Here’s the thing about Halloween: everyone likes ghosts and ghouls and black cats and all of the other wonderfully creepy things associated with the holiday, even if they don’t admit it. Whether it really was once a holiday with meaning or just a scam for the candy companies to make money, Halloween is a fun occasion for all. Personally, I like the dressing up part the best. That, and all of the crafts and activities that kids do around this time of year. For this festive issue of The Perspective, I thought I would write about a little thing I found online at one point in my life. It’s a recipe for the cutest little ghost cupcakes ever. And fortunately for me, it’s hassle-free and the (black) cat’s meow!
Ingredients:
For the cupcakes/cake, I used a standard Betty Crocker cake mix and frosting. I know there are crazy people out there who like to make their stuff from scratch, and if that’s you, by all means go ahead. The kind of cake doesn’t really matter in this case.
However, for the cake mix I used (Devil’s Food Cake) I needed:
3 eggs
1 ¼ cup water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
For the ghosts and gravestones:
12 normal sized marshmallows
White frosting (again, store bought Betty Crocker works fine)
Graham crackers
Script icing (I’m not exactly sure if this is the name for it, but it’s the stuff that comes in the little bottles for writing things on cakes and whatnot)
*Note: Because this was for my brother’s birthday party, I only made 12 cupcakes and a mini cake. Most recipes make 24 cupcakes, but I just poured the extra bat-ter into a little cake pan. Whatever works best for the occasion is fine. After all, this recipe isn’t set in stone (pun intended).
Instructions:
Follow the directions on the box of cake. It’s not that hard.
1. After the cupcakes are cooled completely, frost them with witch-ever frosting you wish.
2. Take a marshmallow and take the top off (this would be the flat part of the marshmallow)
3. With your fingers, squish and mold the sticky part of the marshmallow into the shape of a ghost. If this seems a bit vague, just use your imagination.
4. Repeat this process as many times as desired, putting the ghosts on the cupcakes. The frosting should hold them in place.
5. Use the script icing to draw a face on the ghosts. Then they don’t look like such deadbeats.
6. For the gravestones, take a graham cracker and break it in half. If you have the big rectangle ones, break it in half again.
7. Frost both sides of the cracker with the white frosting.
8. For each gravestone, use the script icing to write “RIP” on them. The other ones can have names of people or other creative things. If you’re at a dead end for ideas, there’s plenty of inspiration online.
9. Stick the gravestones into the cake as desired.
10. I didn’t do this on my creation, but you could also add some other candy or decorations to liven it up a bit.
11. After all of the creative touches have been added, voila! Your graveyard is finished with finesse.
No bones about it, this fun recipe is a great way to kill some time one afternoon, or to wrap up a great party. If you’re feeling really festive, you can also serve ice scream at the party. Just make sure that if you serve chicken there’s no poultry-geist in the pantry, because that would really suck for your vampire friends. To accommodate them, you could serve some necktarines. For all your nerdy friends who come, you could divide the circumference of a jack-o-lantern by its diameter and get pumpkin pi. And when Bambi arrives with a ghost friend, be sure to lock up your panda bear because there will be lots of Bamboo around. Whatever you end up making, take care to make a lot of it because the werewolves’ cousins (the what-wolves, who-wolves, and when-wolves) are all in town, and they eat a doggone large amount of food.
Okay, enough puns. I know they’re really rotten. They’re killing me just as much as they’re killing you. Fangs for reading! Have a happy Halloween!
