Halloween’s Super Simple Sugar Fix
My favorite part of Halloween is probably all the sugar. I love to bake cookies and other treats with themes of pumpkins or mummies, and, sure, some years I go all out with lots of desserts and Halloween-themed finger foods, but since we’re still in transition and staying with family, I decided to go for something simpler this year.
Of course, simple doesn’t have to mean boring. I made a four-layer chocolate and orange-colored cream cheese icing cake and pumpkin-shaped brownies, as seen in the photo. Sounds easy, right? It is.
The brownies were simply a box mix that could fit a pan up to 13 x 9 and with nothing fancy in the batter like chunks of chocolate. Mixed it like normal and poured it into a 17 x 11 inch cookie sheet that was already lined with a sheet of parchment paper and lightly sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, making sure to spread out the batter evenly over the pan with a spatula. Then I generously sprinkled the batter with Halloween-colored sprinkles and popped it in the oven at the recommended temperature. I shortened the baking time by first checking it after 10 minutes and after another 5 it was done. Cool completely in the pan and then cut it out with a pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter. I used a 3 inch cutter and got 14 brownies, plus some yummy scraps to snack on.
The cake was easy, too. A box mix, cooked in two round pans according to the directions and then cooled. Meanwhile, I emptied two containers of store-bought cream cheese icing into a bowl and colored it to a desired shade of orange with food coloring. Once the cakes were cool, I slightly trimmed off the rounded top and then sliced each lengthwise across the middle to create four thin layers. Then simply stack the cake layers on a serving platter, adding a thin layer of icing in between each layer and then icing all around the outside. Before the icing dries, sprinkle the top with chocolate sprinkles.
Very easy, very presentable, and very delicious. And the great thing is you can adjust these desserts for any holiday or season just by changing the colors of the icing and sprinkles and the shape of the cookie cutter.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I hear some chocolate cake calling me…
Tags: halloween, halloween desserts, halloween recipes, holiday baking, Recipes
November 2nd, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Pumpkin-shaped brownies! I never would have thought of it… How’s your Mini-Me doing? Feeling those kicks and rolls by now?
November 4th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
LOL! Yup, Mini-Me is rolling around and kicking! …I think she liked that chocolate cake! :)