This is the scary Halloween/birthday cake my 5-year-old son requested! :) He had such a cute cake last year, but told me way ahead of time he was ready for something different this year, lol. I was inspired by some ground-breakers for this cake. The evil pumpkin monster is made from rkt, fondant, modeling chocolate, and gumpaste. He’s textured with royal icing, and painted with food colors and paint brushes. I really didn’t feel like I knew what in the heck I was doing while making this guy, and made a lot of mistakes. But I think I got the creepy look I wanted, and my son was very happy with him! I know whenever I am going to try something new, that I can always trust my kids to take that leap of faith with me! :) The cake is two layers of pumpkin spice, filled with brown sugar buttercream and salted caramel. I covered the cake with fondant, textured and then painted it. Then I added some crushed cookies for texture, but not sure that I was entirely happy with that decision. The leaves are made from gumpaste. Thanks for looking!