HALLOWEEN CREDIT CRUNCH TIP #1 - DECORATIONS
Once dried, they last and last for years.
whole cloves
a few grains of rice
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 teaspoons salt
Peel a large apple and coat with mixture of lemon juice and 2 teaspoons of salt to prevent browning. With a potato peeler or small knife carve out eye sockets, a nose, mouth and ears. Don't worry about carving small details as they will be lost when the apple dries. Go for the big features and nature will take care of the rest.
Use whole cloves for eyes and raw rice grains for teeth (the faces also come out looking great without these extra props, just carve and let dry if you want to keep it simple). The photo below right shows the freshly carved apples used to make the apple heads in the photo above.
Sit apples on a wire rack in a warm, dry place for about 2 weeks. You can speed the drying process a little by drying in an oven set at the lowest temperature. However, the process will still take several days.
HALLOWEEN EDIBLE PHOTO CAKE TOPPERS
Pumpkin Cake Recipe for Halloween
(This is rather like a carrot cake)
300 gm light muscovado sugar
3 teaspoons mixed spice
2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
175 gm sultanas
half teaspoon salt
4 eggs
200 gm butter
zest and juice of one orange
500 gm grated flesh of pumpkin or butternut squash METHOD Preheat oven to 180 degrees for fan ovens; Gas Mark 4 or 160 degrees for ordinary ovens Prepare a 20cm x 30cm cake tin OR 2 x 8 inch sandwich tins by greasing and lining with greaseproof paper Place dry ingredients (flour, sugar, spice, bicarbonate, sultanas and salt) in a mixing bowl. Melt the butter, beat the eggs and then beat the eggs into the butter Stir orange zest and one tablespoon of orange juice into the butter and egg mixture Add pumpkin flesh to dry ingredients Stir butter mixture into dry ingredients Pour batter into tin(s) Bake for APPROXIMATELY 30 minutes
****** Pumpkins can vary in water content which can affect the cooking time. So keep an eye on your cake towards the end of the cooking time and adjust timing as necessary. Test for readiness. If the cake is ready, a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake will come out clean. When ready leave the cake in the tin for 5 minutes to cool slightly then turn out onto a wire tray. Skewer all over and drizzle with the rest of the orange juice (from the 2 oranges) while still warm. Leave cake to cool. FROSTING 200 gm soft cheese
85 gm softened butter
100 gm sifted icing sugar
zest of one orange
1 tablespoon orange juice Beat all ingredients together and leave in the fridge LEAVE CAKE TO COOL COMPLETELY BEFORE APPLYING ICING Give the frosting a quick beat before icing the cake Now apply your edible cake topper according to the instructions. Don't forget to look at the video to see just how easily they are applied! Your cake can be kept in the fridge for about three days Grease and line a 30cm x 20 cm tin
A mumpreneur business - edible photo cake toppers
AboutSomething Cakey started in 2008 by Nicky, a mother of twins.
Baking a cake is easy enough. A plain sponge cake is pretty foolproof or it's easy to cheat and buy from a supermarket or bakery but it's trying to ice a novelty cake so that it even vaguely resemble that beloved children's character that sets the stress levels soaring.
Iggle Piggle, Nemo and Dory, now they were relatively easy all things considering. But when the favourites requested started to be more challenging like Buzz Lightyear, Upsy Daisy or Power Rangers, it was time for a new tactic...
And so the idea of Something Cakey was born. Personalised edible cake toppers. Any picture, any design you want. And with a personalised message too. The perfect solution for that perfect birthday cake!
Our first cake topper, Toy Story, was met with absolute delight from the children. An instant hit...the adult guests were equally impressed. And so the idea snowballed into a thriving, successful "mumpreneur" business.
We realised pretty quickly that our edible cake toppers weren't just for kids as the next order was for a Steven Gerrard cake topper, for a lady whose husband is a big Liverpool fan.
So we hit the ground running and haven’t looked back.


