This month I’m sharing a TON of my favorite Halloween cake decorating ideas and I was thinking you might want to know more about what’s going on inside the cake as well! Especially since it’s a mouth-watering Candy Bar Layer Cake made of black velvet and peanut butter cake layers filled with Swiss meringue buttercream, crunchy, salty bits of peanut toffee, and a creamy caramel drizzle. Don’t do nuts in your house? No problem! The peanut butter cake is just as easily made with sun butter and the toffee with sunflower seeds or left plain. (PS I actually prefer the toffee with sunflower seeds. SO good!)
Over the years I’ve spent most of my time creating recipes and tutorials for other websites and publications. I’ve decided that it’s high time I start sharing more here as well! A little over three years ago, after Violet was born, my brain turned to mush. She had a big hand in that one! Or, I should say, her sleeping habits (or non-sleeping habits) did. It took a lot out of me creatively. I struggled to keep my head above water with my writing and work assignments and my personal blog fell to dead last on the priority list. I’m happy to say that she’s sleeping…better now. Not like a teenager quite yet, but we’re getting there. I’m also getting some of my mojo back. This Halloween the spooktacular floodgates opened and I couldn’t stop the ideas from flowing. Feels so good to be tapped back into that again!
My big plan is to whip up a fantastical layer cake each month. Tons of the good stuff – cake, buttercream, fillings, crunchy bits, you name it. I’ll then share it with you. ? Throughout the month I’ll share seasonal and holiday-inspired cake decorating ideas you can use to dress up the luscious layer cake. In addition, I’ll also share how you can use parts of the layer cake recipe to make other tasty treats like cupcakes, sheet cakes, and more. Sound like a deal? Good! 
I’ll be sharing the recipes in separate posts, then showing you how I combine them into a finished cake. This way you’ll have access to each recipe on it’s own and won’t have to go digging through posts to find that yummy toffee you loved, but can’t remember which cake it was used in. I’ll also be able to quickly and easily direct you to the recipes used without having to repeat myself a million times. It all illustrates how with just a few amazing recipes you can create a truly limitless number of cake combinations!
Candy Bar Layer Cake
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Recipes
- Two 6-inch round Peanut Butter Cakes, baked and cooled*
- Two 6-inch round Black Velvet Cakes, baked and cooled
- 2 batches Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- 1 batch Toffee, peanut variation
- 1 batch Caramel Sauce
*Use my full cake recipes for three 6-inch tall cakes or my 1/2 batch cake recipes for 2 standard 6-inch round cakes.
Tools
Prep the Components
- Slice the domed tops off of your cakes. Discard the tops or munch on them while you work.
- Fill a piping bag with Swiss meringue buttercream.
- Finely chop the toffee.
- Pour the warm caramel into a squeeze bottle.
Layer the Cake
Snip the tip of the piping bag to create a nickel-sized opening. Pipe a blob of buttercream onto your cake board or stand. Press the first layer of black velvet cake onto the blob to anchor it. Position the piping bag in the center of the cake. Apply pressure to the bag while spinning the turn table to pipe a coil of buttercream over the entire layer. Spread the layer smooth with an offset spatula. Drizzle the buttercream with caramel sauce and top the caramel with a sprinkle of chopped toffee. Add a layer of peanut butter cake on top of your filling. Repeat this process, alternating cake flavors. Reserve the extra caramel sauce for plating cake slices, sweetening up your morning coffee, or just squirt it directly into your mouth.
Make it Pretty
Finish you cake with one of these creeptastic cake decorating ideas:
Sweet, sweet, sweet, and easy. Want something that will satisfy your sweet tooth, this will do it.