Spooktacular Halloween Cupcakes – Sweet & Simple Bakes

It has been a fun bake for our monthly bake at Sweet & Simple Bakes and in keeping with seasonal celebration. I thought being my turn to offer the monthly recipe; it would be fun to bring out our creative sides by baking cupcakes and leaving it up to each individual to create and design their own toppings and decorations for Spooktacular Halloween Cupcakes! We challenged each S.S.B baker to scare us at S&SB with their own cupcake creations.

I chose to decorate mine with; coloured fondant icing, buttercream icing in vivid colours, some decorated with sprinkles, cut out shapes of fondant, handmade ghosts, headstones, pumpkins and chocolate piped BOO signs, and little icing figures. To make the BOO signs, I melted white chocolate and added a touch of red food colouring and piped this onto a non-stick sheet and left them to harden before peeling off. The ghosts, headstones and pumpkins I made from coloured fondant and the little iced figures I purchased.

Sweet & Simple Bakes Baking Event is open to everyone from the novice to the more inspired bakers amongst us! Just imagine the delight of loved ones and friends as you share with them your homemade bakes. Nothing can beat the smell of newly baked goods wafting through the air to get an appetite in full flow! You will receive a warm welcome, so do come on over and join with us and please don’t be shy – take a peek it’s just one click away!!

Spooktacular Halloween Cupcakes

Makes approximately 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
175g (6 oz / 1 &1/3 cups) self-raising flour
175g (6 oz /1 &1/2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
175g (6 oz / 1 cup) of caster sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 - 4 tbsp milk
Icing/frosting of choice
Decorations of choice

You will need a 12 hole-muffin tin and 12 cupcake paper cases


Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan180°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6. Line a 12 hole-muffin tin with cupcake paper cases.

Sieve the flour into a bowl and leave aside. In a large mixing bowl add the butter and sugar and beat until the mixture becomes light in colour and fluffy. Add one egg at a time beating well between each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and then gently fold in the flour until combined. Stir in the milk until you have a good dropping consistency. Spoon the mixture equally into the prepared muffin tin and place in the preheated oven. Bake for 20 -25 minutes or until risen and golden and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to completely cool.

Rosie’s notes: Fill the cupcake paper cases no more than two-thirds full for the cupcakes to rise. If the tops dome a little when completely cool, take a segregated knife and slice the domed tops off and discard, this enables flat tops for icing and decorations.

I have also measured my ingredients that I weighed out into cup measures as requested but please note if using, I cannot guarantee how accurate these measures are.

If using plain flour because you cannot acquire self-raising flour, add 1½ tsp of baking powder to the plain flour.


Own Creative Side.

Now for the fun part; create your own design of toppings, decorations to make your cupcakes as spooky as you dare!

I Witch You A Happy Halloween with Pumpkin & Ghost Cupcakes

Halloween is drawing near and I would like to wish all my ‘dear’ blogging friends and my ‘dear’ readers a fang-tastic Halloween! I hope you all have a frightfully spooky Halloween and watch out for things that go bump in the night!!!

I have the film Halloween with Michael Myers ready to watch once again this Halloween It still makes me sit on the edge of my seat and at times hide my face behind a cushion, but for me this is an excellent film for the occasion!

Well back to talking about cakes; I recently brought a lovely little baking tray mould, made by Wilton for these little pumpkin and ghost cakes. I decided to cover the cakes this time in fondant icing as I had a little left over from the skeleton coffin cake. I used black writing icing tube for the eyes and mouths and a green writing icing tube for the pumpkin stems.

New Baking Tray Mould isn't it cute?

Halloween Pumpkin & Ghost Little Cupcakes

Ingredients
100g (4 oz) self raising flour
100g (4 oz) butter, softened
100g (4 oz) caster sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 tbsp milk

A little warmed apricot jam, to enable the fondant to stick
A little white & orange fondant icing
Black and green writing icing tubes
A baking tray mould for ghosts and pumpkins

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan160°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. Spray each cake mould with cake release spray or butter and flour tipping away the excess flour.

Sieve the flour into a bowl and leave aside. In a large mixing bowl add the butter and sugar and beat until the mixture becomes light in colour and fluffy. Add one egg at a time beating well between each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and then gently fold in the flour until combined. Stir in the milk until you have a good dropping consistency. Spoon the mixture equally into the prepared baking tray mould and place in the preheated oven. Bake for 12 -15 minutes or until risen and golden and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to completely cool. Cover each little cake with a little warmed apricot jam and roll out the fondant icing and mould onto each little cake trimming the base as required. Using the writing tubes place eyes, mouths and green stems on the cakes.

Rosie’s Notes: Fill the baking tray mould no more than two-thirds full for the little cakes to rise. If the tops dome a little when completely cool, (which will be the base when decorated), take a segregated knife and slice the domed tops off and discard, this enables flat bases for the little cakes to sit on.

Dem’ Bones Halloween Coffin Cake!!

Hallow Eve is practically upon us where ghosts and spooky things that go bump in the night are thought to appear on this said night of the 31st October. This year I decided to make a skeleton coffin cake in celebration of Halloween, which, I made last weekend for my family gathering and we had a fang-tastic time celebrating early! Although this year’s cake was a smaller affair, serving 4-6, it is such an easy coffin cake to make from start to finish. The sponge is baked in a 900g (2lb) loaf tin and cut into coffin shape when cold. Buttercream could be used to smother the outside of the sponge before placing on the fondant icing instead of apricot jam.

Dem’ Bones Halloween Coffin Cake

Dem’ Bones Halloween Coffin Cake

Dem’ Bones Halloween Coffin Cake.

Ingredients
175g (6oz) self-raising flour
175g (6oz) butter, at room temperature
175g (6oz) caster sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
5 tbsp apricot jam, warmed and sieved
500g (1lb 2oz) fondant icing
Edible food colour, black
Bone shaped sweets
Halloween toys, small plastic skeleton, spiders, small figures
You will need a 900g (2lb) loaf tin, greased and lined with non-stick paper
A 20cm (8 in) cake board or larger if you want to place lots of figures around the board.

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F/ Gas mark 4.

In a large mixing bowl place the butter and sugar and beat until fluffy and light. Add a little of the beaten egg at a time, beating in with each addition until full combined. Beat in the vanilla extract and then gently fold in the flour until combined. Place into the prepared loaf tin and smooth the top over with a spatula.

Place into the preheated oven and bake for 35-45 minutes until golden in colour and firm to the touch in the centre, or a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Leave the cake in the in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack, removing the lining paper and leave to cool completely.

To shape the cake, use a large segregated knife to slice off the risen surface to make it completely flat. Turn the cake upside down and score the shape of a coffin in the sponge. Cut off the two top corners at an angle, and then cut diagonally down from the corners to the base of the coffin.

To make the lid, slice about 1cm (½ in) off the top of the cake. Leave aside. With the base of the cake, scoop out with a sharp knife a hollow leaving about 1cm (½ in) border all the way around large. Brush the cake with apricot jam.

Colour the fondant icing with a little edible black food colouring, knead the fondant a little to give a marble effect. Roll out enough marbled fondant to cover the coffin lid all the way around and then the base of the coffin. Line the cake board with the remaining fondant icing dabbing a little water on the board for the fondant to stick to it. *Leave a little white fondant for the name plaque and with a little black food colouring write on R.I.P. and stick down onto the coffin lid with a little water*.

*Note* you can strengthen the coffin lid sponge before fondant icing with a little card cut to size if you so wish*.

Place the base of the coffin on the board. Then put the skeleton in the coffin and place the lid propped up at the side as in the photo.


Place a few bone sweets around and figures to your liking.

Lincoln Cathedral Towers @ Night

Greestone Arch

Greestone Steps (Stairs)

Ghost Walk!!!!!

Some of the family members after teatime went on a ghost walk in Lincoln City to Greestone Steps (Stairs). These steep steps lead down from the side of Lincoln Cathedral which is reputed to be one of the most haunted places in Lincoln. It has airiness about it and dimly lit with old fashioned type Victorian lights. There have been reported sightings of several ghosts and the sound of a head rolling down the steps; unexplained sounds near the archway and clanging from stair rails. Did my family see anything I hear you ask? Nothing was captured on camera or seen, although an airy sound coming from near the archway was heard – spooky!

Rocky Road 2 Chocolate Heaven

I pulled out “Nigella Express” cookbook by Nigella Lawson yesterday from my bookshelf. I really haven’t given this book the full credit it deserves if I am being honest. It somehow seemed different from all her previous works she has written, but then on reflection, after baking and cooking recipes from this book I am now warming to it. These Rocky Road Crunch Bars are very indulgent chocolate bars perfect for any chocolate lover amongst you. It’s also a fabulous little treat for the children to make who want to venture into the kitchen for the upcoming festivities of Halloween and Bonfire Night.

Rocky Road Crunch Bars

Ingredients
125g/4½oz soft unsalted butter

300g/10½oz best-quality dark chocolate, broken into pieces

3 tbsp golden syrup

200g/7¼oz rich tea biscuits

100g/3½oz mini marshmallows

2 tsp icing sugar, to dust

Method

Heat the butter, chocolate and golden syrup in a heavy-based saucepan over a gentle heat. Remove from the heat, scoop out about 125ml/4½fl oz of the melted mixture and set aside in a bowl.

Place the biscuits into a plastic freezer bag and crush them with a rolling pin until some have turned to crumbs but there are still pieces of biscuit remaining.

Fold the biscuit pieces and crumbs into the melted chocolate mixture in the saucepan, then add the marshmallows.

Tip the mixture into a 24cm/9in square baking tin and smooth the top with a wet spatula.
Pour over the reserved 125ml/4½fl oz of the melted chocolate mixture and smooth the top with a wet spatula.

Refrigerate for about two hours or overnight.

To serve, cut into 24 fingers and dust with icing sugar.

Coming up soon on Rosie Bakes A 'Peace' of Cake - A new Halloween Coffin Cake for Oct '08.

Oct '07 Halloween Cake - Count Dracula Coffin cake

Halloween Rattlin' Bones Gingerbread

Q. what do skeletons say before eating?
A. Bone-Appétit!......

With Halloween just around the corner why not get the children involved in some Halloween fun in the kitchen?! With a little guidance from an adult to assist the children with baking the gingerbreads and then arming them with tubes of readymade white icing and making rattlin' bones gingerbread for that spooktacular night of Hallow’ eve.......... Eat, drink and be scary.....Boooooo.....

Halloween Rattlin' Bones Gingerbread

Makes 12

Ingredients
125g (4½ oz) butter
100g (100g) soft brown sugar
100g (4 oz) golden syrup
1 egg, lightly beaten
450g (1 lb) plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp mixed spice
For Decoration
Tubes of readymade white icing or a little Royal icing for piping on to the gingerbread.

*You will need 2 baking sheets lined with non-stick baking paper – a gingerbread cookie cutter or draw a template out of card to cut around the gingerbread dough.*

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F/Gas mark 4.

In a saucepan place the butter, sugar and golden syrup on a gentle heat stirring continually until all the ingredients have melted together. Leave aside to cool.

Sieve the flour, baking powder and spices into a large bowl. Add all the contents from the saucepan into the bowl with the dry ingredients then add the egg and mix until fully combined. You may need to finish mixing the dough by hand by pressing and kneading the mixture together. Flatten the dough into a circle and wrap in cling film and place into the fridge for no more than 30 minutes to chill.

On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough to 5mm (¼ in) thickness and cut out the gingerbread shapes. Place onto the prepared baking trays and re-roll the dough and remain to cut out shapes until all the dough is used.

Place into the preheated oven and bake for 10 -15 minutes or until lightly browned. Lift each gingerbread very carefully with a spatula onto a wire rack to fully cool and firm up.

Decorate with writing tubes or royal icing in white to resemble a skeleton frame. Leave the icing to set before eating or packing away in an airtight container.

Black Widow Spider Halloween Cupcakes

Do come into my parlour asks Mr Spider on this eerie Halloween Night! My venomous bite awaits anyone who “DARES” to step this way!!

Wishing you and your family a most spook- tastic Halloween.

My Black Widow Spider cupcakes are chocolate sponged based, covered in a layer of icing with black icing piped around in a circle and drawn into a web shape, perfect for a themed Halloween party. You don’t need to add the plastic spiders; the webs look pretty on their own. They can be made very quickly for anyone wanting to bake something in a hurry.

Here is my recipe

Black Widow Spider Halloween Cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
For The Sponge
110g (4 oz) self-raising flour
50g (2 oz) cocoa powder
175g (6 oz) soft butter
3 eggs
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp chocolate extract
For The Icing
225g (8 oz) icing sugar
Few drops of lemon juice
Few drops of water
Edible black sugar flare icing colour

You will need 12-hole muffin tin and line with 12 paper cases and an Icing bag with a writing nozzle.

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/400°F/Gas mark 6.

For The Sponge, in a bowl add the butter and sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add each egg one at a time and beat until all incorporated then add the chocolate extract and milk and mix in well.

Sift the flour and cocoa powder together and fold in the mixture gently until all is combined.

Fill the sponge mixture to 3/4 full in each paper case. Place into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until firm to touch and skewer inserted into the centre of the sponge comes out clean. Lave to cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.

Make the icing, sieve the icing sugar into a bowl and add a few drops of lemon juice and a few drops of water to make a stiff but runny icing. Leave a little of the icing in another bowl, colour black by using a cocktail stick dipped into the black colouring then into the icing, mix and add more colour until the required colour is achieved.

Spoon the white icing over the top of the cupcakes and fill the piping bag with black icing. Pipe in circles around the top and then with a cocktail stick or skewer draw a line outwards, carry on at intervals doing this until it forms a spider web appearance. Stick a toy spider on top if using them to decorate. *Please be careful that the spiders are removed before eating the cupcakes*.

Note. You can use vanilla extract instead of chocolate extract and/or add orange zest for a choc-orange combo.

Sausage, Pumpkin, Onion and Red Pepper in a Sticky Smoked Sauce

The sauce to this dish tastes magnificent, much like a Bar-B-Q dish. The sausages and vegetables are coated and cooked through with a sticky smoked glaze. A fantastic treat of a dish for celebrating Halloween or Bonfire night.

Here is my recipe

Sausage, Pumpkin, Onion and Red Pepper in a Sticky Smoked Sauce
Serves 4

Ingredients
450g (1 lb) of Lincolnshire sausages
Small squash or ¼ of a pumpkin, peeled and cut into chunks
2 red peppers, deseeded and cut into large wedges
2 onions, peeled and cut into large wedges
For The Sticky Smoked Sauce
6 tbsp tomato ketchup
6 tbsp muscovado sugar
2 tbsp maple syrup
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp lemon juice
1 clove of garlic, chopped finely
A little flat-leafed parsley for decoration

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/400°C/Gas mark 6.

Firstly make the sticky smoked sauce by adding all the sauce ingredients into small bowl. Mix thoroughly and leave to one side.

In a large roasting tin, add all the vegetables and sausages and pour over the sticky smoked sauce. Either with a large spoon or clean hands coat all the vegetables and sausages in the sauce.

Place in the oven and cook for about 45 minutes or until the sausages and vegetables are cooked.

Serve with jacket potatoes and side salad.

Pumpkin pie

In keeping with my Halloween Theme I wanted to bake something with pumpkin in it. Now I’ve always been inquisitive as to how Pumpkin Pie would taste? Now having baked and tasted my first slice I fully understand what all the hype is about in America!! This pie is amazing and I have been missing out on what our friends over the pond have known for years, just how good this pie is!! It’s smooth velvetiness of sweet spicy delight, will be gracing my table many more years to come! It’s been such a huge hit with the family too so much so that the pie dish is now empty.

Pumpkin Puree - just look at that fabulous colour!

Here is my recipe

Pumpkin pie

Ingredients
For The Pastry
110g (4 oz) plain flour
25g (1 oz) cold butter
25g (1 oz) vegetable shortening or lard
4 –6 cold water
For The Filling
½ large pumpkin, deseeded and cut into wedges – makes 300g (11 oz) puree
1tsp ground cinnamon

½tsp ground ginger

½tsp ground nutmeg

150g(5 oz) soft dark brown sugar

2tbsp maple syrup

2 large eggs

150ml (5 fl oz) double cream

I used a greased Pyrex pie plate that measured 22cm (8½ in) diameter & 4cm (1½ in) deep

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C/400°F/Gas mark 6.

To Make The Pumpkin Puree, In a baking tray add the wedges of pumpkin and just a little water to stop the pumpkin from drying out. Bake in the oven until soft. When cool enough to handle, take off the skins and puree the pumpkin flesh in a food processor (you should have about 300g (11 oz) puree). Over a bowl, pour the puree into a sieve to drain of any water and leave to one side.

Turn the oven down to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4.

To make the pastry, in a food processor add the flours, butter, vegetable shortening or lard. Blitz together until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the cold water and blitz again until it forms into a ball. Take out of the food processor and wrap in cling film and place in the fridge until chilled. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to line the pie dish. Cut off the over hang of pastry and pick the bottom of the pastry base with a fork lightly. Line with baking paper and place baking beans on top then place in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove the baking beans and baking paper and put back in the oven for a further 5 minutes.

To Make The Filling, in a clean bowl added the drained pumpkin puree, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and soft dark brown sugar and then mix thoroughly through. In another bowl whisk the eggs and cream together until fully combined. Add this to the pumpkin mixture and mix in well. Add to pastry case and bake in the oven for 35-45 minutes or until the centre is fully set.

Leave to cool on a wire rack and cut into slices to serve with cream or ice cream.

Custard- Screams Halloween Cookies

Beware; these little pumpkin cookies scream out to you of custard creams lol. They are just perfect to make and bake for Halloween. If you have children they can have fun too cutting out scary features with making different coloured icings! Of course you can bake these cookies anytime of the year too by choosing what cookie cutter theme you wish, and leave the butter icing without any colouring added.

Here is my recipe

Custard- Screams Halloween Cookies

Makes 10 cookies

Ingredients
150g (5 oz) soft butter
175g (6 oz) plain flour, sieved
50g (2 oz) icing sugar, sieved
2 tbsp custard powder
For The Butter Icing
50g (2 oz) soft butter
110g (4 oz) icing sugar, sieved
1 tbsp custard powder
2 dessertspoons of milk
Edible orange sugar flare coloured paste

Method

You will need 2 baking sheets lined with baking paper and a pumpkin cookie cutter. Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan160°C/350°F/Gas mark 4.

To Make The Cookie Dough. In a food processor, add the ingredients and whiz together until it forms into a ball. Wrap the cookie dough in cling film and chill for at least 1 hour in the fridge. On a lightly floured surface roll out the cookie dough to about £1 coin thickness and using a cookie cutter cut out 20 pumpkin shapes. With 10 of the pumpkin cookie shapes and a sharp knife, cut out eyes and mouths. Place onto the prepared baking sheets and place in the oven for about 15 minutes. They need to be a golden in colour and will still feel soft when you take them out of the oven. Using a metal slice, carefully place the cookies onto a wire rack to cool off and firm up.

To Make The Butter Icing. Place all the ingredients in a food processor (except the food colouring) and whiz together to form a smooth texture. Scrape out into a bowl and with a cocktail stick add enough edible colour paste to make a pumpkin orange colour.


When the cookies are fully cold and firm, take a spatula and spread butter cream on the back of each cookie. Place the front cookies onto to show the eyes and mouths with the orange butter icing showing through.

Note. You can make this recipe in a food mixer or by hand, creaming the butter and icing sugar, then add the flour, custard powder and milk, forming the dough together and kneading it for a few minutes until smooth. Wrap in cling film and store in the fridge as above.

Prepare to be custard-screamed this Halloween – enjoy!

A Fang-tastic Biting Halloween Cake

Introducing Count Dracula who waits to greet you form his marbled coffin in Transylvania!! I dare you to be frightened as you step into his lair, the Lord of Vampires may take a * biting* to you!!!

I wanted to have fun with my Halloween cake this year and I’ve been debating for a few weeks what theme to choose, when this idea sprung to mind. I’m a self-taught cook/baker and still learning and having fun along the way. Making this cake I felt like a kid making something off “Blue Peter” programme with sticky-back plastic lol.

This cake is basically a Victoria sponge baked in a 3lb loaf tin. I added red food colouring to the sponge in keeping with Dracula’s theme of blood. Fondant icing was used throughout to cover a 10 in cake board, coffin base and lid, also to shape Count Dracula himself. For the little figures and spiders, they came from a Halloween section at my local store.

Here is my recipe

Count Dracula Coffin cake

Ingredients
For The Sponge Cake
175g (6 oz) self-raising flour
50g (2 oz) coco powder
225g (8 oz) soft butter
225g (8 oz) caster sugar
4 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp edible red food colouring pastes (sugar flare)
2 tbsp milk
For The Icing
2 x 450g ready-made fondant icing in white
Edible food colouring pastes (sugar flare) Black, Red, Pink
Edible icing writing pens, Black, Red
Icing sugar, for rolling the fondant icing
4 tbsp Apricot jam, for sticking the fondant icing
A little water (about 2 tbsp)
For The Coffin Lid
Flexible plastic, cut out the shape of a coffin lid large enough to fit
4 wooden cocktail sticks
Apricot jam to stick the icing to the plastic lid
Fondant icing
Edible food colouring pastes (sugar flare) Black
*See note at the bottom*
Decorations
Bat, ghost, pumpkin and spiders or of your choice
Edible food glitter

You will also need a 25.5cm (10 in) square cake board, 3lb loaf in greased and lined with baking paper.

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F/Gas mark 4.

For the sponge cake, in a bowl cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla a little at a time until all combined. Mix in the food colouring until incorporated into the mixture. Sieve the flour and coco together and fold in lightly. Spoon into the prepared loaf tin and smooth the top of the sponge with a spatula.

Place into the preheated oven and cook for 35 – 45 minutes or until it feels firm to the touch and skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.

Make the marble fondant icing, Take 700g (1½ lb) fondant icing and with a cocktail stick dip it into the black colouring and place the colour onto your fondant icing. Working the fondant icing and colour in with your hands just enough to give a marble effect. This will be used for covering the board, coffin, RIP sign and lid. Cut into 3 pieces and store in cling film to stop the icing drying out, using each third at a time.

Apricot jam, in a saucepan place the apricot jam and water and heat gently on a low heat stirring with a spoon until it combines together for sticking down the fondant icing. *See note at the bottom*.

Covering the board in marble fondant icing. Sprinkle icing sugar on a work surface and roll out the icing thinly to cover the board. With a pastry brush and some of the apricot jam, paint the board just enough to stick the icing onto. Roll the icing over your rolling pin and cover the board cutting off any excess overhang. Smooth the fondant icing down on the board.

For the sponge cake icing, brush the bottom of the sponge with a little apricot jam from the saucepan. Position the cake on the board in the middle and stick down. Brush over the rest of the sponge with some of the apricot jam. With three quarters of the remaining marble icing, roll out making the icing large enough to fit over the sponge cake. Lift the icing over your rolling pin placing the icing over the sponge, ease the fondant into place and smooth out, cutting away the excess icing carefully, not marking the board. Roll out the cut offs of marble icing to make strips to cover the sides and edge of the coffin as in the picture. Stick down with the apricot jam and smooth out. Make a sign of R.I.P with icing and stick this to the side of the coffin.

For the coffin lid, with the remaining marble icing or make more if you’ve run out, roll out thinly to cover the plastic shaped lid that was cut out. Place 4 cocktail sticks, (leaving enough of the tips to stick into the top back edge of coffin) onto pieces of fondant icing and stick to the back of the plastic lid with a good dollop of apricot jam. Spread apricot jam over the plastic lid front and back and carefully place the marble icing over the lid. Smooth it all down and cut away any overhang.

For Dracula, with some white fondant icing make the body as in the picture also make two fangs and eyeballs. Now colour some fondant icing pink for the head, ears, nose, arm and hand. Form into the shapes on the picture sticking down the shapes with apricot jam. With the remaining fondant icing colour this black and make the hair, buttons and cloak (the cloak is a circle folded into pleats around the body and a roll of icing for the collar), place and stick them on. Colour the fangs on the tips with edible icing writing pen of red and also for the eyes as in the picture, then make the eyebrows with the black colour pen.

Final assembly, place Count Dracula onto the middle of the coffin sticking the base of him with apricot jam and secure. Take the lid and line it up before sticking the cocktail sticks down into the sponge, making sure the front is the smooth side of the lid. Sprinkle a little edible glitter over Count Dracula’s cape and hair. Place the figures and spiders around the board and coffin.

Note. I have read that vegetable fat can be used to roll fondant icing instead of icing sugar, this stops the icing sugar marking the coloured icing. If you want to quickly make the coffin lid and only showing the front of the cake, you can stick the cocktail sticks on to the plastic with cellotape and just line the front with fondant icing. You can also use water to ‘glue’ Dracula together.

Halloween Cookies

Halloween is approaching and ghoulish treats for the festivities always go down a treat with youngsters. These cookies are a nice sweet treat to add to any Halloween party you are planning or even for trick-or-treaters who come knocking at your door! They are easy to make and in the process it’s fun to play around with different cookie cutters and coloured icing. You can make them as ghoulish as you wish for example, pumpkins having scary eyes and mouths or bats with dripping red icing for blood!

Halloween Cookies

Ingredients
For The Cookies
125g (4½ oz) softened butter
50g (2 oz) icing sugar
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp mixed spice
1 small egg yolk
165g (9 oz) plain flour
For The Decoration
110g (4 oz) icing sugar, sieved
Few drops of lemon juice
Water, to mix to a paste
Edible food colourings of choice
Silver dragees for eyes
Cookie cutters of your choice

You will need 2 greased baking trays

Method

In a mixing bowl add the butter, salt and mixed spice and beat until light and combined. Add the egg yolk and beat in well. Add the flour and mix until it forms a ball. Flatten into a circle and wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for at least one hour. If the dough is not chilled enough it will be too soft to roll out.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas mark 4.

Roll the dough out to about the thickness of a £1 coin and cut out shapes of your choice with the cookie cutters. Place the cookies onto the prepared baking sheets and bake for about 8 – 10 minutes until cooked. The cookies will feel soft when you take them out of the oven until they harden on cooling. Leave to cool.

To make the icing, in a bowl add the sifted icing sugar, a few drops of lemon juice and just enough water to make an icing thick enough to coat the cookies. In separate bowls divide the icing and colour each bowl of icing to suit which cookies you have made. Drizzle the icing onto the cookies; add the dragees for eyes then leave on a wire rack to let the icing harden.

Makes 15 – 20 cookies depending on how large your cookie cutters are.