Halloween Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Icing

My oldest daughter turned 6 this month. I usually make a cake from scratch or alter a cake mix or go all out with the cake decor. Since I was making the cake with a 2 1/2 week old baby in the house, I needed to try to make an easier cake this year. This is what came out!

The cake is Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge box mix. It's a yummy cake and so much quicker and easier than the chocolate cakes I usually make from scratch. Yes, I prefer my scratch cakes, but if you put enough icing, any cake tastes delicious!

The icing is the one thing that's homemade. I'm an icing fan, so I think it's worth the bit of extra work to make your own instead of using store bought. The peanut butter icing recipe is from Brown Eyed Baker, and I covered the cake with her chocolate ganache recipe, too (in the same post as the icing recipe).

I knew I wouldn't have time to make my own cake decorations since I was home alone with a newborn. Thank goodness Halloween candy is out right now and comes in different shapes and colors! I used Reese's peanut butter pumpkins, bats, and ghosts. They all kind of looked liked blobs, so I used icing gel to differentiate them. The gel melted a bit on the bats, so you still can't tell they're bats 😂.  I used lollipop sticks (from Michael's, I think) to put the Reese's on the cake. I had the sprinkles already, but I think they're still available at Walmart with the fall cake items. The gold candles are from Walmart. The number 6 is a Wilton candy piece from Michael's. On the front of the cake is "Witch's Brew" Kit Kat green candy bars, and candy corn is along the back of the cake. The candy corn "leaked" a bit in the fridge. Let's pretend that's part of the Halloween aesthetic. 

The cake was yummy and perfect for an October birthday. If you have the time and the motivation, I definitely recommend making the cake from scratch. If you're short on time, the Duncan Hines mix is a good substitute. You don't have to tell anyone that it's a mix! The icing is good by itself...on a spoon...in case you wondered.