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black and white striped cake with pink drip, gummy eyeball with ice cream cone on top
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Gummy Eyeball Halloween Cake

Get into the Halloween spirit with this fun black and white buttercream cake with water ganache drip and easy gummy eyeball! Full recipe and step by step tutorial.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Decorating 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings 12 servings
Calories 1395kcal
Author Elizabeth Marek

Equipment

  • 2 ½" sphere mold

Ingredients

Gummy Eyeball Recipe

  • 24 ounces cool water
  • 7 ounces granulated sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon white food coloring I use Americolor gel
  • 2 ounces gelatin I use custom collagen brand but KNOX is ok too
  • 1 teaspoon flavor extract I use LorAnn oils pineapple flavor
  • ¼ teaspoon citric acid I use milliard brand
  • Electric pink, electric blue and super black food coloring (for painting the eye) I use Americolor brand

Pumpkin Spice Cake

  • 14 ounces all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 2 teaspoons cloves
  • 2 teaspoons nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon ginger
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 8 large eggs room temperature
  • 12 ounces granulated sugar
  • 3 ounces light brown sugar
  • 12 ounces pumpkin puree not pumpkin pie filling
  • 6 ounces vegetable oil
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 4 ounces buttermilk room temperature
  • 12 ounces unsalted butter melted

Black And White Easy Buttercream Frosting

  • 24 ounces unsalted butter softened but not melted
  • 24 ounces powdered sugar sifted
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 6 ounces pasteurized egg whites
  • 1 Tablespoon black food coloring
  • 4 ounces ganache Or ¼ cup sifted cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon white food coloring

Pink Water Ganache

  • 1 ounce water
  • 6 ounces white candy melts
  • 1 drop electric pink food coloring

Decor

  • ¼ cup Halloween sprinkles
  • 1 regular ice cream cone
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Pumpkin Spice Cake

  • Preheat your oven to 350ºF (177ºC)
    Prepare two 8"x2" cake pans with cake goop or other preferred pan release
  • Combine your flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt in a bowl and whisk together to combine. Set aside. 
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer, add your eggs, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla. Mix on low with the paddle attachment until smooth. You can also do this by hand with a whisk if you don't have a mixer. 
  • Add in your pumpkin puree, oil, melted butter and buttermilk and mix until smooth
  • While mixing on low, add in your flour mixture one cup at a time until all your dry ingredients are incorporated and your batter is smooth. Do not over-mix. 
  • Pour batter into prepared cake pans. Bake the cakes for 40-50 minutes until the center of the cake is set. Let cakes cool ten minutes and turn out onto a cake rack to fully cool before frosting.

Black and White Easy Buttercream

  • Add egg whites and powdered sugar to the bowl of your stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Mix on medium high until smooth.
  • Add in your salt, vanilla and butter while mixing on medium. Bumpt the speed up to high and mix until white and fluffy.
  • Divide your buttercream. I set aside about ⅓ for the black.
  • Add about 1 Tablespoon of white food coloring to the white buttercream and mix until white.
  • Add ¼ sifted cocoa powder or cooled ganache to the rest of the buttercream and mix until combined.
  • Remove about ⅓ of the chocolate buttercream and add in 1 tablespoon of black food coloring. Melt in the microwave for about 10-15 seconds until JUST starting to melt but not hot.
  • Mix the melted buttercream into the chocolate buttercream until smooth. It should look dark grey but will get darker over time. Do not add too much black food coloring or it will stain your mouth and taste bitter.

Gummy Eyeball Tutorial

  • Combine the cool water, sugar and gelatin together in a medium-sized saucepan. Let the gelatin absorb for 5 minutes.
  • Turn the heat up to medium-high, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.
  • Once you see steam just begin to rise from the surface, remove the mixture from the heat. DO NOT BOIL! It will weaken the gelatin.
  • Stir in your extract and citric acid.
  • Allow the mixture to cool at room temperature (or you can place it in the fridge to speed things up) until it's just barely warm. Still liquid but not hot!
  • Skim off the foam and discard it. Let cool to 95ºF before making your eyeball. Follow the video above for the full directions on how to make the eyeball.

Water Ganache

  • Combine the water and the chocolate together and microwave for one minute. Stir and then continue microwaving for 15 second increments until the chocolate is melted. Then stir with a spoon until smooth. Let it cool to 90ºF before using it for the drip.

Video

Notes

Use the bengal cake comb for buttercream stripes https://estercakes.com/shop?olsPage=products%2Fbengal-stripe
Remember your black buttercream will darken in color over time so don't be worried if it looks dark grey at first. 
Make sure your gelatin mixture cools to 90ºF before you use it so that the white gelatin doesn't melt the clear gelatin when you pour it into the mold. 
Make sure you let your water ganache drip cool to 90ºF before you drip so it's not too thin. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 1395kcal | Carbohydrates: 142g | Protein: 15g | Fat: 88g | Saturated Fat: 57g | Cholesterol: 308mg | Sodium: 589mg | Potassium: 223mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 113g | Vitamin A: 6856IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 96mg | Iron: 3mg