Ghost Cakes Recipes

GHOST CAKES

Steps:

• Make the angel food cake batter according to package instructions. Place in the mini Bundt pan and bake according to package instructions.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, liqueur and vanilla until very smooth.
• Place the angel food cakes on a cooling rack set atop a sheet tray. Using a spoon, pour enough glaze over the top of the cakes to drip partly down the sides. Sprinkle with raw sugar to garnish. Allow the glaze to set about 30 minutes before removing the cakes from the rack to serve.
• Special equipment: 12 count mini Bundt pan.

GHOST CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Oil and line the base of two 16cm (or smaller) sandwich tins and a 1.2L pudding basin. Mix the self-raising flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and sugar in a bowl. Make a well in the centre and beat in the golden syrup, eggs, oil and milk with an electric whisk, until smooth.
• Pour the mixture into the pudding basin until it is ¾ full, then divide the rest between the two sandwich tins and bake for 25-30 mins until the cakes are risen and firm to the touch. The sponge in the pudding basin may need longer depending on whether the basin is metal or ceramic. Cool for 10 mins before turning out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
• Meanwhile, to make the icing beat the butter until it is creamy, beat in the icing sugar a little at a time, beat in the cocoa powder and 2 tbsp water.
• Cut the pudding basin cake in half horizontally and sandwich it back together with a little icing. Put a round sponge on a cake board or plate, sandwich the next one on top with a little icing. Sandwich the pudding basin cake onto the top of the round cake. If the bottom cake sticks out beyond the bottom of the pudding basin cake then trim the top edge of the lower cake at an angle to make the sides flatter. Ice the outside of the cake with a thin layer of chocolate icing, using it all up.
• Roll the fondant out on a surface dusted with icing sugar to make a sheet shape that is big enough to cover the whole cake. Drape it carefully over the iced cake and press it on around the top to make your ghost, with ruffles around the edges, cutting off the excess round the base. Colour some of the excess icing black by kneading in the food colouring, or use the black fondant icing. Roll it out to a few mm thick. Cut out eyes and a mouth and stick them on.

GHOST CAKE

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, eggs and water; beat on low speed for 30 seconds. Beat on medium for 2 minutes. Pour 2-1/4 cups batter into each of two greased and floured 6-in. round baking pans (discard remaining batter). Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely., For frosting, in a large bowl, combine confectioners' sugar and meringue powder. In a large bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer, combine the shortening, water and vanilla. Beat in sugar mixture (mixture will be stiff)., Using a serrated knife, level tops of cakes. Place one cake layer on a serving plate. Spread with 3/4 cup frosting. Top with remaining cake layer. Spread 1-1/2 cups frosting over top and sides of cake., Cut fondant block in half lengthwise so that one half is slightly larger than the other. Tint the larger half orange; set aside a small amount of orange fondant for pumpkins. Cover fondant with plastic wrap when not in use. On a clean work surface, roll out remaining orange fondant into a 14-in. circle. Slide an icing knife between fondant and work surface to loosen; transfer to cake. Smooth top and sides of cake. Trim any overlapping fondant with a pizza cutter., For ghost: Form a 2-1/4 in. tall cone from white fondant; attach to cake with additional vanilla. Roll a 1/2-in. cube of fondant into a 6-in. circle. Drape over cone. Tint a small amount of fondant black. Form three small dots; attach to face of ghost., For pumpkins, leaves and tendrils: Tint reserved orange fondant a darker shade of orange with red coloring. Using dark orange and/or white fondant, form five pumpkins; add imprint lines with a veining tool or toothpick. For stems, tint a very small amount of white fondant brown. Shape into stems; attach to pumpkins using vanilla. Tint a 1-in. cube of white fondant green. Roll out; cut five leaves with a 1-1/4-in. leaf-shaped cookie cutter. For tendrils, using a pizza cutter cut remaining portion into thin strips. Carefully wrap strips around toothpicks; set aside to dry., To finish cake: Carefully remove tendrils from toothpicks and attach to pumpkins using vanilla. Attach pumpkins and leaves to cake. Using shell pastry tip #18 and remaining frosting, pipe shell border along bottom edge of cake.

GHOSTS IN THE GRAVEYARD CAKE

Steps:

• Line a 13x9-in. baking pan and an 8-in. square baking dish with foil, and grease the foil. Prepare brownie batter and bake according to package directions, using prepared pans. Cool on wire racks., Break pretzel rods into various sizes; dip into melted chocolate. Arrange into a tree shape on a waxed paper-lined baking sheet., Place melted white candy coating in a heavy-duty resealable plastic bag; cut a small hole in a corner of bag. Outline three small ghosts on waxed paper. Fill in ghost outlines, adding a lollipop stick to each for support. Place unmelted chocolate chips on ghosts for eyes. Let dry completely., Using foil, lift brownies out of pans. Discard foil; place 8-in. square brownie on a large serving plate for graveyard. Spread chocolate frosting over top and sides., Cut remaining brownie into 3-in.x1-1/2-in. tombstone shapes. Combine confectioners' sugar and cocoa; sprinkle over tombstones. With black food coloring, tint vanilla frosting gray; decorate tombstones., Using toothpicks, insert three tombstones into graveyard. Insert tree into graveyard (support as needed with brownie scraps). Insert ghosts into graveyard; sprinkle with wafer crumbs for dirt and coconut for grass. Place remaining tombstones on a serving platter.

HOST OF GHOSTS

Steps:

• 1. Place the cake on the cake plate. Reserve 1 cup of frosting to make additional ghost figures. Using an offset spatula, fill the hole in the center of the cake with frosting and then spread frosting over the top and sides in a wavy pattern.
• 2. Add the reserved frosting to the decorating bag; snip off the tip of the bag to create a 1/8- to 1/4-inch opening.
• 3. Referring to the photo, pipe as many ghosts as you like onto and around the cake and into the eggcups. For each, apply pressure to squeeze out some frosting for a base, then lift the bag slowly, decreasing the pressure until the ghost is the desired size; stop the pressure and lift off the bag. Add 2 candy eyes to each ghost.

GHOST BARK CAKE

Steps:

• For the vanilla-buttermilk cake layers: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat four 7- or 8-inch round cake pans with flour-based baking spray. Set aside.
• Whisk together the cake mixes, flour, granulated sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a 4-cup measure, stir together the buttermilk, water, eggs and extract. With a hand mixer running on low speed, gradually pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients. Scrape the bowl down and mix again. Divide the batter evenly between two bowls. Tint one bowl with the green food color and the other with the purple food color. Mix well until no streaks of white cake batter remain.
• Divide the green cake batter between two of the prepared pans, then divide the purple batter between the other two prepared pans. Fill each pan no more than three-quarters full. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes if using the 7-inch pans, or 30 to 35 minutes for the 8-inch pans. The cakes are done when they spring back in the centers when pressed. Turn the cakes out onto wire racks to cool completely. Level each cake using a serrated knife or cake leveler.
• For the buttercream: In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, mix together the butter and confectioners' sugar. Begin on low speed until crumbly, add milk or cream to thin and then increase to high and beat for 3 minutes. Add the vanilla and beat again for another minute.
• Place 2/3 cup of the buttercream in one bowl, and another 2/3 cup buttercream in a second bowl. Tint one bowl with the green food color. Tint the other bowl with the purple food color. Mix well until the colors are consistent. Transfer each color of buttercream to a separate piping bag fitted with a large closed star decorator tip. Set aside for later use.
• Add the black cocoa powder to the remaining buttercream. Beat until well blended; add milk or cream if needed to thin. Add black gel food color a little at a time while mixing, until you achieve a deep black hue (about 2 teaspoons).
• Place a green cake layer on a cake board. Top it with 1/2 cup of the black buttercream and spread to cover. Repeat with a purple layer. Continue until all of the layers are used. Coat the entire cake with a thin coat of the black buttercream. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Coat the entire cake a second time with a generous amount of the black buttercream. Smooth the top of the cake and partially smooth the sides using an offset spatula. Drag a cake comb with 1/2-inch teeth around the sides of the cake repeatedly until smooth ridges of buttercream appear. Refrigerate the cake for 1 hour.
• For the syrup spray and sprinkle décors: In a small kitchen-dedicated spray bottle, combine the syrup and water. Shake well until thoroughly combined. Remove the cake from the refrigerator and spray a fine coat of syrup spray around the sides of the cake. Refrigerate the cake 30 minutes, or until very firm and slightly tacky to the touch.
• Pour the sprinkles in a large baking pan. Shake to form a single even layer of sprinkles. Remove the cake from the refrigerator. Place a cake board on top of the cake. Hold the cake with each hand on the cake boards and lightly roll the cake in the sprinkles. Repeat this process until all of the ridges are coated with sprinkles. Turn the cake upright and brush away sprinkles in the recesses of the frosting using a kitchen-dedicated art brush. Press eyeball candies randomly onto the frosting ridges.
• Using the bags of reserved green and purple buttercream, pipe swirls of alternating colors around the top edge of the cake. Immediately add sprinkles to the swirls. Refrigerate the cake while you make the ghost bark.
• For the ghost bark: Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.
• Pour the purple melted candy onto a large parchment-lined baking sheet. Smooth with the back of a spoon. Tap the pan on a work surface to even the candy and remove any spoon trail marks.
• Transfer the white melted candy to a piping bag with a tiny hole snipped in the end. Pipe large ovals of white candy onto the purple candy while it is still melted. Drag a chopstick through each candy oval to create ghostly trails and arm shapes. If the candy starts to set, place it on the baking sheet in the oven until re-melted, about 2 minutes.
• Transfer the black melted candy to a piping bag with a tiny hole snipped in the end. Pipe eyes and a mouth on each ghost shape. Sprinkle Halloween nonpareils around each ghost. Refrigerate the bark for 15 minutes, or until the candy is solid.
• Use a knife to score the bark around the ghost figures and break apart with your hands. Place pieces of the candy bark upright on top of the cake to decorate. Serve slices of the cake with pieces of the ghost bark.

SPOOKY HALLOWEEN GHOST CAKE

Steps:

• PREPARE cake batter as directed on package. Add dry pudding mix; mix well. Spoon evenly into 12 paper-lined medium muffin cups. Bake as directed on package for cupcakes. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.
• BEAT cream cheese, butter and vanilla in medium bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended.
• Gradually add sugar, beating well after each addition.
• ARRANGE cupcakes on large serving platter or tray to resemble a ghost as shown in diagram (http://www.kraftfoods.com/pdf/GhostCupcake.pdf). Spread with frosting. Use decorating gel to outline the mouth on the cupcakes.
• Finely crush 3 of the cookies; sprinkle inside mouth.
• Place remaining 2 cookies on cupcakes to resemble eyes.
• To make a bigger ghost, double the amount of cupcakes you make.
• Store in refrigerator.