Spooky Halloween Cake

I'm not the biggest fan of Halloween...it has nothing to do with my beliefs...I think any "evil" meaning the holiday may have once had isn't what people have in mind when they dress their kids up to get candy. (That's just my opinion, and I'm not interested in debating/arguing it, by the way!)

I actually really like scary movies and I love fall. I'm mainly just cheap and think dressing up (or more specifically, spending money on a costume) is a waste.

Anyway...Halloween is like Mike's Christmas, so I didn't want to be a Hallow-scrooge. So I decided to get into the spooky spirit my own way. By baking a spooky chocolate graveyard cake...ooooo...ooooo...

There's a new show on the food network called Dessert First. Imagine my excitement! The host, Ann Thornton is adorable...and the show is all about...dessert! Last week on her first episode, she made a "Spooky Graveyard Cake." Since I knew I was going to my friend Jasmine's to watch scary movies this weekend, I said, "I want to make that cake!" It's basically all I've talked about all week. So after spending too much money on supplies, making a few of my own tweaks/adjustments to the recipe, 2 days in the kitchen, and only 1 crying episode...I am on my way to becoming a culinary diva! Here's how I did it:

Ann's recipe is here.
I didn't make the cake from scratch, though. I used Betty Crocker Milk Chocolate cake mix...with a few changes:
I used 1/3 cup of unsweetened apple sauce in place of the 1/3 cup of oil. This makes the cake super-moist, and I'm going to tell myself it's also a bit healthier.
The recipe on the box calls for 1 1/4 cups water. I used coffee for about half that amount. A trick I saw on Barefoot Contessa, another Food Network show.
And a box of chocolate pudding.
The cake goes into 2 9" rounds...350 for 25-ish minutes. I rotated them in the oven halfway through.
Tip: Flour is your BFF if you're making cakes that will need to come out of the pan!
I put the cakes in the fridge to cool overnight.

Then was the fun part...decorations! I did all this Friday night.
Decorations included:
Milano sandwich cookies...with scary messages written with melted chocolate and a toothpick,

Pretzel sticks with mini marshmallows...to cover with white chocolate so they look like bones. (More on the White chocolate later. Ugh.)
A chocolate tree that I made by melting a cup of milk chocolate chips and squeezing it out onto foil in the shape of a tree. I made a few sticks also.
I know...they look like poo.
I made a "pastry bag" out of a Ziplock bag with a tip cut in the corner. This is where my lack of patience hurt me...the first time I didn't wait for the chocolate to cool and it melted the plastic bag!

I also used little candy corn pumpkins and chocolate sandwich cookies ground in the food processor.
Side note: white chocolate is a b*tch! I used a double boiler method to melt my milk chocolate and it worked fine. White chocolate is different. (Technically it's not even really chocolate)
If you add anything to it, it seizes up and gets all clumpy and crystallized.
And it doesn't melt as well.

After 3 tries on Friday night (and some tears..."that was my FAVORITE PART of the cake...I can't do anything right!") I did some research and decided to try the microwave. 50% power, 15-20 seconds at a time, stirring in between each heating.

My handsome Mike actually ended up taking care of this for me Saturday afternoon! I love a man who can bake.

I used the microwave method to melt the rest of the chocolate I used for the recipe.

I was super-stoked to make my own buttercream frosting...this was my "wow" factor...and it went great! I think I strained my hand mixer quite a bit, though. I must have a deluxe Kitchen Aid stand mixer...must! Now that I am a morning news producer, getting one of these babies is my next goal in life.

Here's Ann's chocolate buttercream recipe:

• 5 sticks (2 1/2 cups) butter, cut into tablespoon pieces and softened
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 5 cups confectioners' sugar
• 2 1/2 cups milk chocolate, melted and cooled
• 1/2 cup unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, (OR a hand mixer...beware of flying sugar!) combine the butter, salt, and 2 cups of the confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Add the melted chocolate, vanilla, and remaining sugar. Whisk on medium-high until smooth and fluffy.

Spread about a cup of the frosting on the bottom layer of cake. Then add a layer of cookie crumbs.

Add the next layer of cake and ice all the way around. When I decorated, I wished I'd put more frosting on the sides, for the bones to stick in...
Doesn't that look sexy?

I covered the top of the cake with more "dirt." I tried to put in on the side, but just ended up making a mess!

It's helpful to cut slits where you want the gravestones and tree to stick in the cake.

I put the chocolate tree near the back, and stuck the Milano cookies halfway in.

Then I added the candy corn pumpkins. This brought some much-needed color to the cake!

And then the ever-contrary white chocolate pretzel bones.

You place one diagonal into the frosting on the side of the cake, then break one in half...placing the halves so it looks like the bones are crossed.
And...here's the finished product...

Mike was my "photographer" and he helped a ton!

By the way...the cake was de-friggin-licious!

Happy Halloween...however you decide to celebrate it!

Love, Carrie

Growing Up is Hard to Do

Yikes. That's 22 year old me right there.
4 years seems like centuries. Really. No one that I regularly see now, except my family and my friend Allison, knew me when this picture was taken.

Sometimes I think about my past and say, "Ugh. I was such a mess...I'm totally together now. I have it all figured out."

I've stopped fooling myself.

I was talking to one of my dearest gal pals last week about growing up. About looking around at laundry and cooking and groceries and bills and jobs and...reality...

Sometimes reality smacks you in the face. Sometimes it sneaks in slowly...

It's a hard place in life that not everyone gets to. Some people always know they're going to be domestic, 9 to 5ers who go to PTA meetings and never live too far away from mom and dad.

Some people move off to New York City, or L.A. to see their dreams come true.

And then there's those of us who thought we'd be rock stars, or at least work for them.
We come to a crossroads: bitterness or settling.

OR...we can chill out and appreciate what's good in our lives. We can find someone to go on the journey with us. We can find our place.
Maybe that place is closer to home than we thought it would be.

I don't have to give up who I am, or the person I thought I'd be, just because my life didn't take the direction I thought it would.
Growing up, getting "domestic" as I say, doesn't mean giving up everything that's good for a bunch of bad, lame, boring stuff.
But that's a hard realization to come to...it's a rough patch a lot of people go through.

Here are some things that make me happy about being here in Missouri:

My new job that I really like and I know will challenge me for a LONG time
Saturday bike rides with my dad
Karaoke
Mexican Villa
Cardinals games in the summer
Jasmine, Shannon, Sabra, and Hannah

My TV family

Cheap rent
My little brother
Lunches with my mom...


Lots of Love,
Carrie Anne