Halloween Cakes, Cookies and Cupcakes

Eyeball Cookies

These are just iced sugar cookies, using my recipe from here.

I used a cookie cutter shaped as a rugby ball/American football. After the royal icing set, I popped a rice paper topper on top. If you have the time, you could also wait until the icing has set and is fully dry, then paint your eyeball on using a fine paint brush and food colouring.





Creepy Cupcakes

I made a dozen red velvet cupcakes to start with. Red velvet is essentially a moist chocolate sponge with a generous dose of red colouring. 

Ingredients:

• 60g butter
• 150g caster sugar
• 1 eggs
• 125ml buttermilk
• red food colouring
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
• 125g plain flour
• 1 dessertspoon cocoa powder
• 1 tsp salt

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 C / Gas mark 4. 
2. Line a muffin tins with 12 paper cases.
3. Beat the butter and sugar until light, pale and fluffy. 
4. Mix together the eggs, buttermilk, red food colouring and vanilla. 
5. Add to the sugar mixture a little at a time.
6. Sift together the bicarb, flour and cocoa powder. Stir in the salt, then add into the mixture. If using a machine, do this but until just until blended. Don't over beat or you will beat out all the air you incorporated.
7. Bake for 20-25 until the tops spring back when lightly pressed, or an inserted skewer comes out clean. Cool in the tin set over a wire rack. 
8. When fully cooled, scoop out a little of the top and put in a teaspoon of raspberry jam.
9. Top with buttercream and decorate with edible glitter

Halloween Cake 
For this cake, I used a rich Victoria sponge recipe, times by 1.5 so I can make 3 layers.

Ingredients:

• 6 large free range eggs
• 335g self-raising flour
• 335g caster sugar
• 335g butter
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• black food colouring
• purple food colouring
• green food colouring

Method:

1. Cream together the butter and sugar until light, fluffy and pale.
2. beat the eggs with the vanilla extract and add to the cake mixture a little at a time
3. Sift the flour and baking powder together then gently fold into the mixture
4. separate the mixture into 3 portions, and add the cocoa powder to one portion along with some black colouring.
5. to a second portion, add some green colouring
6. to the final portion, add some purple colouring
7. Bake the cakes at 180C/350F/Gas 4 for 20-25 mins
8. Once cooled, sandwich each layer with buttercream, and then coat a thin layer over the outside
9. Allow this outside layer to set and harden a little before covering the cake with orange coloured fondant. 
10. Using a small amount of black coloured icing, pipe a design around the side

Chocolate Explosion birthday cake

Some time ago, I saw an image of a birthday cake (I can't remember where now sadly) and I have been longing for an excuse to re-create it in my own style. The cake basically was decorated with chocolate bars, but in a way that it looked like they were exploding from the cake.

A friend of mine was attending a dinner party I was going to and as it was also her birthday, I brought along this cake as a surprise!

It was a rich chocolate Victoria sponge in three layers, sandwiched and topped with buttercream. Then, surrounded with Matchmakers ( but you could use chocolate scrolls or cigarellos for this), surrounded by a ring of Maltesers, and topped with an explosion of chocolate bars.



Ingredients:

Cake

• 340g plain flour
• 30g cocoa powder
• 340g caster sugar
• 340g butter
• 6 free-range eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• a dash of milk
• 2 boxes of Nestle's Matchmakers (I used orange flavoured) or chocolate cigarellos
• 1 large packet of Maltesers
• A selection of chocolate bars including a Curly Wurly, Twix, Flake, Milky Way and a handful of Thornton's Continental.

Buttercream

• 200g butter
• 400g icing sugar
• 30g cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• dash of milk

Method: 

• Pre-heat the oven to Gas mark 4/350°F/176°C
• Cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy
• Beat the eggs with the vanilla extract and add to the butter/sugar a little at a time, ensuring it is fully incorporated between each addition.
• Sift the cocoa powder with the flour then carefully fold in
• If the mixture seems a little stiff, add a dash of milk.
• Distribute the mixture between 3 7" cake tins that have been greased and lined.
• Bake in the centre of the oven for 20-25 minutes until an inserted skewer comes out clean
• Allow to cool fully before attempting to decorate.
• As your cakes cool, make the butter-cream by mixing the butter with the icing sugar
• Add a dash of milk until the required consistency is achieved.
• Sandwich the cakes with a thin layer of the vanilla buttercream.
• Add the cocoa powder to the remaining buttercream.  Put a quarter of the remaining mixture in a piping bag, or bottle.
• Cover the top and sides of the cake in chocolate buttercream.
• The stick Matchmakers, or cigarellos all around the outside of the cake.
• Using the reserved buttercream, pipe little stars around the bottom and press in a ring of Maltesers.
• Do the same around the inside of the Matchmakers on top of the cake.
• Starting with the longest chocolate bar, the Curly Wurly, place this into the centre of the cake.
• Working with progressively shorter bars, work your way to the outside, then finally scatter with Thorntons continental
• Crumble a Flake into the gaps
• Finally, tie a ribbon around the centre to prevent any of your Matchmakers from falling off.

Present your cake with some indoor sparklers or candles

Servings	16
Calories per serving	840