I have a confession…I loved the shattered glass Halloween cupcakes I made last week so much that I decided to make a shattered glass CAKE!!

It somehow looks more bloody than the cupcakes, but it tastes just as delicious.

If you’re looking for a more intense (and slightly gory) cake, some sugar glass shards will do the trick!

The end result is wild, especially if you incorporate some strawberry jam into the mix.

How to Make Edible Glass Shards

While any recipe involving a candy thermometer may seem intense, I promise making edible glass is easier than you’d think.

You basically dump all your ingredients into a pot, and stir the mixture it until it reaches 300 degree F. This is known as hard ball stage, which just means the sugar mixture will be hard once it’s cooled.

You really need to heat the sugar to this temperature, or else it won’t fully harden. This means you won’t be able to shatter it into a million perfect pieces for your cake.

It’s important to watch the temperature too, because if you heat the mixture for too long, the sugar can begin to caramelize, and you’ll end up with yellow “glass!”

Edible Glass Ingredients:

1 cup water

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1 3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

candy thermometer

To make the edible glass shards, mix 1 cup water, 1/2 cup corn syrup, sugar, and cream of tartar in a large saucepan or pot.

Bring mixture to a boil. Use a candy thermometer and boil sugar syrup until temperature reaches 300 degrees, stirring constantly.

When sugar reaches 300 degrees, quickly pour onto a metal baking pan. Cool until completely firm to the touch.

Break into shards using a hard object (I used a clean hammer for this, but a meat mallet would work too!).

The Surprise Inside: Strawberry Jam

As if the bloody glass shards weren’t already enough, I decided to be extra and fill the cake with strawberry jam. It makes for an amazing surprise inside, especially if you cut it open for a halloween party!

To fill the center of the cake, use a 3 inch circle cutter to remove the centers of two of the layers.

Begin assembling the cake using an uncut cake layer.

Frost with an even layer of vanilla buttercream, then top with one of the cake layers.

Gently frost the cake ring, the stack with the other cut layer.

Spread an even layer of buttercream on top of the second cake ring, then smooth frosting into the cut-out center of the cake.

Mix one squirt of red gel food coloring into the strawberry jam, and then carefully pour into the center of the cake.

Fill to the top, then place the last cake layer on top. Then try to control your excitement until you’re able to cut into the cake!

Adding the Glass Shards to the Cake

Once the cake is frosted and smooth, it’s time to add the finishing touch.

I chilled my cake for about 10 minutes in the fridge before adding the sugar shards, to make it easier to stand them upright in the frosting.

I carefully (even though it’s sugar, the edges are actually quite sharp!) pressed the sugar shards into the top of the cake. As I did this, I used a decent amount of pressure, to make sure the shards went into the cake layers a bit.

I wanted to make sure they would stay in place, and not fall over as the cake sat out.

To be totally honest, I let my sugar cook a tiny bit too long, and my sugar shards had a yellow tint! I was really upset at first, but then did a bi of creative problem solving.

That’s pretty much all baking is, right?? I decided to drizzle some of the remaining red jam between the shards.

It totally hid any yellow hue, and looked even more intense! I was so into the look, I even let some of the jam drip over the edges of the cake. I loved and was mildly horrified by the final look.