By Elizabeth Wulfhorst
After a certain age it’s inappropriate to trick-or-treat (or so I’ve been told). But you’re never too old for Halloween treats to celebrate the fiendishly fun holiday.
Whether you’re asked to bring nibbles to a kids’ party or to costumed festivities for adults – or just want to sit and eat sugar not in bar shape encased in a plastic wrapper – mastering a few simple decorating techniques can mean the difference between showing up as an angel or being scorned as a wicked witch.
One of the easiest and most versatile desserts to make and transport to a gathering is the cupcake. Grab your favorite boxed mix – dark chocolate is best to keep in the spooky spirit – and divide the batter between cupcake, mini cupcake or other shaped pans. Small rectangular paper baking “pans” (readily available online and in craft stores) make great coffins and tombstones.
Whip up an easy American buttercream using butter, confectioners’ sugar, salt, vanilla and a little heavy cream or purchase a good quality brand of icing in a can at the grocery store. Gather all the decorations you can find – sprinkles in orange, yellow and black, candies shaped like pumpkins or bats, mini chocolate chips – and settle in to make some ghostly treats for your favorite beasts, wizards and superheroes.
A swirl of icing becomes a ghost with the addition of sprinkles or chocolate chips for eyes and a mouth; crisscrossing stripes of icing mimic a mummy’s wrapping (add eyes for a haunting effect); buttercream piped out of a plastic bag with the corner cut off can be used to write R.I.P. on “gravestones” and add scary spiderwebs.
Feeling adventurous? Take the decorations to terrifying heights with some melted sugar and gel food coloring. Water, sugar and corn syrup boiled to about 300 degrees and carefully poured into a pan lined with a silicone mat will harden to look like glass. A few quick taps will break the sheet into shards that can be stuck in the icing to make your cupcakes look like a violent crime scene. Add drips of “blood” (corn syrup, cocoa powder, corn starch and a little red gel food coloring) to really make your point.
Now break out the “Monster Mash.” It’s time to party!
The article originally appeared in the October 28 – November 3, 2021 print edition of The Two River Times.
