Spooky Skull Cakelet Recipes

With Halloween season in full-swing, the anticipated preparation has begun and the creativity has been brewing. We aren’t talking about costumes or decorations, but getting ready for the food, of course! This is the time of year to go all-out and impress your guests with spooky treats and terrifying bites to get fully immersed in the Halloween spirit. One of our favorite pans as part of our Halloween Bakeware Collection this time of year is the Skull Cakelet Pan, the perfect tool for all your Halloween festivities. Not only are the complex details of these skull heads terrifyingly realistic, but the food possibilities are endless! We have harvested an amazing list of creative recipes that caters to every skill level, from simple to more complex ideas that you will be able to serve and scare your guests and little goblins this Halloween!

RECIPES:

Dark Chocolate Skull Cakes

For the cakelets:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cake flour
• 1 cup extra-dark cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 4 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon orange extract
• 1/2 teaspoon Fiori di Sicila
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 teaspoon black food color, if desired

Chocolate Glaze:

• 3.5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 1/4 cup heavy cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325°F. Prepare the Skull Cakelet pan with baking spray or brush with butter and dust with cocoa. Whisk the flours, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt together. In a separate bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the butter and sugars together until creamy and lightened, about 2-3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Add the extracts. Put the mixer on low speed and add the buttermilk alternately with the dry ingredients in 4 additions. Mix until smooth. Add black food color to desired shade if using. Fill pan no more than 3/4 full in each well. Tap pan on top of a cutting board covered with a heavy kitchen towel to evenly distribute batter and eliminate air bubbles from the batter. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Allow cakelets to cool in pan 5-8 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack. Repeat with remaining batter.

Prepare the glaze by adding chocolate to a heat-proof bowl. Warm cream until just beginning to steam and pour over chocolate, stirring with a spatula to incorporate while chocolate melts. When all chocolate has melted, pour over cooled cakeletes. Garnish as desired with candy decorations or decorating sprinkles. Makes 12 cakes.

Veggie Pizza Stuffed Skulls 

• 2 containers of Pillsbury *thin pre-made pizza crust(or use homemade dough, rolled thin)
• Pizza sauce
• mozzarella cheese
• ½ cup mushrooms, diced
• 1/2 pepper, diced
• ¼ onion, diced
• Seasoning as desired
• 1 egg

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray Skull Cakelet pan with cooking spray. Roll out Pillsbury dough or homemade dough (make sure to roll it out extra thin). Cut dough into sections, slightly bigger than skull cavity, to allow enough dough to seal( for Pillsbury dough, cut into 4 sections).Lay dough loosely over cavity, so it dips into the well. Gently push dough to sides of the skull mold. Be careful to not pull dough too thin or a hole might form. Sprinkle cheese, sauce, veggies, and seasonings inside of dough, just enough to almost fill the cavity (amount is your preference).

You want to make sure you have enough dough to fold over and seal your pizza. Cut off extra dough you might have and fold dough so it is completely sealed. Gently press down on dough into the mold so it takes the whole shape. Beat egg to create egg wash. Using a brush, brush egg wash on dough for sealing purposes.Repeat these steps with remaining ingredients until all skulls are filled. Cover pan and refrigerate 30 minutes to seal pizzas.

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the dough looks slightly brown (be careful to not over bake. Remember, dough touching pan side will be darker than the top dough. Make sure top sealed dough is crisp and light brown.

Let cool 10-15 minutes. Invert onto a cooling rack and serve immediately. Enjoy! Makes 6 skull pizzas

Wrapped Skull Cakes

• Vanilla Bean Bundt Mix (or any vanilla cake recipe of choice)
• Annie’s Strawberry Fruit Tape

Directions:

Prepare pan with baking spray and use a pastry brush to evenly coat the details of the pan. Follow instructions for making cake mix or recipe of choice. Once cakes are completely cooled, wrap them with fruit tape in creative ways to make mummy heads!

Wiggly Jello Skulls

• Jello boxes (choose desired flavors and colors)
• Water
• Optional: Vanilla Yogurt (6 oz containers)

Directions:

Prepare Jello according to instructions. If desired, add a container of vanilla yogurt (individual size, 6 oz) per desired Jello flavors (one yogurt per Jell-O box). This creates a creamier Jello texture and color.

For layering Jello: In skull pan, add desired first layer of Jello mixture. Refrigerate until Jello begins to harden and form. Make sure there is no liquid before adding your second layer. For your remaining layers, repeat process. Once all layers are poured, refrigerate overnight for best results. When ready to serve, place pan in a warm water bath, so Jello slightly releases from the sides of the pan. We used a high sided sheet pan and filled it with warm water (don’t add hot water as you don’t want Jello to completely melt). When Jello has slightly released from sides, invert onto a surface for serving.

Shrunken Rice Krispie Heads 

• 6 cups Rice Krispie Cereal (crushed)
• 3 cups marshmallows
• 3 Tbsp butter
• Optional: add 1 cup+ Oreos, crushed (add more depending on preference and color)
• 1 bag White chocolate chips
• 1-2 Tbsp Coconut oil
• Popsicle sticks
• Sprinkles and decorating frosting

Directions:

In a saucepan on medium-low heat, melt marshmallows and butter until combined. Remove from heat and stir in crushed rice krispies (for Oreo version, add crushed Oreos at this point too). Make sure everything is incorporated and coated. Lightly spray inside of pan and spoon in Rice Krispie mixture. In each well, push down with your fingers or with a spoon to make sure it is packed tight. Let cool slightly while in the mold, 5-10 minutes. Invert pan onto a cooling rack. Before completely cooled, insert popsicle sticks.

For decorating, melt white chocolate chips and coconut oil in a microwave safe bowl. Dip treats and roll in desired sprinkles. Decorate as desired. Makes 6 skull rice krispies

Homemade Filled Dark Chocolate Skulls 

• 2 bags of quality dark chocolate chips like Ghiradelli or Guittard (you can also use Semi-Sweet)
• 3 Tbsp Coconut Oil+ more for filling
• Peanut Butter
• Jam

Directions:

First, melt dark chocolate chips and coconut oil in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second intervals with stirring, until chocolate is completely melted and smooth. Pour melted chocolate into wells until face of skull is completely covered, a fourth to a third of a way full. Make sure you have enough chocolate leftover to fill the rest of the pan later on to cover the fillings. Place pan in the freezer.

In the meantime, decide what fillings you want to use! We made a peanut butter filling and a red jam filling, but the options are endless! For the peanut butter filling, mix a few scoops of peanut butter with a small scoop of coconut oil in the microwave. You don’t want it to be too liquidy.

Once you have all your fillings ready and the first layer of chocolate is completely frozen, scoop your fillings in the center of each well. Try not to spread all the way to the side of the pan if you don’t want it to squeeze out the sides easily once they are ready. Scoop as much as you would like for the centers, depending on preference.

Cover the fillings with the rest of the melted chocolate. Freeze for 2-3 hours or overnight. The chocolate needs to be cold for easy release out of the pan. Once you are ready to serve, take out of the freezer and invert onto a cooling rack and enjoy cold or at room temperature! Makes 3-4 skulls