Go Back
Colorful Pretzel Rods, decorated as monsters, wrapped around the sides of a cake.
Print Recipe
5 from 1 vote

Pretzel Monster Cake Tutorial

Learn how to make a colorful Pretzel Monster Cake for Halloween in this fun and easy decorating tutorial!
Author: Melissa and Bebe

Ingredients

  • *In this tutorial we decorated an 8 inch cake (approximately 4 inches tall) frosted in buttercream.

FOR THE PRETZEL MONSTERS

  • Pretzel Rods for me, it took about 32 rods, trimmed to the approximate height of the cake
  • Candy coating/Almond Bark/Candy Melts of choice
  • We used Candiquik for most of our pretzels, tinted with Americolor Candy Coloring Gel
  • Oil Based Candy Coloring if tinting your candy coating
  • Black food coloring pen optional- I used on some of my pretzels for eyes & mouths, but they don't always work well on candy coating. You can also pipe on dark candy coating instead for mouths, etc.
  • Google eyes or sugar pearls
  • Various sprinkles
  • Candy corn or your candy of choice for the top of the cake

MISCELLANEOUS:

  • Cardboard cake circle trimmed to size of cake for cake to rest on optional, cake base or pedestal, Piping bags, plastic spoons, waxed or parchment paper, spatula, turntable & bench scraper optional

Instructions

For the Monster Pretzels

  • Line a cookie sheet with parchment or waxed paper.
  • Using a serrated knife, trim pretzel rods to desired height by sawing gently back and forth.
  • Melt candy coating (tint with oil-based candy color if you'd like). Spoon over pretzels, allowing excess to drip back into bowl.
  • Add sprinkles, eyes, etc. as you like. Place on parchment-lined cookie sheet.
  • Allow to set and firm up at room temperature or chill briefly in freezer or refrigerator to speed-set. (A few minutes should do it).

Decorating the Cake

  • For this tutorial, we decorated an 8 inch cake (approximately 4 inches tall) frosted in vanilla buttercream (we used our fluffy vanilla buttercream recipe).
  • My cake was on a cardboard cake circle cut to the size of the cake. I crumb coated the cake as usual with an offset spatula, and then frosted the final coat of frosting and used a bench scraper to smooth out the frosting while spinning on the turntable. 
  • Transfer to cake base or pedestal if you haven't already.
  • Press the monsters into the freshly frosted cake. You can use additional buttercream as "glue" if needed.
  • Top it off with candy corn!

Video

Notes

Decorate the pretzel monsters however you like! You can top it off with Halloween M&Ms or another type of candy if you don't like candy corn ;0) There are so many fun options with this cake!