
- Icing Tubes
- Halloween Candy and Cookies
- Halloween Sprinkles
- Plastic Halloween decorations
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with cooking spray or line it with wax or parchment paper. (For this recipe, I used a 15 x 11 pan and doubled the recipe)
- Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Place in a large mixing bowl.
- Pour milk into a 2 cup measure and add enough canola oil to make a total of 1⅓ cups
- Add milk/oil mixture, along with the butter and vanilla, to the dry ingredients. Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes.
- Add eggs in, one at a time. After all eggs have been added, beat for 2 additional minutes.
- Pour into prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes. For doubled recipe, bake for 40 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool on a wire cooling rack for 15 minutes. Turn out onto a cake plate or cake board.
- Combine butter and cream cheese in a large bowl. Beat on medium speed for 2-3 minutes. Add vanilla and mix for 1 minute. Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, mixing until thoroughly combined.
- Divide icing into 4 bowls. Mix in color pastes of desired colors. Stir completely.
- Measure cake with a ruler into as even squares as possible. Score slightly with a knife on divisions to make guide lines for icing and piping. You can also make a thin line with a small tube of icing to make initial division lines.
- Ice each square of the cake with different colors of the cream cheese icing. Pipe leftover icing or icing tubes onto dividing lines, alternating colors.
- Decorate randomly with Halloween cookies, candies and sprinkles. Use your imagination, that is the fun part. Refrigerate until ready to use.
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