Jack-O'-Lantern |
Bake this for a Halloween party and your guests will be trick-or-treating at your house for years to come.
Cakes for Kids by Matthew Mead and Downtown Bookworks Inc.
Chronicle Books (2008)
Amazon.ca | ChaptersIndigo.ca
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons shortening
- 2 tablespoons flour
- Chocolate Cake Batter (see recipe)
- Creamy White Frosting (see recipe)
- Green gel or paste food color
- Orange gel or paste food color
- 1 small waffle ice cream cone
- 4 ounces (1/2 cup) black fondant
- Black decorating sugar for sprinkling
Materials
- Two 6-inch half-sphere cake pans or two 1 /12 quart oven proof bowls
- Waxed or parchment paper
- Toothpicks
- Wire cooking racks
- Glass measuring cup
- Small offset spatula
- Cake plate or 4-inch round cardboard base (optional)
- Plastic straw
- 2 decorating bags, #70 leaf tip, and #5 rund tip
- Rolling pin
- Small, sharp knife
- Small plate
- Spoon
- Compote or shallow bowl, for serving
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease the bottom of each cake pan, then line it with waxed paper or parchment paper and lightly grease and flour the bottom and sides. Divide the batter between the pans and bake the cases until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 minutes. Cool the cakes completely in the pans on cooling racks and then turn them out onto the racks.
While the cakes are cooling, transfer ¾ cup of frosting to a glass-measuring cup. Tint it green (see recipe). Tint the remaining frosting orange. Using an offset spatula spread a thin layer of orange frosting over the flat surface of 1 cake. Invert the second cake on top of the first, joining the flat surfaces of both domes together. Transfer the assembled cake to the cardboard base, if using, or a cake plate. Cover the cake completely with the rest of the orange frosting.- To make rib indentations as shown in the photo, hold a plastic straw against the cake curving it from the bottom to top. Lift it off, reposition it, and press again. Repeat all around the cake. Gently incise the ribs wit ha skewer if you don’t have a straw.
- For the stem, invert the ice cream cone and, using a clean spatula, cover it with the green frosting; add more frosting at the top to give the stem a curved tip. Place the stem on the top of the cake.
- Fit decorating bag with a coupler and the leaf tip; add 1 cup of green frosting to the bag. Referring to the photo, pipe several leaves around the base of the stem. Hold the bag at an angle next to the stem. Squeeze out some frosting, allowing it to fan into a wide base, then decrease the light pressure and slowly pull the tip away, lifting slightly, to form a point.
- Remove the leaf tip and replace with the round tip. Pipe tendrils around the stem and leaves. Place the tip where you want the tendril to begin. Using even pressure, squeeze out some frosting and move the tip to draw the tendril is the desired length.
- Using a rolling pin, roll the fondant to 1/8 inch thick. Referring to the photo and using a small sharp knife, cut out the features. For the eyes, cut 2 triangles a little smaller than the eyes. Cut the smile to be about 4 inches from tip to tip. You can draw a paper pattern first if you like.
- Spread the black sugar on a small plate (large enough to hold the smile) using the back of the spoon. Press each cutout into the sugar and then invert the coated cutout onto the pumpkin to form the face, pressing it into the frosting. Transfer the cake to the serving dish if you have not already done so.
- Serves 12-16
- Makes One 6-by-7-inch cake
