In this Instructable, I will show you how to make Cauldron Cakes! Cauldron Cakes are a fun and easy to make a dessert that is sure to impress!

What is a Cauldron Cake?

A Cauldron Cake consists of a chocolate cauldron filled with cake and frosting. You don't need to use cake though! Ice cream and other desserts work well in the chocolate cauldrons we are making.

What You Will Need:

Dark Chocolate
Water Balloons
Chocolate Cake (Homemade or Boxed)
Frosting ( I made my own but you can also buy it)
Food Coloring
Paper Decorations
Toothpicks & Tape

Let's Get Started!!!

Step 1: Tempering the Chocolate

Before we can make the cauldrons we need to temper our chocolate. Tempering our chocolate is melting it in a way that keeps it solid at room temperature so it won't need to be kept cold. Here is how you do that.

You Will Need:

A Large microwave Safe Bowl *Not Glass*

Glass bowls retain heat and may melt your chocolate too much, use ceramic or microwaveable plastic.

A spoon
a cutting board and knife
a bag of dark chocolate

First, you will want to chop your chocolate into small pieces. We do this to make the chips easier to melt. Put the chopped chocolate into a bowl and microwave on high in ten-second increments stirring and rotating the chocolate in between. You want to stop when the chocolate is fully melted but still a little thick. you can see if you did this properly by spooning a small amount onto some parchment and letting it sit for 5-10 minutes. If it hardens then your chocolate is well tempered.

Step 2: Making the Cauldrons

Once you have your tempered chocolate we can start forming the cauldrons.

start by loading a small amount of your chocolate into a piping bag. If you don't have one you can use a Ziploc Bag or just use a spoon. You are going to make small circles onto a tray with parchment paper. Make sure they are spread apart at least 5 inches.

Blow up your water balloons and gently dip them into the tempered chocolate. Make sure to cover at least half way. If you want, put them in the freezer for 5 minutes to speed up the setting process.

Once set, take your scissors and cut the top of the balloon where the knot is. Make sure to let the air out slowly to prevent the chocolate from breaking.

Now you finished the cauldrons! Let's start on the filling.

Step 3: Making the Cake and Prepping the Frosting

You need to prepare a sheet pan of cake. I used chocolate, but any flavor you like will work just fine. I used a juice glass to cut the cake into smaller sized circles. Just make sure that they fit in your cauldrons.

For the frosting, I Used coffee Buttercream. I recommend using a lighter frosting so that you can dye some green instead of making multiple batches. I used green food coloring with a little red to make a slightly brown, potion looking color. Now let's go and assemble the cakes!

Step 4: Assembling the Cakes

This part is fairly simple. Place one of your cake rounds into the bottom of the cauldron. Follow up with a layer of your buttercream. On top of the first layer of buttercream, I put one more cake round. Now it's time to decorate!

Step 5: Decorating!

Put a layer of the green frosting on top of the cake. I put some coming over the sides of the cauldron to look like its overflowing. I put a drop of red food coloring on a butter knife and dotted it on the Frosting to look like blood. *This is optional and you can make these look as scary as you like*.

Next, You will need to print out a few pictures of what you would like. I . printed a skull, eyeball, bones, a cat, and some green smoke. Cut out the pictures and attach them to a toothpick using tape. You can arrange them any way you want on the cake. Feel free to customize these to your liking! What I do you don't have to . follow completely. Enjoy!

-Nathan