Ghost Gate Carved Buttercream Cake Tutorial

Halloween is right around the corner and this ghost gate cake is perfect for a spooky centerpiece! This design features decorating techniques including rice paper ghosts, carved buttercream, and more.

Confession time first, I’m not usually a huge Halloween Baking girly, but I was feeling festive this year and wanted to create something with rice paper ghosts because they’re SO cute! I’ve seen variations of this technique floating around (pun completely intended) and thought it would make the perfect toppers for a cute and spooky cake.

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The gate was inspired by basically every classic scary mansion/graveyard gate in existence, and to bring it to life I decided to go the carved buttercream route to add some dimension! It definitely fits the Halloween vibe.

So without further ado, lets get into the tutorial.

Supplies

• 4-8 Sheets of Rice Paper
• Foil
• Scissors
• Narrow Jars or Glasses (See details in post)
• Black Edible Markers or Black Gel Food Coloring
• 2.5-3 lbs Swiss Meringue Buttercream (1.5 batch of my recipe is plenty)
• Purple and Black Gel Food Coloring
• Mini Offset Spatula
• Cake Turntable
• Cake Scraper
• Toothpicks and miscellaneous tools for marking (see post)

1. Create the Rice Paper Ghosts

IMPORTANT: These decorations need to be made at least a day in advance because they take time to dry and harden.

Create the Molds

Use tin foil and whatever skinny jars you can find. I used a milk glass that was skinny. Shoot for something 1.75″ at the top and 2.25″ wide or less at the base. Some other items that may work are empty spice jars or salt and pepper shakers.

• Crumple up a ball of tinfoil about 1.5″ wide and set on top of narrow glass.
• Set a sheet of tin foil on top of the foil ball and pull it down over the top to create the draped sheet shape.
• Create 3 (or 6 if you want backups) of the molds. One should be small (about 4 inches high) one should be medium, (about 5 inches high) and one should be the tallest (about 6 inches high). Flatten the foil around the base so it has something to balance. (see photos)

Prepare the Rice Paper

I used Blue Dragon Rice paper for this project and it worked great. For the smallest ghost, I trimmed about an inch and a half off the circle. The medium ghost will need a full circle, and the large ghost will use two full circles.

Blue Dragon Spring Roll Wrapper oz, 4.7 Ounce

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Soften the Rice Paper

Fill a large dinner plate with warm tap water. (Not super hot)

Submerge the rice paper in the water until its soft and flexible. This happens quickly so pay close attention and check the consistency every few seconds.

Drape Over the Molds

Once the paper is soft, immediately drape it over the foil molds. Adjust as needed.

For the largest ghost, you’ll need to use two sheets. Drape the first sheet so the side is longer down by the base of the foil mold and the other side falls down the opposite side of the ghosts head just a few inches. Repeat on the other side.

Allow Ghosts to Dry Overnight and Remove Foil

These take quite awhile to dry and harden, so once again, make sure to do these in advance. Once the rice paper has hardened, carefully remove the foil from inside.

Draw or Paint Eyes

Using an edible black marker or black gel food coloring, add eyes to the ghosts and set aside.

Bakerpan Food Coloring Markers, Fine Tip Edible Markers for Cookie Decorating, Edible Black Ink Pen – Set of 3 (Made in USA)

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2. Prep the Cake

For this cake, use 6″ cake rounds. I recommend using 3 tall cake layers.

Prep with white buttercream. I used a 1 1/2 size batch of my go to Swiss Meringue Buttercream recipe. Tint it with a tiny bit of purple to get a brighter white and cancel out some of the yellow! Here my go to gel food colorings. (I also like The Sugar Art and use it frequently too!)

Food Coloring AmeriColor Student – Kit 3 12 .75 Ounce Bottles Soft Gel Paste Colors

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Fill, stack, and frost the cakes as desired, creating a smooth blank canvas. Before moving to the next step, you’ll want the cake slightly chilled but not super cold or frozen.

3. Color Grey Buttercream

Take 4 oz of the buttercream and add TINY amounts of black (I’m talking dip in the tip of a toothpick small) and add and mix until you’ve reached a light grey shade. Depending on the black color you use, you may want to add a tiny bit more purple because sometimes black can have greenish undertones which will pop up on the cake as you frost it.

Food Coloring AmeriColor – Super Black Soft Gel Paste, 4.5 Ounce

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4. Spread on Grey and White Smears of Buttercream

Using a mini offset spatula, spread smears of the grey buttercream on the cake leaving a bit of space in between. Next, do the same with white buttercream filling in the gaps until there is a relatively even layer of buttercream spread on the cake.

5. Smooth and Blend the Colors

Using a tall cake scraper, smooth the grey and white buttercream out in long passes. This will blend the two together in a cloudy smoky look.

Tip: Try to minimize the amount of passes you make because you don’t want to over blend here. Just get it to the point of being smooth and carry on so you don’t have just a grey cake.

6. Mark the Gate Lines

Use a variety of tools from around the kitchen to mark out the lines where the buttercream will be carved. Use a gentle hand and don’t press marks in super deep.

For the upright posts, try the end of a wooden spatula that reaches just under the halfway point of the height. Create 6 of these marks evenly spaced around the cake.

For the main horizontal bar on the gate, hold a toothpick steady, pressing gently as you spin the cake on a turntable to create the straightest line you can.

The curved part of the gate is something you’ll need to hand sketch with a toothpick.

For the upright skinny posts, I used the end of a cake scraper and did 5 in between each main post.

Using tools like the wooden spatula and the cake scraper give you a straight line that will be the same length every time which helps increase the consistency of the design.

7. Carve Out the Design

For the buttercream carving, use a pottery carving tool like the ones below. I found mine at my local Michaels in a set of tools. They should be fairly common at most craft stores!

S & E TEACHER’S EDITION 6 Pcs Pottery & Clay Sculpting Tools, Double-Sided, Smooth Wooden Handles.

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Important Tip for Carved Buttercream Success

My biggest tip for carving buttercream, is to have a cup of warm water to dip the tip of the carving tool in so you can keep it clean. The warmth from the water and the slight moisture also is key for helping the tool to pass through the buttercream without getting snagged or creating rough edges.

Another note when carving buttercream is that you don’t want to carve too deep and cut through all the way to the cake layer. Start shallow and work your way in if you want deeper lines. I find most of the time you don’t need to carve super deep to get the effect to come across.

Here’s a recommended order of steps to carve the gate. Use the corner of the tool for skinnier lines and the flat side of the tool for wider lines like the main posts.

• Carve the horizontal main bar of the gate using just the corner of the tool.
• Carve the main post using the flat side of the tool.
• Carve the skinnier upright lines.
• Carve the curved gate lines of the door.
• Add the detailed tops to the main posts using the flat side for the wide parts and the corner for the spike on top.
• Use the wide side of the tool horizontally to carve the little detailed crossbars on the skinnier vertical posts.

8. Assemble Ghosts on Top

Arrange the ghosts in your desired layout on the top of the cake to finish off the design.

And that’s it! Pretty cute right?

Just for kicks I threw some tea lights underneath the ghosts for a bit of ambiance!

If you try out this design I’d love to hear how it turns out! Feel free to tag me on social media (The White Whisk) so I can see your beautiful creations!

Also…Here’s a little bonus ghosty fun from my Instagram…

Hope you enjoy the rest of the Halloween season, thanks for stopping by!

Looking for more fall recipes? Check these out!

Biscoff Cookie Butter Macarons

5 Textured Pumpkin Macaron Designs to Try This Fall

Salted Caramel Snickerdoodle Macarons