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The Perfect Treat for a Halloween Party!

Ingredients:

*1 package (about 18 oz.) of your favorite flavor cake mix (we use pumpkin or apple spice mix for Halloween)
*1 tub (16 oz.) vanilla or cream cheese flavored ready-to-spread frosting
*orange food coloring
*1 tube black decorating gel or melted chocolate
*black string licorice
*25 large gumdrops
*24 Halloween themed baking cups

Instructions:

1. Get out a couple muffin pans (enough to hold 24 cupcakes) and place your Halloween-themed paper baking cups inside the tin holders. Also preheat oven to 350°F.

2. In a mixing bowl, follow the package instructions to prepare the cake mix batter. Spoon the batter into the muffin baking cups and bake as directed on the cake box (follow the instructions for 24 cupcakes). Cool the cupcakes on a baking rack.

3. In a mixing bowl, mix the tub of ready-made frosting with some orange food coloring until you achieve the desired color. Frost the 24 cupcakes. Be sure to reserve a tablespoon or so of orange frosting to make the spider eyes. NOTE – you can leave the frosting white to make black and white webs if you prefer.

4. Using the black decorating gel, make a series of concentric circles on top of the frosted cupcakes. Then use a toothpick or knife to pull the black gel from the center of the cupcake to the outward edge of the cupcake about 8 times around the cake. This will create the web appearance.

5. To make the spider, take one large gumdrop and attach 3 pieces of black string licorice on each side to create the legs (tip…use a toothpick to make small holes for the licorice insertion into the gumdrop).  Use the reserved orange frosting to make a the eyes on each gumdrop with a toothpick dipped in the frosting. Place a large gumdrop spider on the top of each cupcake.

Photo courtesy of cutco.com.

If you don’t have time to do your own Halloween goodie baking, check out our Halloween party cookie gift basket which is overflowing with iced cookies in the shapes of monsters like mummies, cyclops, and witches.

This recipe was adapted to fit two 9 inch layer pans, but you may also use a Bundt pan and bake 58 to 62 minutes. The frosting is best applied when warm. If frosting has cooled, you can gently reheat it on the stove top or in the microwave before icing the cake.

For the cake

• 1 (8.25 ounce) package plain devil’s food or dark chocolate fudge cake mix
• 1 (3.9 ounce) package chocolate flavor instant pudding & pie filling
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup sour cream, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate morsels

For the frosting

• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 5 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease and flour two 9 inch cake pans, or spray with a cooking spray with flour. Set aside.
2. To make the cake: In a large mixing bowl, blend the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, sour cream, water, and oil with an electric mixer on low speed one minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 to 3 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if necessary. The batter should look thick and well combined.
3. Use a spatula to fold in the chocolate morsels, making sure they are well distributed throughout the batter. Pour half the batter into each prepared pan.
4. Bake 28 to 32 minutes, until the cakes spring back when lightly pressed with a fingertip and just start to pull away from the sides of the pans. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes. Run a long, sharp knife around the sides of each cake and invert them onto the rack to cool completely, 20 minutes more.

• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1 1/2 cup white sugar
• 4 eggs unbeaten (add one at a time)
• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 packed grated carrots

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Add ingredients in the above order, mixing well after each addition. Pour into greased pan. Bake for 1 and 1/2 hours. Cool and icing.

Carrot Cake Icing

• 3 1/2 to 4 cups icing sugar
• 8 ounce cream cheese
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 tsp vanilla

Cream cheese and butter. Beat in sugar gradually until you reach your desired stiffness. Mix in vanilla.

• 1 spice cake mix [1 layer]
• 1 cup apple pie filling
• ¼ tsp. cinnamon
• 4 tbsp. Graham wafer crumbs ice cream or plain yogurt for garnish

Prepare cake mix according to package. Pour into an 8 in. square pan. Spread pie filling over top, sprinkle with cinnamon.Bake according to package instructions. Let cool on cake rack. Cut into squares.Sprinkle with wafer crumbs and serve with ice cream or yogurt.

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 2 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 cup sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In large bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, sugar and salt. Slowly whisk in the butter and milk until mixture is smooth. Put in ungreased pan.

Topping:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 2 cups hot water

Sprinkle the brown sugar and cocoa powder over top of the cake (the entire cake). Bake for 35 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 ¼ cups partially skimmed milk
• 3 eggs, separated
• ¼ cup butter, melted
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup raspberry jam
• 2 tbsp. icing sugar

In a bowl, mix flour with milk and let stand for 30 minutes. In another bowl, beat egg yolks, melted butter and sugar. Add to milk.Beat egg whites until soft peaks form and add to batter. Cook thin crepes in a nonstick frying pan, using up all the batter.Spread raspberry jam and stack them. Sprinkle crepe with icing sugar.  With a red hot steel skewer, make lines on icing sugar. [10 servings]

• 2 cups mixed candied fruit, chopped coarse

• 1 cup candied cherries, halved

• 3 cup raisins

• 1 cup currants

• 1/2 cup bourbon

• 1 cup butter, at room temperature

• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

• 6 eggs, at room temperature

• 1/2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted

• 3 cups walnuts, coarsely chopped

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 tsp. ground nutmeg

• 1 tsp. ground cloves

• 1/2 baking soda

• 3/4 tsp. salt

• ½ cup brandy

In a large bowl, combine the candied fruits, raisins, currants, and bourbon. Mix well, cover, and marinate 3 hours on the counter.

Cream together the butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add the melted chocolate, walnuts, and the marinated fruit along with the bourbon. Blend for a minute and add the flour, nutmeg, cloves, baking soda, and salt. Mix well until all is incorporated. Pack the heavy batter into a greased 10 x 4-inch tube pan. Bake in a preheated 300 degree oven for 2 hours and 10 minutes. Remove to a rack. When the cake is cool enough to handle, remove it from the pan and cool on the rack.

Place the cooled cake in a stainless-steel pot with a lid and drizzle half the brandy over it. Cover and allow resting on the counter for 1 week. Slice and serve. This cake will keep for months in the fridge.

• 4 egg yolks
• 4 egg whites
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup melted butter, cooled
• 1 1/4 cups sifted cake flour

Preheat oven to 350°. Place oven rack in the middle level. Grease a 9-inch layer cake pan and dust lightly with flour.Beat the egg yolks then gradually add the sugar (reserving 2 tablespoons) beating with an electric Mixer or wire whisk until thick and light. Beat in the vanilla. Carefully fold in the flour.

Beat the egg whites and salt until soft peaks form, then beat in the reserved sugar until stiff but not dry. Fold half the egg whites into the flour mixture then fold in all the egg whites lightly. Fold in the melted butter.

Turn into the pan. Bake 30 minutes or until browned and slightly shrunk away from the sides of the pan. Cool in the pan 5 minutes; run a spatula around the edges and turn out onto a cake rack. Turn right side up and let stand until cold. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, ice as you wish or use for strawberry shortcake.

• 1 cup butter, at room temperature

• 2 cups sugar

• 2 eggs, at room temperature

• 2 tsp. vanilla

• 2 cups pitted dates, chopped course

• 3 cups applesauce

• 2 cups walnuts, chopped coarse

• 2 cups raisins

• 2 cups mixed candied fruit, chopped coarse

• 1/2 tsp. salt

• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp. ground cloves

• 1 tbsp. baking soda

• 4 cups all-purpose flour

Cream the butter and sugar together. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, along with the vanilla. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until all is incorporated. Divide the batter among 3 greased loaf pans, approximately 8 x 4 x 3 inches each.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove to a cooling rack. When cool enough to handle, remove the loaves from the pans and cool completely on the rack. Wrap in plastic wrap and keep in the freezer.

• Pie crust, baked and cooled down [9 in. ]
• 1 package 4 oz. instant chocolate pudding
• 1 tsp. liqueur or schnapps, any flavor
• 4 canned pear or peach halves, drained
• tbsp. toasted almonds

Prepare chocolate pudding according to package directions, adding the liqueur or schnapps .Pour pudding into pie crust and refrigerate until pie firms up.Cut fruit into thin slices and place on pie fan-shaped. Sprinkle with toasted almonds. [ 8 servings]