31Days ofHalloween! Day30- Recipe: Skull Cakes, Glazes, Frostings & Molds

Want to make a special dessert for Halloween or Day of the Dead? All sorts of new seasonal molds have come out lately, especially for Halloween: cake molds, cookie molds, chocolate molds, ice cube molds, and some molds that can be used for multiple purposes. One of the "new" molds that I picked up a couple years ago is a skull mold for cakes. In this post I'm focusing on the cakes we make with that mold.

Red velvet cakes with cream cheese or whipped cream cheese frosting are our favorites for the skulls, they taste great and the colors are wonderful ; )  . Cake from preferred mixes, then hybrid recipes, are listed first; scratch recipes are last (frostings can vary, but i tend to use cream cheese or whipped cream frostings).

There are (at least) two good 3-D baking molds for "full sized" skulls available: Wilton and NordicWare. The Nordic Ware pan has a more complete skull shape, with the back of the skull being more rounded, but may be harder to find. Wilton also has a 3-D mini skull baking pan with molds for 4 complete smaller skulls which are great for baking or using as a press mold.
Prep baking mold (grease / lightly flour).
Fill with any standard cake recipe or mix.
Allow to cool and remove from mold pan, breaking the edge of the cake/pan border with a butter knife.
After the cake has cooled, cut the un-molded edges flat and spread some frosting thinly across both facing edges to "glue" together.
Gently frost the cake. Using the Wilton mold I tend to frost the base differently than the skull.
Then pipe decoration. You can use a small plastic food bag with a tiny corner snipped off for piping.

This is the cake we made this year. We had fun decorating it together ; )


Cake Box Mixes
Betty Crocker Super Moist Yellow Cake
Duncan Hines Classic Yellow

Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Dark Chocolate Fudge
Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Red Velvet Cake 

Store Frosting
Betty Crocker cream cheese frosting


Hybrids ~> Scratch/Box Mix Cake Recipe 
1 ~18 oz red velvet OR devil's food cake mix
1 ~3.5 oz instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs, beaten lightly
1 cup vegetable oil
CHOICE -> choose one of the following: 1/2 cup warm water, 1tsp instant espresso dissolved in 1/2 cup hot water (allow to cool), OR 1/2 cup warm coffee

Preheat oven to 350°F. Prep baking pan (grease pan, this is a dense batter and is great for suspending extras in the batter).
Beat together cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream, eggs, oil, and espresso mixture (about 2 minutes on medium with a mixer).
Baking
9 inch pan (this recipe is appropriate for 2  9" pans) - bake at 350°F ~30 minutes.
Cupcakes (this recipe is for ~24 cupcakes) - bake at 350°F for ~20 minutes

Hybrid ~> Scratch/Store Frosting
a couple options here...
-Cream Cheese Frosting - soften 1 8 oz package of cream cheese and blend with a 16 oz can of vanilla (or cream cheese ; ) frosting.
-Fluffy! - 8 oz of whipped cream (home or store bought) mixed with your choice of any 16 oz can of frosting.
-Flavor Enhancer - add ~1/2 tsp of extract of desired flavor to 16 oz can of frosting. Almond extract added to chocolate is wonderful! OR add 1/4 cup of Nutella or peanut butter (and 1 tsp of milk) to a cream cheese, vanilla, or chocolate frosting!

I use paste based colorants to color my frosting, so I don't make the frosting runny.

Scratch Cake Recipe - Red Velvet

2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

1 cup vegetable oil / butter / or coconut oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2 Tbsp (1 oz) red food coloring
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp distilled white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare (grease and flour) 3 - 8" round cake pans.
Sift together into a medium bowl~> flour, sugar, cocoa, and salt.
Beat together in a large bowl oil/butter, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vanilla, and vinegar until thoroughly mixed. Add the dry flour  mixture and beat until smooth (~ 2 minutes with a mixer).
Pour batter equally into the 3 cake pans.
Bake ~30 minutes (check with toothpick test). Allow cakes to cool 5-10 minutes, turn out of pan onto plate and then onto cooling rack. Allow to cool completely.


Smooth Glaze Coatings
Chocolate Glaze                                         White Glaze

8 Tbs unsweetened cocoa                         8 Tbs hot water
2 Tbs melted butter                                   4 cups powdered sugar
8 Tbs hot water                                         3 Tbs meringue powder
2 tsp vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar

1 Tbs meringue powder

~> To make the chocolate glaze, combine the melted butter, cocoa and hot water; thoroughly blend in the powdered sugar and vanilla. 
~> To make the white glaze, combine powdered sugar, meringue powder, and hot water; blend smooth.

The rest of the directions apply to both glazes.
Add just a little more hot water to get a thin, pourable glaze; the glaze will harden as it cools.
Put the cake on a wire rack over a tray or plate. If you have a 2 part cake mold, make sure you have already put the 2 halves together (toothpicks with frosting or a small amount of glaze will work), you won't have time to do this at this point or your glaze will cool! Pour the warm glaze gently over the skull, using the back of a spoon to smooth the glaze into the details (mouth, nose, eyes, etc.).
Let the glaze harden and gently place the cake onto the plate/ stand, using some glaze to secure the cake to the plate /stand.
This is a great smooth base, you can either stop here or add additional decorations over this glaze coating.


Scratch Frosting Recipes
Cream Cheese
2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar

In a bowl, thoroughly blend cream cheese and butter. Add the vanilla and mix. Gradually add the powdered sugar while mixing. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Stable Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting (stable at room temp and stiff)
8 oz package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 cups heavy cream

In a large bowl, mix the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla extract, and almond extract (if using mixer, mix on medium until smooth). While mixing slowly add the heavy cream, scraping the bowl occasionally while continuing to whip until cream holds a stiff peak.

Again, I use paste based colorants to color my frosting, so the frosting isn't runny. Make sure to set aside some frosting from your base color if you want to add any designs over the top.
If you have a 2 part cake mold, make sure you put the 2 halves securely together (toothpicks with frosting will work great) before you start frosting the cake!
To decorate smooth your base color over the entire skull, you can make the surface as smooth or textured as you like.

To add additional designs, first separate the remaining frosting into bowls and add desired colorants. Pipe the designs on to the base frosting.
If you aren't sure how you want to decorate your cake, I recommend a web search based on the type of design styles you like (don't restrict yourself to looking at cakes!). You can practice on wax or parchment paper first if you want more experience.


Enjoy! 

DeWyk

31 Days of Halloween! Day17- Recipe: Guacamole 'dy with Creepy Crunchings

guacamole mold ingredients (*optional):

1 packet gelatin, plain
cup water
3 avocados, chopped
3 Tbsp lime juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped small
1 tsp chile powder or cumin
pinch of cayenne*
1/4 red pepper, cut very thinly*

salsa ingredients*
salsa ~> fresh or store bought
4 medium tomatoes
2 peppers (hot or mild, to taste)
1 medium onion
3 garlic cloves
1 tsp salt

creepy crunchings (chips) ingredients:
fresh tortillas (assorted packets)
oil or butter
seasonings: salt, pepper, garlic, chile powder, etc.

Guacamole Foot (increase recipe for large molds):
These molds are available at most craft and party stores.
Combine the avocados, lime juice, salt, cilantro and spices in a bowl and blend well.
*Add red pepper and stir until well mixed.
Mix packet of plain gelatin using 1/2 the water stated in directions on the box.
Let gelatin cool a bit and add 1/2 of the gelatin into the avocado mixture, blend thoroughly (you ONLY use half of the gelatin mixture, so you can make a half packet, double the recipe and use the entire packet, or have another recipe ready to go... our brain mold is larger than our foot mold
; )  .
Brush the mold lightly with olive or vegetable oil. Pour your guacamole mixture into the mold. Cover and refrigerate until set, at least 2 hours.
Remove from mold by dipping mold in warm water and break contact along the edge with a knife, then put the serving plate over the mold and turn the mold over onto the plate.

Salsa:
If you have time roast or lightly char/grill (in pan/ baking sheet to retain fluids) the tomatoes, onion, peppers, and garlic cloves, about 10 min.
Combine garlic and peppers and coarsely puree together in a food processor. Add the tomatoes and juices to the mixture and chop.
Chop the onion and put the onion and tomato mixture into a bowl and stir thoroughly. Season to taste with salt, generally ~1tsp.
Garnish around/ over the guacamole foot.

Tortilla Chips:
You can serve with regular tortilla chips or make these baked or fried creepy crunchings at home!

Start with packets of fresh tortillas (we like to include assorted flavors/ colors: multi-grain, spinach, tomato, etc.)... you could make your own tortillas, but we usually cheat on this step! If baking, pre-heat oven to 350°F and brush both sides of the tortillas lightly with oil or melted butter (ignore this step if deep frying : ) . Use Halloween cookie cutters to cut the tortillas, on a cutting board, into creepy shapes. Set aside the shapes and the scraps as you cut, you will use both. 
Baking: place the shapes and scraps in a single layer on cookie sheets, season, and bake for ~12-15 minutes (until browning lightly).
Frying: follow directions on your deep fryer. Fry shapes and scraps lightly (until crisp) and remove to dish for immediate light seasoning.


Enjoy! 
 
DeWyk

31 Days of Halloween! Day16- Make: Mini Mummies!

What could be more Halloween than.......the dead!
But the dead can be so messy. Zombies leave bits of themselves everywhere (and they squish! xp), Vampires are constantly at everyone's' throats, and Ghosts have this nasty habit of throwing furniture around every time they want to get your attention. The best way to incorporate the dead into your Halloween plans? Mummies! Occasionally they may wander around and leave bits of bandages places, but given proper treatment of their canopic jars most Mummies are quite well behaved.

However, the difficulty of obtaining natron and the caustic-ness of certain other embalming agents can make the creation of mummies in the home a less than family-friendly process...not to mention certain other complications associates with mummy making (see above: squishing).
Our solution to this issue is quite simple: Flour dough mummies! They are quiet, clean, and take up very little space! Also, this project is completely food safe and great for kids.


What you'll need:
-Flour
-Water
-Salt
-Cheesecloth or thin cloth bandages
-Cookie or candy molds


1. Find an animal shaped cookie or candy mold. For example, the Wilton's mummy candy mold, or chocolate animal molds, are perfect!

                





2. To make the dough, mix 1 cup flour with 1/2 cup salt. When these are thoroughly mixed together, add 1/2 cup water and mix that with the flour/salt mixture. If the dough seems too thick, add more water in VERY SMALL INCREMENTS. You don't want too much water.

3. Press or pour the dough into your mold. If the mold is heat safe, you can put it into the oven on low heat to accelerate the drying process. If the mold is not heat safe, you will need to allow the flour dough to air dry. Do not remove the dough until it has dried hard. Note that the more water you add to the dough (beyond 1/2 cup), the more the dough will shrink as it dries. This will become your mummy base.

4. Get the cheesecloth or bandages. If you have cheesecloth, tear it into very thin strips 5-8" long. If you have thin bandages, just cut them into 5-8" long strips (though the mummy will look less ragged).

5. Make another flour/water/salt mixture. This time, use 1/3 cup flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1 cup water. What you're going for here is more of a traditional papier-mache paste.

6. Soak the strips of bandages in the papier mache paste, and wrap them gently but firmly around your mummy base. Wrap the bandages in a crisscross pattern for the most mummy-like effect. Make sure to cover your entire mummy, and do not get the papier mache paste too thick onto the bandages. You're using it to stick the bandages to the mummy and make them look distressed, not to cover up the bandages!

7. Allow the mummy to dry. Once it is dry, you can do one of a few things to finish it off:
-You can leave it as is, as an off-white mummy
-You can "antique" the mummy. Brew a very strong cup of tea, using loose-leaf tea (or break open the bag). Use a paintbrush or cloth rag to apply the tea stain to the bandages.
-You can paint your mummy using acrylic paints.

Enjoy! 
 
DeWyk