This month my middle son turned 6. He was born in October and as Halloween is my husbands favorite holiday, and kids get to dress up, trick or treat, and enjoy what feels like endless parties, it hasn’t been hard to guess why my middle son has decided he loves everything about October.

We have a family tradition where we make birthday cakes for each other every year, and this year he requested a skeleton cake. Spooky… and I knew I had my work cut out for me coming up with something I could do.

I love watching the cake decorators with amazing feeds on Instagram, but I know I will never practice enough to be at their level. However, for the four birthday cakes I make each year, I pour my heart and soul into them and try to make something fun for my kids and husband.

I don’t know how familiar you all are with cake trends, but there is one that is a beautiful cake with a big ball of frosting at the top with a cone and usually some kind of ganache dripping over the sides of the cake, so it looks like a melted ice cream on top. Bottom line, they are super cute.

I decided to try my hand at a Halloween Birthday version of the theme. I also tried working with store bought fondant for the first time (I didn’t love it, and I think marshmallow fondant works just as well, taste better, and is so much less expensive… If I had wanted any other color but black I would have just made my own).

But the bottom part of the cake is covered with black fondant, and I shaped the skull out of the some of the left over fondant using a spoon and the pointed tip of a meat thermometer (I’m nothing if not resourceful). I tried to make ganache three different times and it just wasn’t working. It was too thin, runny and horrible (I’m a solid amateur here), then it was too thick, then the chocolate separated and turned into paste… and I was out of time because of course I was working on this the night before the birthday. … Anyway, I ended up just melting frosting in the microwave and pouring it across the top, and… while I didn’t turn out exactly how I was hoping, I can roll with the dripping candle effect.

In any case, it’s done, and my son will be thrilled. I also got the idea of the cauldron cupcakes from Sheri Wilson (@sheri_wilson_ on Instagram) She makes some of the most beautiful eye catching cakes and watching her feed is pure magic.

And just because I’m me, I thought it might be fun to walk down the cake making lane for my now six year old son. … as you can see, cars in their many forms, have been his thing for most of his life. He still loves cars and all he wanted for his birthday this year was hotwheels, but not a hotwheels cake. I feel like he’s growing up so fast and hope I can make a few more car themed cakes before its done.