37 Spooky Halloween Cakes That Beat A Bucket Of Candy

Team Delish lives for cake—and Halloween—so a playfully spooky take on the traditional American poke cake is a natural fit for us. This soft, rich, almond buttermilk cake is infused with a tart cherry sauce (“blood”!) and topped off with a light, fluffy whipped cream for a dessert that’s equally tasty and scary.

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Pumpkin cheesecake is the prima donna of all the holiday desserts: rich, decadent, and always a bit over the top, she stops the show wherever she goes. For our forever favorite version, we’ve stripped it right back and returned the focus to its true essence: a thick, crunchy crust, and a super-creamy, super-pumpkiny filling.

Get the Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe.

These moist chocolate cupcakes are filled with a gooey strawberry jelly “blood” center, topped with a fluffy, marshmallow-y frosting, and decorated to resemble Dracula’s iconic hairline. With a touch of red gel food color and chocolate cookie crumbs, these Halloween treats are sure to impress both the young and the young-at-heart.

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Whether you’re throwing a Halloween bash and need a show-stopping centerpiece dessert, or just really love the Peanuts gang and want your pumpkin patch to be the most sincere, this is the cake for you—it’s the Great Pumpkin, er, Bundt-kin, Charlie Brown!

Get the It's The Great Bundt-kin, Charlie Brown recipe.

Let’s face it: Pumpkin anything is a crowd pleaser in its own right. When combined with two of the most popular desserts in the history of dessert creation, it turns into a must-make for every fall occasion.

Get the Brownie Bottom Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe.

Come October, we look for any reason to eat pumpkin-spiced goodies. This breakfast cake is really just a pumpkin spice muffin in cake form, which means you can serve it from breakfast (think coffee cake) till dessert this Halloween.

Get the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cake recipe.

Calling all Hocus Pocus fans! We've got the perfect Halloween project for you. You can re-create your favorite witch's iconic hairstyles with nothing more than white chocolate and some food coloring. Double up and make our Hocus Pocus Jell-O Shots too for the perfect watch party spread.

Get the Hocus Pocus Cupcakes recipe.

Don’t just make plain old cupcakes for your next Halloween bash, make zombie brain cupcakes! They’re nothing more than a moist, chocolate cupcake with rich vanilla frosting, but some neon green food coloring and clever piping turn these into a super-festive, spooky treat.

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Straight from the author's mom's recipe book, this recipe combines a fudgy chocolate sheet cake with cheesecake polka dots and crunchy chocolate chips for texture. Obtained at a party well before her time, her mom said she tried it and just had to have the recipe (so you know it's good!).

Get the Chocolate Polka Dot Cake recipe.

Ready to kick off pumpkin season with the most impressive (but not intimidating!) fall dessert there is?! Luckily, there's no fret with this pumpkin cake roll. With a few simple tips, you'll have perfect swirls of cake and cream cheese filling that will have everyone oohing and aahing when you slice into it.

Get the Pumpkin Cheesecake Roll recipe.

In our minds, fall isn't fall 'til we've had at least a dozen apple cider cake donuts. This super-sized version comes together in no time, and there's no deep-frying involved. That's a win in our book.

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Is it a sandwich cookie? Or a handheld little cake? To be honest, we're still unclear. What we do know is that this autumnal spin on the classic American whoopie pie gives us an unreasonable amount of joy once the weather starts to cool down. (Or as soon as September hits.)

Get the Pumpkin Whoopie Pies recipe.

With fall comes apple cider donut season, the best time of the year. This easy pound cake is everything we love about the donuts. Rich and dense with a cinnamon sugar coating that gets all over our fingers, this cake is warmly spiced and so much easier than frying up a dozen donuts.

Get the Apple Cider Donut Pound Cake recipe.

We've done our fair share of spooky Halloween treats—Dracula Dentures! Poison Apples!—but wanted to make a Halloween layer cake that you wouldn't be too scared to take a bite of. By topping it with Ghost Peeps and Milano cookies with the letters "RIP," the presentation is spooky but still lure in everyone for a bite.

Get the Halloween Layer Cake recipe.

We are very pro-cream cheese and pumpkin here at Delish. The two are as classic as peanut butter and jelly. If you prefer a more classic buttercream, use our favorite buttercream frosting. It will still be just as good; feel free to add some cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice to your frosting to jazz it up a little.

Get the Pumpkin Cake recipe.

Featuring three layers of tender, lightly spiced apple cidercake sandwiched with apple pie filling, buttery crumble, and salted caramel, this apple crumble cake recipe will delight and impress anyone who’s lucky enough to snag a piece.

Get the Salted Caramel Apple Crumble Cake recipe.

Combining the rich creaminess of cheesecake with the sweet buttery taste of Pillsbury sugar cookies, this not-so-scary recipe is perfect for parties, gatherings, or as a special dessert for the family. Easy to make and even easier to enjoy, they’re a sweet way to embrace spooky season.

Get the Mini Pillsbury Cookie Cheesecakes recipe.

Figuring out how to make all of the pumpkin desserts during fall while the oven is full can be a nightmare. That's why you need this no-bake cheesecake. It's a major time-saver, and while we love our classic pumpkin cheesecake, we go crazy for the no-bake option.

Get the No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe.

We predict this edible Ouija board will spell Y-U-M. Once you learn how easy it is to make your own edible cake toppers, you'll be almost too powerful.

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These are TOO cute and actually crazy easy to make. Use your go-to white cake recipe for the batter, or prepare batter using a box mix. Thanks to a perfectly distracting chocolate hazelnut filling, no one will know the difference. 😉

Get the Chocolate-Filled Pumpkin Cupcakes recipe.