Ghastly Ghouls

Last year I made several different cupcakes for Halloween. This one is from Lily Vanilli's A Zombie Ate My Cupcake book.  It is full of fabulously weird cupcake recipes perfect for this time of year. I loved the book so much that I bought a copy for my sister-in law and my cousin.

The meringue frosting is quite messy (that may be just me) but it is totally worth it.

Instead of using black fondant for the eyes, I used silver and gold edible balls which were really effective.

Ghastly Ghouls

(Makes 12 cupcakes)

Ingredients:

One batch of vanilla cupcakes

12 White Marshmallows

Black fondant or chocolate chips

For the meringue frosting:

4 Large Egg Whites

200g Granulated Sugar

¼ tsp cream of tartar

Pinch of Salt

Directions:

1. You will need a small saucepan and a heatproof bowl that will sit neatly on top of it (or use a double boiler, if you have one). Pour a few cups of water into the pan and bring to the boil. The water should not touch the base of the bowl.
2. Whisk the egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar, and salt in the bowl using an electric mixer, then place the bowl above the boiling water and continue whisking until the mixture is hot to touch and all the sugar has dissolved – about 1-2 minutes.
3. Remove from the heat and, using the mixer on medium-high speed, beat until the eggs form a cool stiff meringue, about 5 minutes or until hard peaks have formed.
4. Secure a marshmallow vertically in the centre of each cake using a tiny bad of the meringue, and use a spoon to heap frosting on top of each cupcake to make a ghost shape. Smooth the edges with the back of the spoon.
5. Use black fondant or chocolate chips to create 'eyes' with suitably menacing expression.

Halloween Cupcakes

I also made the above cakes using a basic chocolate cupcake then using butter cream icing to make the mummies and the brains. A very quick and easy way to make cupcakes for Halloween parties.

Witches Fingers

I hope that you agree that these witches fingers biscuits look quite repulsive but they do taste very good. The melted chocolate under the nails give the impression of dirt.  

I made these at Christmas time but added some green food colouring to the dough turning them into Grinch's fingers. 

Witches Fingers

Ingredients:

100g Butter

100g Caster Sugar

200g Plain Flour

Few drops Vanilla Essence

Whole Blanched Almonds (one per biscuit)

Milk Chocolate

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 180C,
2. Mix together the butter, sugar, vanilla essence and flour into a firm dough.
3. Shape into 'fingers' marking with fine lines across the middle to look like knuckles, and flatten slightly at the top end to look like a finger nail. Press in a blanched almond into each finger.
4. Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden then remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.
5. Melt the chocolate, remove the almond from the finger and paint over the fingernail area with the melted chocolate and immediately replace the almond nail.

Jelly & Ice Cream Cake

For mini me's birthday this year she asked for a jelly and ice cream cake. Normally I would bake several cakes plus cupcakes for party bags but this year I was really disorganized and hadn't prepared anything. Fortunately Jane Asher has a very quick and easy recipe which requires no baking what so ever. 

Perfect for parties, BBQs and as it keeps it in the freezer it lasts a long time.My only warning is the jelly goes a bit hard in the freezer so if it isn't getting used in the one sitting remove the jelly before putting it back in the freezer.

I went for a Raspberry Ripple cake but I think this would be delicious with chocolate swiss rolls and mint choc chip ice cream.

Ingredients:

3 Large Swiss Rolls

2 Litres Soft Ice Cream

3 Different Coloured Packets of Jelly

1 Quantity Butter Cream

Directions:

1. Cut all the swiss rolls into slices approx 5mm thick. Line the base of a springform tin with the slices, and then add a layer round the side.
2. Fill with the ice cream, making sure it is well pushed down. Cover the top with more swiss roll, then wrap in clingfilm and freeze. This can be done a couple of weeks ahead.
3. Make up the jellies separately but using only half the amount of water for a firmer set. Pour each jelly into a non-stick cake tin / swiss roll tin and chill to set.
4. Put a sheet of baking parchment on a board or tray. When the jelly is set, turn it out on to the baking parchment and return to the fridge until all 3 colours are ready.
5. Cut jelly shapes with cutters and keep them on a tray lined with baking parchment in the fridge until needed. This can be done a few days ahead.
6. Undo the side of the cake tin and remove the ice cream cake. Put it on the cake board and cover it with a thin layer of butter cream, using a hot palette knife to smooth it evenly. Keep the cake in the freezer until ready to serve.
7. When ready, position the jelly shapes and serve the cake immediately.

Cherry Mallow Slice

Not really a cake or biscuit as such but a quick and easy recipe to make something rather scrumptious. Ideal for parties, snacks or packed lunch boxes.

My friend Sadif gave me this recipe as it is a family favourite and I can see why. It may not look the prettiest but tastes great.

I'm going to try a more grown up version using cranberries instead of glace cherries, hobnobs instead of digestives and rolled in chopped nuts.

Cherry Mallow Slice

Ingredients:

80g Glace Cherries

120g Marshmallows

230g Digestive Biscuits

1 Small Tin of Condensed Milk

Directions:

1. Chop cherries and marshmallows up and crush the digestive biscuits.
2. Into a large bowl, put the cherries, marshmallows, digestive biscuits and the tin of condensed milk, and mix.
3. Roll into a tight cylinder / sausage shape (Can roll in chocolate vermicelli or desiccated coconut if wanted).
4. Wrap the mixture in cling film and put in the fridge for at least 2 hours however overnight is best.
5. Remove cling film and cut into slices.