Creepy Black Cat Cake

What You Need:

1 (18.25 oz.) chocolate cake mix
1 (16 oz.) can chocolate frosting
2 yellow gumdrops
1 green gumdrop
1 red gumdrop
2 pieces of shoestring black licorice
6 pieces of candy corn

How to Make It:

Set the oven temperature to 350 degrees and allow the oven to preheat.
Line 2 round 9 inch cake pans with parchment paper and lightly grease.
Prepare the cake mix according the package directions.
Pour the batter into the 2 prepared cake pans.
Bake 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Remove the pans from the oven and cool the cakes 10 minutes in the pans.
Remove the cakes from the pans and place on a wire rack to cool to room temperature.
Remove the parchment paper from the cakes.
Place one of the cakes on a large platter or covered board.
From the remaining cake cut a 1 in wide crescent shape slice to form the cat’s tail.
From the cut cake measure 2 inches from the center and make a vertical cut.
Cut this piece in half to form the cat’s ears and set aside.
Trim the remaining piece of the cut cake to form a circle for the cat’s head.
Spread frosting over the top and sides of the first piece of cake.
Attach the tail to the bottom of the cake with a little frosting then frost the tail.
Attach the cat’s head with frosting then frost the head.
Attach the cat’s ears with frosting then completely frost the ears.
Place the yellow gum drops on the heat to represent the eyes.
Cut the green gum drop in half and attach to the yellow eyes using toothpicks.
Place the red gum drop on the face for the cat’s nose.
Cut the black licorice and press it into the cat’s face for its whiskers and mouth.
Press the candy corn into the base of the cat, three on each side, to represent its toes.

This black cat takes a little time to put together but it’s worth the trouble when you place it on the Halloween party table. The kids will get a kick out of seeing and eating this piece of work. Brownie mix may be used in place of the cake mix if you prefer.

Makes 20 servings

Preparation Time: approximately 25 minutes
Baking Time: approximately 20 minutes + cooling
Total Time: approximately 45 minutes + cooling

Halloween Poke Cake

Ingredients:

CAKE:
3 ounces orange Jell-O mix
3/4 cup boiling water
1/2 cup cold water
1 package white cake mix

TOPPING:
1 1/2 cups cold milk
1 small package instant vanilla pudding mix
1 envelope dream whip topping
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 handful of candy corn

Instructions:

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Add cold water and stir until mixed and set aside until ready to use. Prepare cake following the package directions for a 13×9 pan sized cake. Let the cake cool for some time. Using a meat fork or a bamboo skewer “poke” holes to the bottom of the cake about an inch apart, you can do it at random or in a pattern it’s up to you. Pour the liquid gelatin into the holes! Beat together the topping ingredients until stiff peaks begin to form, add food coloring if desired. Frost your Halloween poke cake, sprinkle with candy corn for decoration. Allow to chill so that gelatin sets.

This recipe can be altered for other holidays and themes as well by changing the flavor of gelatin and adding food coloring to the frosting.

Webtacular Cheesecake

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups chocolate wafer crumbs
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

Filling Ingredients:

3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1 (15 ounce) can solid pack pumpkin
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

Topping Ingredients:

2 cups sour cream
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Melted chocolate, piping icing in various colors, spider candies

Instructions:

Combine smashed up wafer crumbs and butter. Press into bottom of and sides of your greased spring form pan to create your cheesecake crust. In the big mixing bowl beat cream cheese and sugars until nice and smooth. Add in the eggs and beat on low speed. Whisk in the pumpkin, cornstarch, vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice (aka your secret ingredient!) Pour mixture into crust and bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour. Cool for at least 10 minutes before doing anything else to the cheesecake, but don’t turn off the oven just yet. Mix up the topping ingredients’ and spread this over top of the filling. Place back in the oven for 6 minutes to melt. Run a butter knife around the edge of the pan first to loosen everything to make release easier later on. Allow to cool to room temp and refrigerate over night.

Morning remove the spring form sides and pipe on spider web decorations and place a candy spider in each little web (try to space them so that each slice has a spider.) You can even slice before decorating if you want to make them all even.