Meringue Ghost Halloween Cake
My meringue cake aka Meringue Ghost Halloween Cake is simply amazing. Ghosts are totally delicious when they’re made of meringues! And these little ghost meringues are so easy to make. They sit perfectly on top of my blood-red velvet cake which is moist and delicious and perfectly coupled with my cream cheese frosting!
Nick’s favorite thing…
The little meringue ghosts are on top! They’re so freaking cute and fun to make! But I can’t mention how delicious the moist red velvet cake is. It’s my favorite cake recipe and that cream cheese frosting is to die for!
What does meringue cake taste like?
The meringues on top are vanilla flavored. The cake is my delicious red velvet cake. It’s moist and has an iconic deep red color and light cocoa flavor. It’s perfectly paired with my cream cheese frosting and goes really well with my chocolate sauce!
What are the ingredients I need for the meringue cake?
- White vinegar – this is used to clean the mixing bowl for the meringues.
- Caster sugar – also known as superfine sugar.
- Egg whites – make sure that when separating the whites form the yolks that no yolks ed up in the whites otherwise your meringue will not whip up properly.
- Cream of tartare – this is used to stabilize your egg whites so that they whip up better. Alternatively, you can use 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice.
- Vanilla Extract – Always use good quality vanilla extract when baking, it makes a huge difference. I have a great recipe here for it if you’d like to try your own!
- Black food gel – I used chefmaster brand. This is used to draw the eyes and mouth on the ghosts. Alternatively, you can use a food safe marker.
- All-purpose flour – also known as plain flour
- Cocoa powder – I used unsweetened cocoa powder. This ingredient gives the red velvet cake it’s iconic deep red color and light cocoa flavor which is perfectly paired with my cream cheese frosting!
- Baking powder and bicarb soda – these ingredients help the cake rise and become fluffy.
- Salt – I used fine salt.
- Eggs – I used large eggs.
- Vegetable oil – you can also use sunflower oil.
- Buttermilk – this helps make the cake moist. You can make your own by adding 1 tsp white vinegar to milk, mixing it and letting it sit and curdle for 5 minutes.
- Red liquid food dye – I used red liquid food dye because I find that’s what works best for this recipe. Food gel just doesn’t work as well.
- Chocolate sauce – this recipe is an easy and yummy one-bowl recipe! Grab the recipe here!
- Cream Cheese Frosting – so light, creamy, tangy and perfectly pipeable! grab the recipe here!
Let’s go through each step for the meringue cake.
Meringue Ghosts
- Add the vinegar to a metal or glass mixing bowl. Use a paper towel to clean the bowl with the vinegar until the bowl is dry.
- Add the egg whites and beat using a whisk attachment on a stand mixer or beaters from a handheld mixer to beat for 30 seconds.
- Stop the mixer and add the cream of tartar.
- Whisk for 60 seconds on high speed until you reach soft peaks.
- Add the sugar 1 tbsp at a time while the mixer is on high speed, letting it mix for 20 seconds in between each addition of sugar.
- Once all of the sugar is in there, the meringue will be thick and glossy. Continue whipping on high speed for 5 minutes.
- Stop the mixer, add the vanilla extract and whisk for 30 seconds.
- Transfer the mixture to a piping bag fitted with a large round tip. Pipe little blobs of meringue on each corner of the baking tray and stick the baking paper on top. This will help stop it from flying around in the oven. Pipe little meringue ghosts, as many as you can. Bake for 1 hour in the oven. Once baked, leave in the oven to cool completely.
- Once baked and cooled, dip a food safe paint brush into some black food gel and paint little eyes and mouths on the meringue ghosts. See notes for storage instructions.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- To make my cream cheese frosting grab the recipe here!
Cake
- Add the buttermilk, eggs, oil, vanilla extract and liquid red food dye to a large jug or bowl mix until well combined.
- Next, add the flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cocoa powder and salt to a large mixing bowl. Combine using a whisk or hand held mixer.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until everything is well combined. Scrape down the bowl
- Mix for a final 20 seconds on low speed.
- Divide the cake mixture between the two tins. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. If the toothpick is coated with wet batter, continue baking for 10 minutes at a time until fully baked.
- Allow the cakes to cool to room temperature in the tins, then chill them in the fridge overnight. Chilling your cakes overnight makes them easier to trim and decorate, so I always bake my cakes the day before I decorate them.
- To trim your chilled cakes, use a cake leveler or large serrated knife to carefully trim the crust off the top of each cake. Then trim each cake in half. You’ll end up with 6 layers.
- To crumb coat your cake, add a dab of frosting onto a 10” cake board or flat serving plate. Use a small offset spatula to spread the frosting around
- Add the first cake layer. Gently press down the center of the cake layer to make sure it’s stuck to the frosting underneath.
- Add frosting to a piping bag and frost a ring around the top of the cake. Fill the center with more frosting.
- Use your small offset spatula to smoothen out the frosting before you add the next layer of cake.
- Add the next layer.
- Add more frosting around the sides and top of the cake.
- Use the small spatula to smoothen out the top and sides of the cake, taking care to fill in any gaps in between each layer of cake.
- This should just be a neat, thin layer of frosting which is aimed at trapping any cake crumbs so that random bits of cake crumbs don’t show up on the final layer of frosting. Chill for 2 hours or overnight.
- Pipe more frosting on the top and sides of the cake
- Use the cake leveler to smoothen out.
- Use an offset spatula to clean up the top edges of the cake.
- Drizzle with chocolate sauce and
- Then finish by placing the meringue ghosts on top right before serving.
My Top Tips for the meringue cake!
- When baking the meringues, do not open the oven door. Let them cool completely in the oven otherwise they may collapse.
- When piping the ghosts add little dabs of meringue on each corner of your baking tray to stick the baking paper to the baking tray. That will prevent the baking paper from flying around the oven and ruining your meringue ghosts!
- When making the cake, bake the day before. That way you give them enough time to chill in the fridge which will make trimming them and crumb coating the cake much easier.
- When putting the cake together, crumb the cake first so that none of the crumbs end up on the outside of the cake.
- When frosting the cake with the final layer, use a bench scraper to get nice smooth cake sides and an offset spatula to get harp corners!
- This cake uses cream cheese frosting which is creamy and perfectly paired with red velvet cake. But cream cheese melts really easily in hot weather. Store your cake in the fridge on warm day to prevent it from melting.
- When decorating the cake, add the meringues on to of the cake last to make sure they don’t soften and stay crisp when served. The moisture from the chocolate sauce will cause them to go soft.
Gave this a go? Don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave a comment below! Hungry for more? Join me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and TikTok for more great recipes!
Other Halloween Recipes You Might Like!
- Killer Queen Cake – a double stack red velvet killer of a cake!
- Trendy pumpkin Cake – a 3D wonder and beauty!
- Sign From Above Cake – a gorgeous and spooky skull cake.
- Neon Graveyard Cupcakes – picture an 80’s gravueard lit up by fluro neons!
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @thescranline on Facebook and Instagram!
Meringue Ghost Halloween Cake
My Ghost Meringue Cake has a rich, velvety red velvet base, creamy frosting, and crisp, airy meringue ghosts that melt in your mouth.
Serves 12
Ingredients
Meringues
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- 2 large egg whites, 55g each
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartare
- 120 g caster sugar
- 7 g pure vanilla extract
- Black food gel for eyes and mouth
Red Velvet Cake
- 450 g cake flour, see notes
- 24 g unsweetened natural cocoa powder
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/4 tsp bicarb soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 260 g caster sugar, see notes
- 600 g buttermilk, see notes
- 175 g vegetable oil, or canola oil
- 4 large eggs, room temperature (55g each)
- 14 g vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp red liquid food dye, not food gel (see notes)
- 1 1/4 tsp white vinegar
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 500 g unsalted butter, softened (see notes)
- 500 g full-fat cream cheese block, not spreadable, chilled
- 7 g vanilla extract
- 300 g milk powder, see notes
- 600 g powdered sugar, sieved
Learn How To Make it! [VIDEO]
Instructions
Meringue Ghosts
- Preheat a fan-forced oven to 100C / 210F (120C / 245F for no fan). Line a large baking tray with baking paper.
- Clean the bowl – Pour the vinegar into a metal or glass mixing bowl. Use a paper towel to wipe until dry. This will ensure your meringue whips up properly.
- Whisk the egg whites – Add egg whites and cream of tartar to the mixing bowl. Use a stand mixer with a whisk attachment or a hand-held mixer on a medium-high speed. Whisk until the mixture becomes frothy, about 60-90 seconds.
- Adding the sugar – With the mixer on medium-high speed, add 1 tbsp of sugar at a time, waiting a few second between each addition. Once all the sugar is added, continue whisking on medium-high speed for 3 – 4 minutes until the meringue is thick and glossy. Stop the mixer, add the vanilla extract, whisk for 30 seconds.
- Preparing the baking tray – Transfer the meringue to a piping bag, fitted with a large round tip and twist the end to secure. Pipe small dots of meringue on each corner of the baking tray, then press the baking paper on top to hold it in place.
- To pipe the meringue ghosts – Hold the piping tip 2 cm above the baking tray. Squeeze to create a round base. Lift slightly while easing pressure to form a tall shape. Stop squeezing and lift to create a peak.
- Bake – Bake the meringues for 1 hour. Once baked, leave in the oven to cool completely with the door slightly ajar, about 3 hours. Overnight is best.
- Painting the faces – Use a food-safe brush to apply the black food gel for the eyes and mouths on the meringue ghosts. Refer to the notes for storage instructions. Allow them to dry completely before using, about 10 minutes.
Red Velvet Cake
- Preheat a fan-forced oven to 140C / 285F (160C / 320F for no fan). Spray two 20cm / 8-inch cake tins with oil spray and line the bottoms with baking paper.
- Combine dry ingredients – Add the cake flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarb soda, salt and caster sugar to a large mixing bowl and use a whisk to combine. Set aside.
- Combine wet ingredients – To a large jug or medium sized mixing bowl add the buttermilk, vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla extract, red food dye and white vinegar. Whisk until fully combined.
- Combine wet with dry – Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk until no dry ingredients are showing. Small lumps are ok, the key is to not overmix.
- Bake – Divide the batter evenly between the two cake tins. Bake in the middle rack of your oven for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Once baked allow to cool for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Cream butter and cream cheese – Place the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Alternatively, you can use a hand-held mixer to make the frosting. Mix on low speed to begin with, to help break up the cream cheese a little, then increase the speed to medium-high for a couple of minutes to help combine the cream cheese and butter.
- Add sugar and milk powder – After a couple of minutes, stop your mixer and scrape down the side of the bowl with a spatula. Add the powdered sugar, milk powder and vanilla. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are fully incorporated, then bring the speed back up to high. Continue beating on high speed, about 5 minutes, until your frosting is fluffy and turns pale in color. Scrape down the bowl and beat on high speed for a final 2 minutes. Add to a piping bag.
Let’s decorate!
- Trim cakes – Start by trimming the tops off your cake layers to give them level on top.
- Layer cake – Add the first layer of cake to a serving plate or cake board. Pipe some frosting on top and use an offset spatula to spread around flat. Add the next layer of cake.
- Final layer of frosting – Cover the cake in frosting and even off the sides and top as neatly as you can.
- To finish decorating – Drizzle with chocolate sauce and allow to set before placing the meringue ghosts on top right before serving.
Notes
Cake Flour – Cake flour is a low protein flour that is used to make desserts light and moist. You can use store bought which has a much finer flour consistency, or simply make your own with my simple recipe. Click here to get the recipe and learn all the tips and tricks.
To make your own buttermilk – Combine 250g of whole milk with 1 teaspoon of white vinegar. Whisk and let it sit for 5 minutes to curdle, then whisk again. Use dairy milk for the best results.
Red Food Dye – For this recipe, you need to use liquid food dye. Not food gel. To get that bright red color, you would have to use the entire bottle of red food gel. Trust me, I’ve tried it.
Caster sugar – Caster sugar, also known as superfine sugar, is a fine sugar often used for cakes which helps give you a finer and more delicate cake crumb. If you don’t have it, you can use granulated sugar.
Butter – It’s important to use butter that is high in fat and softened. Usually, butter made in New Zealand and France is good quality butter. Using cheap butter can cause your frosting to split. You also want to make sure your butter is softened. If you keep your butter in the fridge you can soften it by adding it to the microwave for 10 seconds at a time, turning over each time until softened. It usually takes about 2-4 goes.
Cream cheese – You want to use what is called ‘block style’ cream cheese for this recipe and straight out of the fridge, cold. This is different to ‘spreadable’ cream cheese which is soft even when it’s cold. ‘Block style’ cream cheese helps give this frosting structure. If you’re in the UK, you can use any brand block style cream cheese, I would recommend the Philadelphia brand cream cheese. It’s important that you use cold cream cheese, straight out of the fridge.
Milk Powder – Milk powder adds richness to the frosting. You can use skim or full-fat milk powder. Find it in the long-life milk aisle at the supermarket.
How to use the meringues – Place the meringues on top just before serving to keep them from softening. Wait until the chocolate sauce is fully set before adding them.
Black food gel alternative – You can use a food safe marker instead of black food gel if you prefer.
For clean slices – chill the cake in the fridge for 20-30 minutes before slicing. Run a sharp knife under hot water, wipe dry and slice. Repeat this with every slice.
Storing the cake – Store the cake in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days. Bring it to room temperature before serving for the best texture.
Storing the meringues – Store meringues in an airtight container with baking paper between layers. Make them up to three days in advance, but keep them away from moisture to maintain their crisp texture.
A note on measurements – This recipe uses weight measurements for the most accurate results. Cup measurements can vary depending on where you are, which affects the precision needed for a recipe like this. Here is where you can learn more about how to measure ingredients using digital kitchen scales.
Nutrition
Calories : 363kcal
Carbonhydrates: 35g
Protein: 6g
Fat: 15g
Saturated Fat: 11g
Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g
Monounsaturated Fat : 3g
Trans Fat : 1g
Cholesterol: 36mg
Sodium: 325mg
Potassium : 205mg
Fiber: 2g
Sugar : 12g
Vitamin A: 88IU
Vitamin C: 1mg
Calcium: 82mg
Iron: 2mg
Nutrition Disclosure
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6 comments
Hello!!
I love your recipes but I find this one confusing.
It says “Divide the cake mixture between the three tins. ” there are only two layers in the cake pictured, not six
I want to make this for my son’s birthday on Saturday and I want to know if I wanted to make two larger layers like you have in the photo, do I make the same batter and split it in two?
How long do they bake for?
Thanks!
Hi Meghan! Sorry about this, I’ve gone in and fixed that. It goes in two cake tins and bakes for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. N x
I am going to do this today but I only have gel food coloring. Can I use it still?
Yep! That should be ok! N x
Awesome and thank you for the ideas how long can the ghosts last for in an airtight container?
Thanks, Shona! The meringue ghosts will stay crispy in an airtight container for up to 3 days, just make sure to keep them away from any moisture. Enjoy making them! N x