Candy Corn Cake: A tri-colored cake is soaked in sweetened condensed milk, topped with a fluffy cream cheese frosting and covered in colorful candy corn. This is pretty much the Halloween cake of your dreams!
When it comes to Halloween cake ideas, we think this is one of the cutest candy corn recipe ideas! If you haven’t taken a look at all of our Halloween food ideas and Halloween party ideas, take a peek. I think these candy corn rice krispie treats, Mummy Rice Krispie Treats and Pumpkin Patch Brownies are a pretty great place to start!
Why you’ll love this recipe
This sweet treat has candy corn colors from top to bottom! The cake is striped thanks to white, yellow and orange layers of batter. And we have absolutely covered the top of the cake with candy corn!
Since this is baked in a 9×13 pan, you can serve generous pieces of cake or scale back the size of the pieces you cut as an easy way to feed a crowd at a Halloween party.
If you have never made a poke cake, the sweetened condensed milk soaks into the baked cake while the cake chills, which results in such a soft, tender cake! Our Pumpkin Poke Cake is one of our favorite seasonal poke cake recipes.
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Ingredients
We love candy corn around here. It may be my favorite Halloween candy, so it was only natural that there is a candy corn cake recipe around here.
The ingredients to make this poke cake are easily found at your local grocery stores, which makes it easy to stock up and put this cake recipe on repeat!
Ingredients for the candy corn cake:
- 1 box of white cake mix + the ingredients required on the back of the box
- Orange gel food coloring
- Yellow gel food coloring
- One 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup of candy corn (more if desired)
What you’ll need to make the cream cheese topping:
- 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup of powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
- 2 cups of heavy cream
Scroll down for a printable recipe card with the full recipe, ingredients, directions and detailed notes.
Instructions
Believe it or not, this candy corn cake is simple to make and we’ve included step-by-step photos and instructions.
- Prepare a 9×13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
- Mix the cake mix according to the package directions and divide the cake batter into 3 separate bowls. There should be about 1 ½ cups of batter in each bowl.
- Leave one bowl of batter as is. Add yellow food coloring to one bowl until you have a bright lemon yellow color. Add orange gel food coloring to the last bowl until you reach a rich orange color. Really, you can just add one drop of food coloring at a time until you get the right color.
- Now, pour the yellow batter evenly across the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Place it in the freezer on a level surface for about 20 minutes to allow this layer to set up.
- Remove the dish from the freezer and spread the orange batter across the yellow layer and smooth it out evenly. Return the dish to the freezer for another 20 minutes.
- Next, spread the final layer of white batter on top of the orange layer and spread it evenly.
- Allow the cake batter to come to room temperature while you preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Bake the cake according to the package directions and allow the cake to cool slightly.
- Next, use a chopstick, a drinking straw or the end of a wooden spoon handle to poke holes evenly across the top of the cake.
- Now, pour the can of sweetened condensed milk over the top of the cake and into all of the holes.
- Cover the cake with foil or plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours or overnight.
- Now, it’s time to make the cream cheese topping which includes fresh whipped cream. Place a mixing bowl in the freezer for about 15 minutes to help the whipped cream whip up easily.
- In a separate mixing bowl, cream together the cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla extract until it is smooth.
- Remove the chilled bowl from the freezer, add the cream and using a hand mixer or with the whisk attachment in a stand mixer, mix on medium speed for 1-2 minutes. Then, increase the speed to high speed and continue whipping the cream until stiff peaks form.
- Add the cream cheese mixture to the whipped cream and mix it on medium speed for another 1-2 minutes and it is well combined.
- Spread the gloriously fluffy white frosting over the chilled cake and top it with candy corn. Cut and serve chilled.
My favorite thing is that you can see the white layer, orange layer and yellow layer in each slice of this festive cake!
Substitutions
Here are a few ways you can change this recipe to suit your family or the ingredients you have on hand.
- We used a box cake mix, but you can whip up your favorite from scratch classic vanilla cake recipe.
- Similarly, we made a homemade cream cheese topping. You can use your favorite store bought frosting to frost this cake.
- Instead of sweetened condensed milk, you can mix up a box of orange or lemon jello. Pour the liquid jello over the top of cake to add a little fruity flavor. Chill the cake and frost as per the recipe.
Variations
We love sharing a variety of ways to make candy corn treats. Here are a few suggestions:
- This recipe lends itself well to being made into a bundt cake. Spread the three layers of batter in a bundt pan. You may need to adjust the baking time, so bake according to the instructions on the back of the cake mix.
- And you know we love a festive cupcake recipe! Divide the three colored batters into two cupcake tins lined with cupcake papers for candy corn cupcakes!
- If you love the flavor of candy corn, you can add candy corn flavoring oil/extract to the batter. You can find it online or if you’re lucky, in the baking aisle of your local craft stores.
- Finally, we never say no to sprinkles! You can top this candy corn with your favorite seasonal sprinkles, jimmies or nonpareils.
Storage
Store this cake covered in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days. Since the topping contains fresh whipped cream (which can liquify when thawed), we don’t recommend storing it in the freezer.
Did you make this? I’d be so grateful if you left a “star” rating below to let me know what you thought! Then, the next time you need a quick and easy recipe, come back to Fantabulosity to browse all of my easy recipes!
Recipe
Candy Corn Cake
Ingredients
Ingredients for the candy corn cake
- 1 box white cake mix plus the required ingredients from the back of the box
- orange gel food coloring
- yellow gel food coloring
- 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup candy corn more if desired
For the cream cheese topping
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
Instructions
To make the candy corn cake
- Prepare a 9×13 baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.
- Mix the cake mix according to the package directions and divide the cake batter into 3 bowls. There should be about 1 ½ cups of batter in each bowl.
- Leave one bowl of batter as is. Add yellow food coloring to one bowl until you have a bright lemon yellow color. Add orange gel food coloring to the last bowl until you reach a rich orange color.
- Now, pour the yellow batter evenly across the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Place it in the freezer on a level surface for about 20 minutes to allow this layer to set up.
- Remove the dish from the freezer and spread the orange batter across the yellow layer and smooth it out evenly. Return the dish to the freezer for another 20 minutes.
- Next, spread the final layer of white batter on top of the orange layer and spread it evenly.
- Allow the cake batter to come to room temperature while you preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Bake the cake according to the package directions and allow the cake to cool slightly.
- Next, use a chopstick, a drinking straw or the end of a wood spoon handle to poke holes evenly across the cake.
- Now, pour the can of sweetened condensed milk over the top of the cake and into all of the holes.
- Cover the cake and place it in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours or overnight.
For the cream cheese topping
- Place a mixing bowl in the freezer for about 15 minutes – this helps the whipping cream whip easily.
- In a separate mixing bowl, cream together the cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla extract until it is smooth.
- Remove the chilled bowl from the freezer, add the whipping cream and mix it on medium speed for 1-2 minutes. Then, increase the speed to high and continue whipping until stiff peaks form.
- Add the cream cheese mixture to the whipped cream and mix it on medium speed for another 1-2 minutes and it is well combined.
- Spread the topping over the chilled cake and top it with candy corn. Cut and serve chilled.
Notes
- If you prefer, use your favorite from scratch classic vanilla cake recipe instead of a boxed cake mix.
- For a fruity cake, mix up a small box of orange or lemon jello and pour the liquid jello over the cake instead of the sweetened condensed milk. Chill and frost the cake as directed.
- While we made a homemade cream cheese topping, you can use your favorite purchased frosting to frost this cake.
- This recipe can be made in a bundt cake pan or into cupcakes, too! Adjust the baking time accordingly.
- Store this cake covered in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. We don’t recommended freezing this cake since the fresh whipped cream in the frosting can liquify/separate during the thawing process.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
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