"Pat a Cake"- Halloween Cake

Last week was pretty busy...with exams, 'E's Halloween parades,costume making, friends visiting over weekend etc etc.But I thought it will be fun to have a cake for 'halloween' .....so that 'E' knows that cakes are not only for 'birthday' parties....but any special occasion. But the funny part is ....when we cut the cake....he started singing 'Happy birthday E...Happy b'day dear E...."!!! So for him...cutting a cake..is still his Birthday....everytime!! Hahahha!

So..when I wanted to bake a cake..I started to look around for decoration ideas. Many images of halloween cakes were very freaky and spooky..with fake eye balls,worms, spiders etc etc.I am not that brave to eat a cake with eye balls on it....so tried out this simple design..of 'Cobweb' appearance.It was pretty simple to make and the cake did look like it was for 'Halloween'.
I baked this cake with a 'mix'....just because I was short on time....but you can always bake same cake from scratch.One surprising fact I found was....many professional bakeries use cake mixes to bake their cakes!
And I am on the same page with them...cake mixes are convenient, consistent results everytime....good when you want to bake on a hectic schedule.

Ingredients:

1/2 pack Betty Crocker German chocolate cake mix
1/2 can Betty Crocker Fluffy white icing can
1 tube orange food color
1 tube black food color
1/8 cup orange and brown M&M's.
Eggs,oil, water ( as per directions on the cake mix packet)

Method:

1) Bake the cake as per directions on the box.Let the cake cool.

2) Mix orange food coloring in part of the icing and mix well.
3) Cut the cake horizontally into 2 halves. Carefully lift the upper layer and put on a separate dish.
4) Apply 'white' icing from the can to the bottom layer.

5) Carefully place the upper layer of cake on top of this iced bottom layer.

6) Apply the 'orange' frosting on top and sides of the cake.Spread evenly and smooth out.
7) With black food coloring draw concentric circles on top of the orange icing.
8) With a toothpick,carefully pull the toothpick from the innermost circle to the outermost circle and to the edge of the cake.Do this at equal distances to get the cobweb apprerance.
9) Decorate the cake edges with alternating brown and orange M&M's
10) Enjoy .....Boo!

My Little 'E' as Cowboy for Halloween 2009