Halloween 2015

 Happy Halloween!

I love Halloween! I love the colors, the smells, the fact that it's finally cooling down, and most of all, the memories. When I was a kid Halloween was great. almost all houses were decorated and trick-or-treaters filled the streets just like you see in movies. No worries about creepy people doing creepy things. One great memory I have is with my mom. She used to be the library directory of a library in a small town. One year we were decorating for the children's part of the library so we went down by a creek and gathered fallen leaves. It smelled so good, there was a crispness to the air with just a tinge of smoke from fireplaces. Every Halloween brings back this memory.

So anyway, this year we were going to try to have a small party, but, as usual, things didn't work out. I saw these cake pans on Facebook and just had to have them. Off to Williams Sonoma we go. At first I just bought the ghost pan, but those skulls kept calling me back.

I used Fudge Ghost Cake from the Nordic Ware site. I haven't cut into it yet so I can't vouch for the flavor. It baked up nice, but when I tasted the scraps, it seems a little sugary and not very chocolaty, maybe it was just the part I cut off for leveling. I used canned cherry frosting to "glue" them together and used bamboo skewers to insure they stayed that way.

For the skulls, I used a Paula Deen recipe from a magazine I bought in 2008 called Red Velvet Pound Cake. It baked up nice too. I halved the recipe because the full recipe make 12 cups and I only needed 5. Here is what it looks like cut into.

It's actually much more red. 

For the icing, I used a Petit Four recipe from Gretchen's Bakery. It's easy to make and tastes good too!. Some things I learned using it are: have ample space prepared in advance in refrigerator for them to set up, make sure you have completely covered the cake and do not go back and try to add more, it sets up quickly and the result might not be what you want, and most of all, do not move or try to move until completely set. Don't ask me how I know, just don't do it.!

I piped royal icing flowers, my daughter says the red ones remind her of the Crimson Peak Movie

I collect things all year from Goodwill and here are some of those things I used on the table.

Fostoria candle holder and silver serving bowl,
 I thought it looked like a cauldron.

I have a pretty good collection of black glass. This has some black glasses and some etched ones that I'm not sure of the maker. One of my favorite candle holders is the black one in the back, you might have to click on the picture to enlarge it to see the details better. And, a silver serving tray. 

I hope everyone had a great Halloween, now to plan for next year!