RECIPE INGREDIENTS:
Cake:
5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 1/4 cups milk, at room temperature
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, at room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 1/4 cups sugar
6 large eggs, at room temperature
Frosting:
2 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, at room temperature
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
Approximately 9 cups powdered sugar
Green food-coloring paste
Orange food-coloring paste
One flat-bottomed green ice cream cone
12 large yellow and white gumdrops (6 of each)
Sugar (to roll gumdrops on)
2 tbsp. chocolate chips
Clear edible cake glitter
1. Heat the oven to 350° and butter two 10-inch
bundt cake pans. 2. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 3. In a medium bowl, stir together the milk, pumpkin, and vanilla extract until smooth. 4. In another large bowl, beat the butter or margarine and oil together with an electric mixer until combined. Next, beat in the sugar. Then beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Alternately beat in the milk/pumpkin mixture and the flour mixture until just combined. 5. Divide the batter between the two prepared pans. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean. 6. Cool the cakes in the pans for 15 minutes, then turn them out onto wire racks to cool completely. 7. Directions for Frosting:
In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth.
Mix in the vanilla extract. Then beat in the powdered sugar gradually until the frosting is a spreadable consistency.
Color about 1 cup of the frosting green and the rest orange. 8. Assemble the Cake:
Trim the bottoms of the cakes so they lie flat against each other.
Frost the flat surface of the bottom cake and place the other cake on top.
Frost the entire cake orange. When the frosting dries, add green frosting leaves and top with the ice cream cone to create a stem. 9. Decorate the Cake:
Sprinkle sugar over your work surface and use a rolling pin to flatten 12 large yellow and white gumdrops together into a pancake about 1/4 inch thick. Adults only: use a knife to cut out the eyes, nose and mouth.
Microwave 2 tablespoons of chocolate chips for about 60 seconds. Dip the left side and bottom of the facial features in the melted chocolate. Dab a small amount of water onto the top surface of each feature, sprinkle the edible glitter on top, then press the facial features onto the cake.
RECIPE INGREDIENTS:
Apples
Slivered almonds
1. Just quarter and core an apple, cut a wedge from the skin side of each quarter, then press slivered almonds in place for teeth. 2. Tip: If you're not going to serve them right away, baste the apples with orange juice to keep them from browning.
RECIPE INGREDIENTS:
English muffins
Pizza sauce
Black olives
Scallions
Red or green pepper
Cheese sticks or slices
1. Heat the oven to 350° F. For each mummy, spread a tablespoon of pizza sauce onto half of an English muffin (toast it first, if you like). 2. Set olive slices in place for eyes and add round slices of green onion or bits of red or green pepper for pupils. 3. Lay strips of cheese (we used a pulled-apart cheese stick) across the muffin for the mummy?s wrappings. 4. Bake for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the muffin is toasty.
RECIPE INGREDIENTS:
2 10-oz.
pkgs. frozen strawberries, defrosted1 6-oz. can lemonade concentrate, thawed1 quart ginger ale2 cups raisins6 gummy worms
Directions
1. Mix the strawberries and lemonade concentrate in a blender until smooth and thick.
2. Gradually add ginger ale.
3. Transfer the beverage to a punch bowl. Stir in any remaining ginger ale and the raisins. Place the gummy worms on the rim of the bowl for a swampy effect. Makes 10 servings.
RECIPE INGREDIENTS:
1 tube of refrigerated
breadstick dough (we used an 11-ounce tube to make 12 bones)
Coarse salt
1. Unroll a tube of refrigerated
breadstick dough and separate the rectangular pieces. 2. Working with one piece at a time, stretch the dough to lengthen it a bit and then use kitchen scissors or a knife to cut a 11/2-inch slit in the center of each end. 3. Roll or shape the resulting four flaps of dough into knobs that look like the ends of a bone. 4. Place the dough bones on an
ungreased baking sheet, spacing them a few inches apart, and sprinkle on a little coarse salt. Bake the bones until they are light golden brown, about 12 minutes.
RECIPE INGREDIENTS:
2 Kiwi fruit
1 cup of limeade (we used a natural brand without artificial color)
1 tablespoon of honey
8 3-ounce paper or plastic cups
Popsicle sticks
1. To make a batch, cut a ripe, peeled kiwi fruit into chunks. Blend the fruit chunks with 1 cup of limeade and a tablespoon or so of honey until the mixture is somewhat smooth (some small lumps are fine). 2. Slice a second kiwi into eight thin pieces and press them into the bottoms of eight 3-ounce plastic or paper cups. Pour the blended mixture into the cups, filling them each about halfway. 3. Place the cups in a Pyrex baking dish and cover them with foil. Insert a
popsicle stick through the foil and into each cup (the foil will hold the sticks in place) and freeze the pops until solid, about 4 hours. 4. When you're ready to remove the pops from their molds, you can loosen them by briefly dipping the bottoms of the cups in warm water if necessary. Makes 8.
