My little cupcake has been attending preschool and since my last post I have started working at said preschool. I work part time, just weekday mornings, but somehow this additional role in my life has completely zapped me of all energy and motivation. This is not good because I still have a house to clean, a kid to care for, a husband to raise and all of my various odd jobs I do to earn a buck or two.
I am coming off of a weekend that involved a lot of cake making all in one day and working on a cold that is uncharacteristically hanging around for day 3. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, just keying you all in to my life at the moment...
And now, for a subject that I LOVE LOVE LOVE: HALLOWEEN!
Yes, I am a lover of Halloween. I am not a pagan, I do not worship the dark arts. I am, in fact a Christian in the UCC. I see quite often comments from folks who believe that Halloween was created by evil doers and pagans and all who celebrate it are going to hell. If you believe this that is your choice, but I can tell you this may not be the post for you and I would not be offended if you navigated away from this blog and waited until Christmas to rejoin us. That being said, I was so excited for Halloween this year. I got on Pinterest just before the holiday last year and have been waiting somewhat patiently to try lots of witchy, haunty, batty things, especially in the food category.
Family Trick or Treat
Oh I had some lofty plans. I was going to be that lady with the cool treat bags full of bat cookies and witch hats. I was going to bake cakes and cupcakes aplenty. A mummy in a pound cake coffin. Vampire bite cuppies. Green pudding Frankenstein heads. Well, needless to say, that did not happen. I did, however get to a few haunting little treats so I shall now share them. I don't really have any tutorial goodness to go with because it's all fairly self explanatory. I didn't even tweak any cake mixes. Just baked up that box of numminess and frosted up a storm.
So this is Frankie. No, this is not from the mind of me. It is from the mind of Betty Crocker. I made it for a monthly game night that I have with some pals. This was the October night so it was a great opportunity for some spooky fun!
Again, I lucked into 'having' to make some spooky treats when school had a Halloween party. I took the opportunity to make several kinds of cuppies. This way I got to try out four different treatie treats at once! So going clockwise starting top left (for those of you who can't figure out pictures): We have a monster, ghost, pumpkin (which oddly enough looks like a Charlie Brown inspired pumpkin) and a spider in his webby web.
And the kids seemed to get a kick out of them. Or a sugar high. Whatever.
Last, but not least, pumpkin spice cake. Now this one I can instruct on , just a little bit... But if you've EVER gone on Pinterest and been like "Cake" you have likely seen this little 'trick'. (Haha, trick. Like trick or treat. See what I did there?) Anyway, here's a quick how-to on this thing:
Take a box of spice cake mix. Open it and dump it into a bowl. Take a can of pumpkin. A 15oz one, the small one. Open it and dump it in with the cake mix. I also add just a smidge (like a tablespoon) of vegetable or canola oil too. Mix it up and bake it according to the box instructions. I used a bundt pan this time around. Isn't it pretty? You will have to smooth the batter a bit with a rubber spatula because it doesn't spread itself well.
To ice it I mixed 1/2 cup powdered sugar with 1 tbsp of milk. and added a little cinnamon and a few drops of vanilla. Drizzled it on and bam! Pumpkiney cakey goodness. I will do almost anything for a good pumpkin flavored treat!
So there you have it. Tasty Halloween Goodness! And a promise to post more soon! Feel free to post comments and tell me what you did for Halloween or fall activities this year. And if you're a pumpkin enthusiast tell me what your favorite pumpkin dish is!
