My Halloween Challenge

It's that scary time of year again! For to mark the occasion I made a Haunted Halloween cake covered in fondant. Very bold decision for me as the closest thing I had practised with to fondant was kids play dough.Now we all saw how my John Deere turned out :). I'm definitely the easiest person to frighten in all of County Limerick.Therefore I dread October. One example in particular involved a trip to Roscrea. After returning from ambushing an ice cream van delighted with my ice cream boat I entered the house where everyone else was. On entry one of them jumped out screaming from behind the door. As they did my hands went for the roof and the boat followed only for it to land upside down in my hand.Talk about reflexes of a cat! For any of you that know me this is a classic Caitriona moment :). Hopefully we'll keep these moments to a minimum.Never the less Halloween seems to trigger them!

The cake will be baked in a 9 inch deep scary tin. Start by creaming 350g of butter and sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy.Beat 6 eggs in a jug (not with your fist) and alternatively add 350g of Self raising flour and a pinch of salt. Pop into the tin and bake for over an hour. Once out of the oven allow to cool. I like to cut the cake into 3 layers . Doing this for the first time is not for the faint hearted. As the cutting commenced I wondered how I would lift each layer off without breaking them. Using more spatulas and spoons I started to look like Edward scissor hands but eventually successfully moved all layers. To my dismay I attended a course a week later to discover some genius invented a special cutting device which for all the world looks like a saw for cakes.This saw makes cutting the layers simple! Yet another Caitriona moment.
                                                     
                                                

The next step involves making the butter-cream filling. A nice chocolate butter-cream normally does the job. Whisking the butter until soft approx three minutes then add cocoa and icing sugar a dash of cow and vanilla essence. Vanilla essence now there's one I will never understand why it comes in such small bottles. It's a bit like buying 1 square of chocolate. Pointless! Whisk for another 2 minutes and spread on the layers. Once the layers are stacked now for the fun part. Butter-cream all sides of the cake. If any part is uneven cut it off .Continue until it's a bump free masterpiece.
                                                 

Next up is the Orange fondant covering. I chose Orange as I think it has a certain significance this time of year. At first I thought 1 packet of fondant would cover a standard cake. Oh boy was I wrong it takes 3 and a whole lot of whoop ass to knead it. Knead all 3 packs together until they become smooth and flexible. Using a rolling pin roll the fondant out evenly. Spread some cornflour on the work surface to eliminate roller rage. Measure the size and say a little prayer :). Now to get it from the work top to the cake. Luckily my classes paid off for this snazzy manoeuvre. Rolling the fondant around the rolling pin I was able to lift it over the cake and gradually roll it on.
                                            
The next step involves patience. Smooth out all the creases and round off the sides of the cake.Trim the edges and it should look something like this!!!!
                                                   
Now for to make up some shapes. I cut out some bats,pumpkins witches, ghosts and a haunted house with a knife using black and white fondant.
                                                  

Using edible stick the shapes onto the cake.

                                       

I hope you all have a wonderful Halloween. I will be staying firmly indoors and away from ice cream vans :)