Vegan Jack Skellington Cake
This Jack Skellington cake is entirely VEGAN! Made with vegan modeling chocolate and a fudgy rich vegan chocolate cake, this Halloween cake is super fun to make and the perfect Nightmare Before Christmas cake for your Halloween party!
The Nightmare Before Christmas Cake
What was your favorite Halloween movie growing up as a kid? Well, mine was definitely a tie between Hocus Pocus and Nightmare Before Christmas.
In fact, I almost decided to make a Hocus Pocus cake this year!
But I thought, since I made the vegan Hocus Pocus spell book brownies, let’s pay a tribute to the Pumpkin King himself and make a Nightmare Before Christmas cake…but vegan!
From the Jack Skellington cake topper to the actual cake and colored frosting, this cake is vegan, dairy free, and can easily be made gluten-free! The perfect allergy-friendly treat for your Halloween celebrations!
My favorite vegan Halloween Cake
This is truly my favorite vegan Halloween cake of all time. The actual cake is scary good on its own.
It’s a super rich and chocolatey vegan chocolate cake, layered with orange and green vegan buttercream, and decorated to be the graveyard in the Nightmare Before Christmas scene where Jack stands and sings on the hilltop.
The top of the cake is decorated with the iconic hill and some gravestones for effect, so that our Jack Skellington cake topper can stand proud and sing to the audience!
How to make a Jack Skellington Cake
The Vegan Chocolate Cake
The actual cake is actually just using my vegan chocolate cake recipe. It’s the same exact recipe, no alterations. This vegan chocolate cake is so fudgy and rich, I thought it would be perfect for any Pumpkin King or Queen.
You’ll only need to make the cake part- no vegan chocolate buttercream here!
The vegan buttercream frosting
For this part of the cake, you’ll need to make two separate batches of vegan buttercream frosting: one is for the inside of the cake (in between the layers) and the other for the outside.
The in between layers will be orange and green. I use vegan food coloring for this (specifically the 365 Whole Foods brand) and a mix of powdered food coloring (beet powder and turmeric powder specifically for the orange).
I then like to use a piping bag to pipe half of the frosting in between each layer. This helps to make sure the colors don’t become muddied when making the cake.
For the outside decorations of the cake: you’ll then make a second batch of vegan buttercream and divide it into three colors: orange (red and yellow), green (blue and yellow), and purple (red and blue).
I use about half of the frosting for the green. That will cover the top of the cake and the grass on the bottom half of the cake sides. Then I use about 1/3 of the frosting for the purple sky, and the remaining frosting to pipe orange pumpkins on the sides.
The full details for this cake are found down below in the recipe card, however: remember to have fun with this! There is no set way to make a vegan Halloween cake. Design the cake how you’d like! If you want to do a red sky instead of purple, go for it. Purple pumpkins instead of orange? Why not!
This is your Jack Skellington cake: make it how you’d like!
The Vegan Jack Skellington Cake Topper
I actually made the Jack Skellington cake topper out of vegan modeling chocolate: I used vegan white chocolate and corn syrup (I know, I know, corn syrup isn’t the best, but we’re not eating him!).
Now, I know this will sound annoying, but I actually just used a screenshot from the movie to make the Jack Skellington figurine. However, I found a great YouTube video tutorial that will show you how to make him.
I then used the remaining vegan white chocolate modeling chocolate for the hill and grave stones.
For the coloring? I cheated and used some of my acrylic paints 😉 But again, he’s not meant to be edible, he’s more for decoration!
The video tutorial that I made will show you best how to make the cake! Be sure to read the full instructions and watch the video before beginning!
I hope you love this vegan Jack Skellington cake as much as I do! It’s my all time favorite movie and favorite Halloween cake recipe 🙂 The fudgy chocolate cake is just so irresistible!
If you make this cake, you know that I’d LOVE to see it! Be sure to tag me on Instagram and Pinterest so that I can share with the Banana community!
As always, I also love to hear how it went for you, as well as any questions you might have- leave them down below in the comments section, and I’ll get back to you!
Happy Halloween Cake Baking!
More vegan Halloween desserts and treats
Homemade Vegan Almond Butter Cups
Paleo Vegan Salted Caramel Chocolate Lava Cake
Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!
Vegan Jack Skellington Cake
- Prep Time: 120
- Cook Time: 30
- Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 16 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This Jack Skellington cake is entirely VEGAN! Made with vegan modeling chocolate and a fudgy rich vegan chocolate cake, this Halloween cake is super fun to make and the perfect Nightmare Before Christmas cake for your Halloween party!
Ingredients
- 1 batch vegan chocolate cake (no frosting- gluten free option if needed)
- 2 cups vegan butter, softened to room temperature (do NOT microwave- allow 2 hours to soften)
- 8 cups powdered sugar
- 3–4 tbsp dairy free milk
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract, divided
- Vegan food coloring: blue, yellow, red (you can use vegan gel coloring or powdered food coloring)
- Vegan modeling chocolate (I followed this recipe using vegan white chocolate and corn syrup)
Instructions
READ THE FULL INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE BEGINNING! THANK YOU!
- Jack Skellington Vegan Cake Topper: I recommend making the vegan Jack Skellington cake topper a day or two before and storing the pieces in the freezer/fridge to harden. I used vegan white chocolate and corn syrup to make a vegan modeling white chocolate. I then used a screenshot from the movie to make Jack Skellington. However, there are several fantastic YouTube videos to show you how to make a mold, which I’ll link here. There is a dowel that runs up his standing leg to make sure he stands correctly. To make black, I just used my black and white acrylic paints. So Jack Skellington isn’t “edible,” but he’s not really meant to be a part of the cake that you’ll eat- you can save him for decorations next year! I also used the modeling chocolate to make the hill and grave stones.
- Prepare the vegan chocolate cake according to instructions. Once the cake layers are completely cooled, you can begin to prepare the frosting.
- For the green and orange frosting that will be in between the layers: cream 1 cup vegan butter until smooth in a large bowl (using a hand mixer or stand mixer). Add in 4 cups of sifted powdered sugar and 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract, and continue to mix everything together until you get a creamy vegan buttercream. You can add in 2-3 tbsp dairy free milk here to achieve the smooth texture. Divide the buttercream into two bowls and color one orange (using red and yellow) and one green (using blue and yellow). Once the colors are mixed, spoon the frosting into a large piping bag with a large round tip, and use half of the frosting to frost the first layer. Use an offset spatula to smooth the frosting to the edges of the cake (see video). Then place the second layer on top and repeat. Place the third layer on top and then place the cake into the fridge to chill while you prepare the outside frosting.
- To make the outside buttercream decorations: begin to make the vegan buttercream exactly the same as in Step 3. Once the vegan buttercream is smooth and creamy, divide it into three bowls: one for purple, one for orange, and one for green. You will need more green than the rest of the colors. I recommend doing half of the batch green (blue and yellow), 1/3 of the batch purple (red and blue), and the remainder orange (red and yellow) for the pumpkins. Once the colors are made, remove the cake from the fridge to frost.
- Assembling the cake: start by frosting the top of the cake with half of the green frosting batch. Smooth the frosting until the edges. Then take the purple frosting and frost the top half of the sides of the cake, going completely around the cake. Use the remaining green frosting and frost the bottom half of the sides of the cake. Use a bench scraper to smooth the sides and even the top. Then fill a piping bag with a large round piping tip with the orange frosting. To pipe pumpkins: start by frosting a small line (about 1″) and then two almost semi-circle lines on either side to imply a pumpkin. Repeat all around the cake to decorate. Use any remaining green frosting to make the stems.
- Stick the doweled Jack Skellington into the cake, and arrange the pieces on top.
- Serve and enjoy!
I’ll be trick or treating at The Banana Diaries’ house this year!! 😉 This cake is AMAZING!
HAHA Love it!!! ENJOY!!