Halloween Candy Corn Cake Tutorial

When it comes to Halloween, Candy Corn is one of the most iconic treats of all. Fun-sized candy bars might be tastier (in my opinion), but nothing beats Candy Corn when it comes to looks! As I perused the aisles of my local JOANN store looking for the perfect Halloween cake inspiration, the bag of those little yellow, orange, and white kernels sitting on the shelf made a light bulb go off in my head. They gave me the perfect inspiration for this non-spooky, yet festive cake design!

UPDATE 2025: JOANN has (sadly!!) gone out of business, so I have slightly changed these product links.

This cake is candy corn colored inside and out. The outside of the cake is rolled in white, yellow, and orange sparkling sugars and I’m in love with how the texture turned out! The finish is meant to be a little imperfect (just like real candy corn), and I’m convinced that the rolling-in-sugar technique is fail proof for this particular design. 

Coloring the inside of the cake is completely optional, but it’s such a fun surprise to cut into the cake layers and see the colors inside. To get the look, I colored some white cake batter with yellow and orange food color gels before baking the layers. It’s an extra little step, but worth it if you want those candy corn colors throughout.

I whipped up a quick video of the process for baking and decorating this candy corn cake. Be sure to give it a watch before following the written steps below for a truly eye-catching and non-scary Halloween cake:

If you love tutorial videos like this one, be sure to check out my YouTube channel! I’ve got a growing collection of cake recipes, decorating tutorials, and Cake Basics over there. Hit the subscribe button on my page so you never miss a new video.

You Will Need

• Three 6-inch cake pans
• 6 Cups (one batch) white cake batter
• Orange and yellow food color gels
• Wilton Cake Leveler
• Two 6-inch cake cardboards
• Two batches of vanilla buttercream
• 4 piping bags
• Icing smoother
• Angled spatula
• 3.25 oz White Sugar Sprinkles
• 3.25oz Yellow Sugar Sprinkles
• 3.25oz Orange Sugar Sprinkles
• Large cookie sheet
• Wilton Tip 4B
• Candy corn

Step 1: Create the Colored Cake Layers (optional)

Prepare three 6-inch cake pans by spraying the sides with cooking spray and placing a parchment paper circle into the bottom of each one. Prepare some white cake batter (I used my Bakery Style White Cake recipe) and add some of it into one of the cake pans to fill it about 2/3 full. Then, divide the remaining batter evenly amongst two separate bowls. In one bowl, add a few drops of yellow food color gel and in the second bowl, add a few drops of orange food color gel. Gently stir to combine and be careful not to overmix the batter. 

Pour the yellow cake batter into one pan and the orange cake batter into the other pan. Bake all three layers according to the recipe instructions and let them cool completely.

When they’re cooled, use the Wilton Cake Leveler to level off the tops.

Step 2: Fill and Crumb Coat the Cake

Set a 6-inch cardboard cake circle onto your cake turntable and place a dab of buttercream on top before placing your yellow cake layer on. Fill with a thin layer of vanilla buttercream and place the orange cake layer on top. Frost another thin layer of filling on top of your orange layer before placing your white layer on top, bottom side up.

Frost a very thin layer, or crumb coat, of vanilla buttercream on top of the cake and smooth it with your icing scraper and angled spatula.

Place the cake into the refrigerator to firm up while you move on to Step 4. 

Step 3: Color the Buttercream

Divide the remaining vanilla buttercream into three separate bowls. Leave one bowl white, then add a few drops of yellow food color gel to the second bowl and a few drops of orange food color gel to the third. Mix until you’ve got the perfect candy corn color palette.

Add each buttercream color to a separate piping bag with about ½ inch opening snipped off the end. 

Step 4: Frost the Cake 

Starting at the bottom of the cake, pipe the yellow buttercream horizontally until you reach the top of the yellow cake layer. Next, pipe the orange buttercream until you reach the top of the orange cake layer. Finally, pipe the white buttercream onto the top third of the cake, including the very top.

Smooth the sides of your cake with an icing scraper until they’re perfectly level, then use your angled spatula to swipe the top edges inward to create sharp edges. Getting the cake nice and level is key, as this will be the final shape of your cake once it’s rolled in sprinkles.

When you’re happy with your smoothness, pop the cake in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, or until the buttercream is firm to the touch. 

Step 5: Roll in Sugar Sprinkles

Measure out and record how tall each colored section is on your cake. Then, spread out the sugar sprinkles onto a cookie sheet to match your measurements for rolling the cake. For example, my yellow buttercream was about 2 inches in height, so I spread out the yellow sugar sprinkles to create a 2 inch tall section and so on.

Place a cardboard cake circle on top of the chilled cake and carefully roll it in the sugar sprinkles until the sides are covered in a candy corn ombrè. 

Step 6: Decorate the Top

Place the sugared cake back on the turntable and remove the top cake cardboard. Add some white sugar sprinkles to the top of the cake and smooth them out with your angled spatula until the entire top is covered.

From here, I piped some white buttercream swirls to border the top with Wilton Tip 4B, sprinkled some more sugar sprinkles on top of the piping, and added a candy corn piece to each swirl.

Now you’ve got the perfect Halloween party cake that everyone can appreciate! I’m a little obsessed with how cute it is:

Disclaimer: I was compensated by JOANN for my work of creating this project, styling, filming, photographing, and writing about their products. As always, all opinions are honest and my own. Thank you for supporting brands that support Sugar & Sparrow.