Do you always have candy leftover from Halloween or don’t want any candy leftover after Halloween? Then make this Leftover Halloween Candy Chocolate Cake! It’s a delicious, double-layer chocolate cake topped with a creamy chocolate buttercream frosting and covered with leftover chocolate Halloween candy. And, it’s perfect for a Halloween party or as dessert the day after Halloween!
Leftover Halloween Candy Chocolate Cake Recipe
While I didn’t LOVE trick or treating as a kid (Hi! Only child here who had to go up to the door by myself or with a parent!), I did love sorting through all my candy at the end of the night to see what I got! My favorites were M&Ms, Smarties, grape Tootsie Roll Pops, Crunch, and Skittles. And, I’m pretty sure my parents raided my stash for the Butterfingers, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, 3 Musketeers, Baby Ruth, and Almond Joys!
I’m really looking forward to when my kids start trick or treating. Our neighborhood goes ALL out! There are thousands of kids going up and down the street. And I’m looking forward to raiding their candy stash after they go to bed!
What Kind of Leftover Halloween Candy Can I Use?
This delicious leftover Halloween candy chocolate cake is perfect for any leftover chocolate candy you may have after the holiday OR you can make the cake for a Halloween party and use up a bunch of candy so you won’t have any candy leftover after Halloween.
I used chocolate M&Ms and pieces of mini chocolate bars, but you can use any leftover chocolate candy you have!
But, let’s not get crazy and bake with any gummy, sour, or fruit candy. Stick to the chocolate candy with this one.
Here’s some candy that would be perfect for this cake:
- M&Ms
- Crunch bars
- Butterfingers
- Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
- 3 Musketeers
- Almond Joys
- Mounds
- Twix
- Snickers
- Hershey’s
- Reese’s Pieces
- Kit Kat
- Milky Way
- Baby Ruth
- Krackle
Can I Use a Store-Bought Cake?
Yes! This recipe takes an already delicious chocolate cake recipe and makes it over-the-top delicious using leftover Halloween candy! But, of course, you don’t have to make the cake from scratch. This is also a great grocery store cake hack!
Simply take a store-bought chocolate cake and hack it by adding leftover chocolate candy on top and around the edge! If you throw away the packaging, it will look homemade! Shhh! No judgement here and I won’t tell!
But if you do want to make the cake from scratch, you’ll need a few ingredients:
Chocolate Cake Ingredients:
- flour
- vanilla extract
- eggs, room temperature
- vegetable oil
- buttermilk, room temperature
- kosher salt
- baking powder
- baking soda
- unsweetened cocoa powder
- granulated sugar
- hot coffee
Yes, you read that right. Hot coffee!
But I promise you won’t taste it. The heat makes for a creamy, silky batter while the coffee itself enhances the chocolate flavor of the cake. You can use instant coffee or brewed coffee.
But if you’re really opposed to using coffee (maybe you don’t want the caffeine), no worries, simply just use hot water instead.
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Ingredients:
- unsalted butter, room temperature
- powdered sugar
- vanilla extract
- unsweetened cocoa powder
- salt
- heavy cream, room temperature
Please note that the frosting will darken as it sets!
This cake is perfectly moist and chocolatey and is topped with a rich and creamy, decadent buttercream frosting. With the added leftover Halloween candy, it goes from delicious to over-the-top delicious and is a wonderful treat to celebrate the end of spooky season!
Here’s the full printable recipe:
Leftover Halloween Candy Chocolate Cake Recipe
This delicious, double-layer chocolate cake is topped with a creamy chocolate buttercream frosting and covered with leftover chocolate Halloween candy. It's perfect for a Halloween party or as dessert the day after Halloween!
Ingredients
- Chocolate cake recipe:
- 1 ¾ cups flour
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs - room temperature
- ½ c vegetable oil
- 1 cup buttermilk - room temperature
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp baking soda
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup hot coffee
- Prep cake pans:
- 1 TB butter
- 1 TB cocoa powder
- Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter, room temperature
- 4 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 4 TB heavy cream, room temperature
- Toppings: Your choice, but here's what I used
- 1 cup M&M's
- 10 Fun-size Mars candy bars, some whole, some cut in half
- 10 Fun-size Snickers candy bars, some whole, some cut in half
- 10 Fun-size 3 Musketeers candy bars, some whole, some cut in half
- Chocolate sauce drizzle
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Use butter and cocoa powder to coat the cakes pans. Using a stick of butter, rub butter on the inside surface of the cake pan and then sprinkle cocoa powder to coat. Remove any excess cocoa powder.
- Sift together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and whisk to combine.
- Combine eggs, milk, oil, vanilla and add wet ingredients to dry ingredients.
- Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes.
- Mix in hot coffee last. The batter will be thin.
- Pour evenly into two 9” prepared pans.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes.
- Cool in pans for 30 minutes, then invert onto wire rack.
- While cake is baking, prepare chocolate buttercream frosting.
- Beat butter and vanilla with mixer on medium high until light and fluffy.
- Sift together powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and salt and mix with whisk to combine.
- Add 1 cup of dry ingredients at a time to butter mixture and mix on medium speed.
- With mixer on low speed, add cream.
- Turn mixer up to medium speed and mix for 2 minutes.
- Once cakes have cooled, place one cake on cake stand and cover top with a layer of frosting. Place the other cake on top and cover the entire double cake with a crumb coat and allow crumb coat to dry.
- Then frost the entire cake. Place M&M's around edge, then decorate the entire top with pieces of whole and divided candy bars and extra M&M's.
- Drizzle with some chocolate sauce before serving.
Notes
Use butter and cocoa powder to coat the cakes pans.
Use an offset spatula to apply crumb coat and final frosting layer.
Frosting will darken as it sets.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 1723Total Fat: 78gSaturated Fat: 37gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 32gCholesterol: 139mgSodium: 847mgCarbohydrates: 243gFiber: 7gSugar: 197gProtein: 16g
All information presented and written within this site are intended for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and any nutritional information on saltycanary.com is provided as a courtesy, is an estimate only, and should only be used as a general guideline.
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