For this operation you need a traditional-shaped Bundt pan (or two), two boxes of cake mix, enough white frosting to cover 2 cakes, orange and green food coloring, a cupcake tin, and some extra devil's food cake crumbs or chocolate jimmies. (If you know how much scratch cake to make to fill two Bundt pans, go ahead and make it from scratch.) What you do is make up the two boxes of cake mix as usual and bake them in the Bundt pan(s), except for one lonely little cupcake baked in the cupcake tin. Cake flavor doesn't matter, though if you use chocolate you will be able to use the crumbs later on, as you will see.
Unmold the Bundt cakes and place them bottom-to-bottom. If you use the original Bundt pan, the ridges on the cakes will make the cakes resemble a pumpkin at this point. Set the cakes on a large platter (one cake will be on top of the other, upside-down) and frost them with the white frosting tinted orange. There will probably be a big hole down the middle of the cake. Fill that with leftover frosting and set the green cupcake on top. The cupcake will be the pumpkin stem. Unwrap that and put it in the hole in the cakes and frost that with the white frosting tinted green. You can use leftover chocolate crumbs or chocolate jimmies to sprinkle around the cake on the platter to resemble soil. You could use crushed Famous Chocolate Wafers or even Oreo cookies to make "soil." For the finishing touch, carve a jack o'lantern face out of the pumpkin cake!
QUOTE NOTE: "I tried the pumpkin patch cake last year and got rave reviews! The only thing different is that I used a regular ice cream cone for the stem of the pumpkin (covered with frosting) and I colored cocount an orange-brown color and scattered it around the bottom of the cake. Also, I used candy corn and licorice to make the face. Remember that you can do the same cake for Thanksgiving, just leave off the face!"
When cakes are cooled to room temperature, crumble into a large bowl. Toss with half the remaining white cookie crumbs and the chilled pudding. You probably won't need all of the pudding, mix with the cake and "feel" it, you don't want it soggy, just moist; gently combine. Put mixture into clean litter box.
Put three unwrapped Tootsie rolls in a microwave safe dish and heat until soft and pliable. Shape ends so they are no longer blunt, curving slightly. Repeat with 3 more Tootsie rolls and bury in mixture. Sprinkle the other half of cookie crumbs over top. Scatter the green cookie crumbs lightly over the top, this is supposed to look like the chlorophyll in kitty litter. Heat remaining Tootsie Rolls, three at a time in the microwave until almost melted. Scrape them on top of the cake and sprinkle with cookie crumbs. Place the box on a newspaper and sprinkle a few of the cookie crumbs around. Serve with a new pooper scooper.
Prepare pudding and chill. You may or may not need/want all the pudding; use the leftovers to eat later on.
Pulse cookies in small batches in a blender, scraping the sides often. Remove from the blender and divide.
To 1 cup of the cookie crumbs, add a few drops of green food coloring (it's suppose to look like the chlorophyll in the Kitty Litter). Mix with a fork or shake in a jar to mix. Set aside.
When cakes are at room temperature, crumble them into a large bowl. Toss with half of the remaining (uncolored) cookie crumbs and enough of the pudding to make the mixture feel moist, but not soggy.
Place a liner in the box and pour in mixture.
Unwrap 3 Tootsie rolls and heat in a microwave until soft and pliable. Shape blunt ends into slightly curved points (use your imagination). Repeat with three more rolls. Bury the rolls decoratively in the cake mixture, sticking out of the cake mixture at random intervals.
Sprinkle the remaining white cookie crumbs over mixture, then scatter green crumbs lightly over top.
Heat the 6 of the Tootsie Rolls, three at a time (* see below) in the microwave until almost melted. Scrape them on top of the cake and sprinkle with crumbs from box.
* This is my idea; I save one of the Tootsie Rolls, lightly roll it in a mixture of the white and green cookie crumbs, then hang it over the side of the pan. I KNOW, I'm gross!
Place box on a couple of sheets of newspaper and serve with the scooper!
Linda/BDT Burbank, CA (USA) ( ( ) ) Internet address: linda.magee@burbank.com ) ( ) (aka BZ Baker) ..... .:::::::::. ~\_______/~
In the buckets, place a layer of crushed vanilla wafers, then a layer of the cream cheese-pudding mixture. Keep layer until full and end with a layer of crushed wafers. Cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate several hours. Before serving, decorate with Beach Bears, Gummy Worms or Sharks if desired. Use shovel to serve.
Serves 8-10 people.
"This recipe is more of a procedure than a recipe and of course I didn't save the post or remember who wrote it. Anyway, first make a 9"x13" cake. When cool, cut the 2 upper corners of the cake, not straight, but sort of rounded. The curvature adds to the shape of the ghost's head and the corner pieces become the ghost's arms. I know, the diagram is really bad as ascii art goes, but hopefully you get my meaning (the original poster had a "much" better diagram). You can also "carve" the body so it has a more ghost-like shape (bell-shaped?)."
------------- | / \ | | / \ | <-- cut pieces are arms |/ O O \| <-- eyes | | | () | <-- mouth | | | | | | |___________|"Place the arms on the body so it looks like the ghost is raising its arms, then frost. Traditionalists will want to use white frosting. Use thin licorice to form a mouth, and as you mentioned, use 2 clean egg shell halves for the eyes."
"The next part about the flaming eyes gave me some trouble. You're supposed to place a sugar cube in each shell, add alcohol and ignite. I used half a teaspoon sugar (didn't have cubes) and then tried vodka, wine, sherry, amaretto, and kahlua. In each case the match fizzled and died. Bummer. My ghost ended up with piped frosting eyes instead of flaming ones. Belatedly I found out warmed brandy is a good source of fuel."
NOTES FROM LINDA GROSS: "I made the flaming ghost cake with the outstretched arms and eyes flaming. I used sugar cubes and brandy in the eggs shells for the eyes. The effect was lost in the daylight but later when the lights were out, it was great. Burns for awhile if the cube is soaked with enough brandy.
"This cake consists of two chocolate cakes, stacked on top of each other, with vanilla frosting in between. Take the remaining vanilla frosting and dye it orange. Then spread the orange frosting over the stacked cakes. Afterwards, decorate the face with candy corn, etc. Then place a chocolate hostess twinkle, I think that's what it's called, at the top of the pumpkin cake to resemble a stalk."
Chocolate ingredients:
Chill 1 hour in the freezer or several hours in the fridge. Roll dough logs of random length and the diameter of cat poops. Roll logs in grape-nuts and bake at 350 degrees till done (10 to 15 minutes).
Serve in a disposable cat litter box on a bed of grapenuts, with a cat litter scoop. I hear you get lovely effects by decorating the box and scoop with melted chocolate or pudding.
QUOTE NOTE: "This recipe worked especially well at my Halloween party where the table was decorated with plastic flies."
Lightly flour your hands and pinch off a 3 tb size piece of dough. On a lightly floured board, use the palms of both hands to evenly roll an 8 inch long rope. Cut rope in half; roll each half out again to 8 inches. Fold 1 inch of each end back onto rope; pinch ends to make bone-end shapes. Repeat to shape all the dough. Place bones 1 inch apart on buttered and flour-dusted 12 x 15 inch baking sheets. Bake in a 325F oven until cookies are lightly browned on bottoms, about 20 minutes.
Dessert:
Beat cream cheese and remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a bowl until smooth. Stir in 1/2 of the Cool Whip. Spread over crust.
Stir boiling water into Jello in bowl for 2 minutes or until completely dissolved. Mix cold water and ice cubes together to make 1-1/2 cups. Stir ice water into Jello until thickened. Remove any remaining ice. Spoon Jello over cream cheese layer. Refrigerate 3 hours or until firm.
Spread remaining Cool Whip over Jello layer. Sprinkle with remaining cookie crumbs. Decorate as a "graveyard" by poking sandwich cookies on end into the dessert. Decorate the cookies as tombstones with the decorator icing. Scatter candy corn and pumpkins around on the surface.
Remove the fibres from the seeds of a large pumpkin and place seeds in a saucepan. Top with cold water, add 1 tsp salt, cover and simmer 2 hours. Drain and spread on paper towelling 4-8 hours to dry. When completely dry, place on a baking sheet, sprinkle with a few spoonfuls of salad oil -- just enough to make seeds slightly oily when rubbed together.
Set in a 350 F oven for 20-35 minutes, or until nutty brown, stirring a few times with a fork. When done, spread on brown paper, salt to taste and let cool. Eat as is, immediately, or store, and if you then want a crisper seed, warm up in a 350 F oven for 15 minutes.
QUOTE NOTE: "Truth be known, I'm going to try shake'n'bake this year to ease my meal prep time on this busy, busy day of the year."
Dirt:
NOTE FROM Fran E. Rich
NOTE FROM LINDA GROSS: "If you try the water in the gloves
trick, be careful because the fingers are fragile and snap off
easily, but that could add to the effect if you drizzle red food
coloring on the "wound"!"
ONE PERSONA'S NOTE: "The nuclear wastes I've seen mix blue
curacao and orange juice (and vodka). Turns everything a very
nice shade of fluorescent green."
"A flourescent blue liquid. I know for a fact that the raspberry
"little hugs" drinks for kids are the perfect color. There is a
Kool-Aid blue flavor that I'm sure would work well, too. For the
"little hugs" the ratio is about 4-5 barrels to 1 2-liter bottle
of soda. Adjust as you think best. I'd start by pouring out the
soda and adding the blue. You know you've got it right when you
get the sickly yellow-green of many Glycol-based Antifreezes.
Plus, when you drink, it fizzes!"
In a 1 to 2 quart pan, bring 1 cup of cranberry juice and candied
ginger to a boil over high heat. Boil, uncovered, about 2
minutes, set aside. With a vegetable peeler, peel zest from
oranges; cut peel into thin 2 inch long worms. Add orange peel
to cranberry mixture. Cover and chill at least 4 hours or as
long as overnight.
Juice oranges; put juice in a 6 to 8 quart pan or heavy bowl.
Stir in cranberry-ginger mixture, the 3 cups cranberry juice,
apple concentrate, limeade, grapes and water. If made ahead,
cover and chill up to 2 hours. Add ginger ale and about a 1 pound
piece of dry ice (DO NOT put small pieces in punch or cups); ice
should smolder at least 30 minutes. Ladle into cups. Add any
remaining ice when bubbling ceases.
"The Eyeball Jello was a hit - although most kids picked out the
blueberries, the parents got a good laugh out of it. I poured
lemon jello in ice cubes trays and put a blueberry in each cup
and let set. I placed them in the sections used for a deviled
egg plate with the rest heaped in the center."
NOTES: These are tasty. The 3/4 cup of liquor gives it a little
more kick. Good and tasty. I've been making them in 2-oz.
plastic "salsa cups" (those little wide shallow ones you get
condiments in) and a batch makes about 19 of them.
NOTE FROM STEPHANIE DA SILVA: You can take some ordinary foods
and relabel as them something creative:
More cookie ideas:
Ideas compiled from various sources on the Internet (EAT-L,
CRAFTS-L, rec.food.cooking, AOL, and others) by:
Vicki Schlining -- VickiS321@aol.com or
Vicki.Schlining@ssa.gov NOTE: If one of your original ideas has
been included and I have not given you credit, please email me
and I will cheerfully update!
The end result is a sort of greenish-brown liquid with scummy
bits floating in it and a THICK layer of scum on top. Tastes
wonderful, especially if you dunk chocolate bars in. (These are
referred to as Control Rods, and the bar of preference is a
Toffee Crisp, if only because the crisped rice pieces start
floating around in the drink and making it look even nastier)
"Glycol Punch has two primary ingredients: Diet Mountain Dew,
which has an decidedly evil odd yellow glow to it. Diet is
necessary so that you don't over sugar people. (Alternately, use
regular Mountain Dew and mix Kool-Aid with less sugar than
usual). BTW, we also tried other sodas, including Squirt, 7-up
and Sprite, but none had that evil yellowness."
A SERIOUS CAUTION: Never touch dry ice; use tongs to handle.
Great idea for a simple dessert at kid's parties!
Use a new or well cleaned goldfish bowl. In the bottom, the
original recipe called for red-hots as the 'gravel', but I plan
to use the Jelly Belly beans that look like rocks. Mix up as
much blue Jello as your bowl will hold. Mix using ice cubes &
cold water instead of the cold water called for on the box. Pour
this into the bowl over a knife blade or something to keep from
disturbing the gravel. If you want it to have 'seaweed', poke a
couple of pieces of purple endive or something similar down into
the gravel. When the whole thing starts to jell, use a wooden
skewer to push gummy fish into different parts of the bowl. If
you're going to be able to supervise the serving, you could even
add a plastic diver man, etc.
"Well, what we'd do for a Halloween party would be to make a
Toxic Aquarium. Mix orange and blue jello to get a putrid shade
of green. Lifesavers make old tires and you can toss in other
junky things for trash on the bottom of the sea. Something
barrel-shaped (root beer barrels?) for that illegally dumped
toxic waste. Float your fish upside-down on top, and add a
plastic skeleton or two. Haven't figured out a good way to put
something on the bottom to represent the sand."
"Purchase the plastic bowl that fits in a child's potty training
chair (they sell them at places like KMart). Wash the bowl and
prepare lemon jello per package directions. Float miniature
O-Henry bars in it, refrigerate, and serve."
Linda Gross -- Springfield, VA
Mix the usual way.
Mix the usual way.
Use Cherry Jello; use boiling and cold 7-up or other lemon-lime
soda instead of water.
Find the book "Creepy Cuisine" by Lucy Monroe.
1. Ribs with lots of barbeque sauce.
2. Baked potatoes with chili ladled over for shrunken
heads with brain sauce.
3. Spaghetti for your basic guts. A twist on this would
be to put brussel sprouts in the sauce instead of
meatballs. People won't be able to tell the difference
until they bite into them.
4. Fill your candy dishes with Black Jellybeans, Mellowcream
pumpkins and candy corn. Drape gummy worms over the
sides of the candy dish for effect.
1. Bake brown sugar cookies in pumpkin-shaped stoneware
cookie molds (Brown Bag Cookie Molds).
2. Make sugar cookie cut-outs with pumpkin-shaped cookie
cutters and sprinkle with orange decorator sugar.
Prepare cake and gelatin according to package directions. Except
use the 9" round cake pans for the cake. Cut a smaller circle
out of one cake using it as the head. Fill the hole left over
with the gelatin. Place the other layer on top and trip to
shape. To prepare frosting, in a mixing bowl, add blue food
coloring to the chocolate frosting until black in color. Frost
cake black. Then use the black licorice as leggs and gumballs as
eyes. NOTE: When cake is cut into, it spurts green goop.
Place layers top sides in in 2 (9 inch round cake pans. Pierce
cake with large fork at 1/2 inch increments. Stir 1 cup boiling
water into each flavor of the gelatin in seperate bowls 2 minutes
or until dissolved. Carefully pour red gelatin over 1 cake layer
and lime gelatin over the second cake layer. Refridgerate 3
hours. Dip 1 pan in warm water for 10 seconds; unmold onto
serving plate. Spread with 1 cup of whipped topping. Unmold
second layer, carefully place on first latyer. Frost with
remaining whipped topping. Garnish as desired. Refrigderate for
1 hour before serving.