Let It Snow or Let It Go?

 Picture it: a glorious 48-hour window in Florida where the humidity was below 50 percent, and the temperature was low enough I could finally turn the air conditioner off. Winter was so beautiful while it lasted, but as it snow happens, the A/C is back on, and I've returned to a general existence best described as "sweaty and wondering if there's space to live in the freezer." While winter may have literally only lasted two days here, it was long enough to inspire me to bake a cake in honor of one of my all-time favorite winter adult beverages, the Moscow Mule. There are some people who think this is a summer drink, but they're wrong. Anything served in a hammered copper mug screams, "I want to make your hand as cold as the outside temperature," therefore making it a winter beverage (told you snow). While this cake won't freeze your fingers, it will make your insides all warm and fuzzy, and we can thank the vodka for that.

I inadvertently made a Frozen cake. Please don't let Disney sue me. I'll eat the evidence.

I kinda wanted to go for "ugly Christmas sweater meets winter wonderland" with my design, and it accidentally turned into Elsa's birthday cake...after texting my sister this picture, I am assured by her that this cake passed the Frozen test from my niece, so I guess if you're looking for a Frozen-themed cake that you can throw together in a day that also allows you to drink copious amounts of vodka while you bake it and listen to your children scream-sing "Let It Go" at the top of their lungs for the 56th time in a day, this is the cake for you! Although, you might want to leave the vodka for adult beverages unless you're trying to get a group of 7 year olds accidentally drunk off cake (it could either make the singalong better or much, much worse). In either instance, this is a DELICIOUS cake that truly tastes like the solid form of a Moscow Mule...plenty of ginger flavor, hints of crisp vodka, and sweet yellow cake undertones. And at only 267 calories a slice (10 slices total), you can rest assured this will not be the holiday dessert that does your diet in. Save that for eggnog. 

If you don't buy your vodka from Texas, I assume you also purchase tortillas made in Ohio. Shame on you.

The base recipe for this cake is super simple for some extremely tasty results. You need:

• 1 box of yellow cake mix (I used Whole Foods gluten free yellow cake mix)
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 TBS lime zest
  
• 1/2 cup of ginger beer (I use Zevia Mixer 0 calorie ginger beer)
• 1/4 cup of goooood vodka (not Smirnoff; something classy like Deep Eddy or Grey Goose)
• 2 TBS fresh squeezed lime juice
  

Preheat your oven to 350 and line three 6-inch round pans with Parchment paper, cooking spray, and throw on bake even strips. Place all your ingredients into a stand mixer, blending on low for 30 seconds and then turning to medium high just until everything comes together--the gluten free cake mix said to stop the second that happens, and since I've had trouble ground testing just about every gluten free cake mix under the sun even when following directions, I listened. It took Whole Foods to make a gluten free cake mix that actually bakes and tastes like regular cake, and for that, we are thankful as we cringe slightly during checkout ($$$). 

Evenly spread cake batter in the three pans, and bake for 24-26 minutes at 350 until a toothpick comes out cleanly from the center of each round.

Blonde and full of vodka! There's a parallel here to me in my 20s...

Let the cakes cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a cooling rack. Now, let's gather up the tools you need in order to make a buttercream transfer onto the SIDE of a cake. I like to overachieve...buttercream transfers on top of a cake are so 2017. Since quarantine and COVID have clearly made me lose my mind, my cake baking and decorating plans are getting pretty wild.

Ha, THREE KINDS OF SPRINKLES. Yep, I'm a mad woman.

You're going to want acetate cake collars in order to do a side transfer, as well as a bench scrape or fondant smoother, angled spatula, small paintbrushes, and some Parchment paper. I'll get into detail about piping tips and gel dyes here in a bit.

But first, more vodka.

Did I mention the buttercream frosting is also its own Moscow Mule? Because it is. I told you, warm and fuzzy. Real warm. And real fuzzy. To make, you need:

• 1 cup of light butter at room temp
• 4 1/2 cups of Lakanto powdered monkfruit
• 1 tsp clear vanilla
• 1 TBS vodka
• 2 TBS ginger beer
• 1 TBS lime juice
• Navy gel dye
  

Whip the butter until soft, then add in half of the powdered monkfruit, the vanilla, and the vodka. Blend until well mixed, then add in the remaining powdered monkfruit, ginger beer, and lime juice. Now, grab those cooled cakes!

And prepare for something I never do..

Yeah, you definitely have to crumb coat this cake so the transfer has something to hold on to. I NEVER crumb coat since I usually frost on frozen cake rounds, so I used absolutely every iota of frosting made on this cake. Which meant I had none leftover to eat alone with a spoon, and that makes me sad.

Because the whole point of eating cake is for the frosting.

I digress...place your first cake layer face down on a cake board, then slather a large helping of frosting on top, evening out before you add the second cake layer, also face down, on top. Add more frosting to this.

I just wanted to pick it up and eat it like a burger at this point.

Place the final cake layer face down on the top, and then grab a measuring tape. You need to know how tall and how big around your cake is to make your transfer later. Write these measurements down, then slather a thin layer of buttercream over the entire cake.

I mean, this is pretty, too. I'd serve this.

I do love a good naked cake, but in this instance, smooth out the top as best as you can and make sure there's a nice thin layer all over the sides of the cake. Now, it's time for sprinkles!

And that's when you know I mean business.

For the cake topper, I cut out a very simple snowflake design and placed it on the center of my cake, pushing down to ensure none of the edges weren't essentially "glued" to the top.

Then, I got wild with TWO different kinds of sprinkles. Spreading them all over the top of the cake.

Do this until there's a nice layer of sprinkles on top and no white frosting is showing. Gently press the sprinkles into the top of the cake and wipe excess off of the snowflake template so it's easier to remove later.

Now, I left my template on top of the cake so the sprinkles could settle while my frosting set in the fridge for an hour while I worked on my buttercream transfer. You do want your cake to be totally chilled before applying the transfer, so make sure your buttercream has time to crust up for at least 30 minutes in the fridge.

Now, time to trace!

I used Canva to make my own winter scene, knowing my cake was a little over 3 inches tall and about 18 inches around. You can Google "simple winter scene," "winter template," etc., to find a good design without Canva. I cut the acetate to about 20 inches to give some overhang for handling, and then I cut Parchment paper the same size and 3 inches high. I copied my template onto the Parchment paper.

Blinded by the shine.

Then I taped my Parchment paper behind my acetate. I loaded up a piping bag with a #3 round tip, and piped my deer and snowflakes. I used a small paintbrush to press the piping into a smooth and even layer so there were no gaps in the flakes or deer outlines.

Sadly, the snowflakes would melt on me, just like my hopes for a real winter in Florida.

As cute as they were, the snowflakes were too small and would not stay stuck to the acetate when I added the final layer of frosting. The ended up getting lost in my background layer and kind of melting in. I'd recommend using large details only for side transfers. A cool pattern of colors or bigger figures like the deer work well. I piped the snowy bottom of the scene using a #12 round tip, and then I placed this on a huge cookie sheet, taped the edges down to keep them from curling, and put it into the freezer for 1 hour to set up. While this was chilling, I dyed my remaining frosting a navy blue shade. I put it into another piping bag fitted with a #12 tip.

Then held my breath.

It's been ages since I'd done a buttercream transfer, but covering up the "picture" is always a hope for the best situation.

A sea of panic...

Once I had covered the entire collar with my navy blue background, I first used a large paintbrush to gently spread the frosting and ensure no gaps/white space remained.

Smooth like buttah.

Then I used an angled spatula to very gently smooth out the frosting. I probably should have used a little more pressure since I had some issues with air pockets/holes in the final design, but live and learn.

You're gonna need extra hands.

Take your chilled cake out of the fridge, and with the help of someone else, take the transfer you just finished smoothing (not chilled after), and gently lift and place the acetate collar on the cake. It helps to start in the middle and each person presses their end of the collar around the cake firmly.

Pretty sure I had been holding my breath for a solid 5 minutes at this point.

Then, take the Parchment off and use a bench scraper or fondant smoother and run it around the cake collar several times to ensure everything is adhering to the cake. Now, place this in the freezer for at least 15 minutes. I went with 30. Then you can remove the acetate collar carefully once the frosting is set.

Ahh, love at frost sight. Time to finish the top!

Once you've removed the acetate collar, you can use a sharp knife to trim down the edges at the top. I used my remaining frosting in a piping bag with a #21 star tip to create a star border on top of these edges, and added in some snowflake sprinkles. Then I carefully removed the snowflake template to reveal a pristine snowflake (you could very easily reverse the template and have the opposite effect, too, with the snowflake cutout and the glitter inside of it).

Oh, deer. It's snowing out.

Since my snowflakes more or less melted on me, I added regular snowflake sprinkles to my design to give those deer something to look at.

Obsessed with the top of this cake...maybe Elsa was onto something...

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas (not a white sandy beach...Florida.).

Well, it may be too warm for flannel or ugly Christmas sweaters outside, but at least my dessert tastes and looks seasonally appropriate. This is probably the only snow I'm going to see this winter to boot, but I'm not even that sad because I am in LOVE with the flavors of this cake...sweet buttercream frosting with a zip of ginger in each bite, a hint of vodka, and tons of delicious, soft yellow cake swimming underneath. A good cake heals most winter-related depression (or absence-of-winter-related depression in my case). We had a slice last night with a side of actual Moscow Mule to drink, and it was an amazing experience...where the cake ended and the drink began was absolutely seamless, and that's how dang good it is. You could say it's snow laughing matter how yummy this cake is. While it's been *a year,* I have enjoyed baking every month, and can't wait to try out new techniques in 2021. Here's to sleighin' it all season. 'Til next time, my fellow eaters!

This cake wins Best in Snow 2020.

For Fox Sake

Anytime we have company visit, obviously, I roll out the red carpet by serving a dessert fit for royalty. I mean, how much of a let down would it be if you came to the house of someone with a blog named "Kate Bakes Cakes," only to be served stale Oreo's or a week-old, store-bought Walmart cake (that blog would probably be named "Kate Provides Disappointment")? Since my in-laws, the Foxes, drove out from Texas this weekend to spend some time with us, it provided me with the perfect opportunity to try out both a cupcake recipe and cupcake decorating technique I had been dying to use for a fall-themed dessert. So, for Foxes sake, these buttered rum cupcakes came to be:

A group of foxes is called a skulk, but there is absolutely NO skulking involved when you eat one of these.

So, the Foxes are here, and I have foxes for the Foxes. It's a foxton of foxiness. Aside from being absolutely adorable, these cupcakes are so delicious I can barely stand it (but that's probably a side effect of the gluten and not the flavors themselves). I have never had buttered rum before, let alone created it myself, and now I'm completely obsessed. I was thinking outside the fox with this recipe, and I am so glad I did. The cupcake has wonderful cinnamon and nutmeg flavors swirled with spiced rum, and they're even topped with more rum in the buttered rum glaze and the cinnamon rum cream cheese frosting. It's the perfect dessert for in-laws or pirates, really. And at only 111 calories a cupcake (24 cupcakes total), you can eat them like three at a time to cop a pretty decent buzz thanks to all that Sailor Jerry's.

The real MVP.

This is such a simple recipe that tastes anything but, and all you need to make these buttered rum cupcakes are:

• 1 box yellow sugar free cake mix
• 3 egg whites at room temp
  
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce at room temp
  
• 1/2-3/4 cup of spiced rum (think Kraken, Sailor Jerry, or Captain Morgan. Pretty much, it should be named for or about pirates and the pirate life)*
• 1/2-3/4 cup of skim milk at room temp*
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg

*The total amount of liquid you want to use is 1 1/4 cups. If you like being punched in the mouth by a pirate, use more rum; if you don't, opt for more skim milk. I only used 1 cup total of liquid, and I barely had enough batter for 24 cupcakes without that additional 1/4 cup. Lesson learned!

A few cupcakes ended up being very sad and small, but I'll eat them anyway.

Start by preheating the oven to 325 and lining two muffin tins with cupcake liners. Then dump all the ingredients into the bowl of stand mixer, blending on low for 30 seconds before bumping up the speed to medium high and mixing for two more minutes. Use a cookie scoop to help evenly distribute batter into your cupcake liners, and then bake the cupcakes for 18-21 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out of the center of a cupcake completely clean.

Your house is gonna smell like hot buttered rum, and it make cause you to turn into a swashbuckling pirate. Worth it.

Let your cupcakes cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely. While they're cooling, you can make the buttered rum. Or butter yourself up with rum. Or both. Both is good.

You're gonna hate how easy this is.

Only because once you've learned how easy it is to make buttered rum, you're gonna make it weekly. Here's all you need: two tablespoons of butter, two tablespoons of rum, and 1.5 tsp of cornstarch. In a small saucepan, melt the butter on medium heat. Stir in the rum, and let things heat up for about 1 minute before adding in the cornstarch. Use a whisk to constantly stir until the mixture thickens up to a maple syrup type of consistency....side note, use buttered rum with maple syrup on your next stack of pancakes...will. change. your. life. Now, pour this into a bowl and let it cool for about 15 minutes.

Mmm, buttery rum goodness.

Use either a basting brush or the back of a spoon, and spread a layer of rum butter on top of each FULLY COOLED cupcake (if your cupcakes are warm, remember, butter is know for its meltability). Sadly, you will use every ounce of the rum butter for your cupcakes, so there won't be any left to lick out of the bowl. That just means you have to make more...

Good thing we've got a whole bottle of rum!

As exceptional as the rum butter is, it is made infinitely better with the addition of a cinnamon rum cream cheese frosting. To make:

• 1/2 cup of butter at room temp
• 8 ounces of 1/3 less fat cream cheese at room temp
• 1 TBS spiced rum
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  
• 3 cups of Lakanto powered monkfruit sweetener
• Orange, maroon, and black gel dye 
• Oreos, cut into tiny triangles for ears
  

Start by whipping together the cream cheese and butter until fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Then add in the rum, vanilla, cinnamon, and powdered monkfruit. Blend on low for a few seconds, then switch to medium high and blend until everything is incorporated. Now, I had leftover black frosting (thanks, Halloween baking, reminding me once again why I live for you), but you will want to divvy up your frosting so you have a tiny bowl dyed black for the fox noses and eyes, and then divide the remaining frosting so 1/3 is left plain, and 2/3 is dyed orange with a drop or two of maroon to give your foxes a fur coat that is made for photo ops. I ended up having about 1/4 of my orange frosting left, so if you use all your frosting, this will figure into a bit higher calorie count.

Now, let's get foxy!

I used a piping bag fitted with a #12 round tip to place a ring of white frosting on top of each cupcake. Then I used an angled spatula to smooth out.

Sorry, there's some math here.

Now, fit a piping bag with a #21 open star tip and your orange frosting. Start by pretty much creating a plus sign on the top of your white frosting. Then, fill in only the top half of the plus sign:

And don't forget the ears!

I took an Oreo, scraped the cream off (maybe ate that cream), and cut each side of 1 Oreo into eighths. I think I needed to do this a few times since the Oreo tops refused to cooperate with me and crumbled into uneven pieces against my unyielding knife skills.

You are one handsome fox.

To finish, place your black frosting into a piping bag fitted with a small round tip (I used a #3). Dot the orange star on the bottom of the cupcake with a small mound of black frosting, and then come in and add small dots for eyes. And voila! You've created a cupcake that is almost too cute to eat but thankfully smells like a cinnamon-rum heaven to remind you it's worth devouring.

But wait, there's more! Or less, in this case.

Like I said earlier, I ran reaaallly tight on batter toward the end without the extra liquid. I had 6 cupcakes that were little half cupcakes, so to find a way to make them look less sad and tiny (working title of my autobiography), I knew this was a job for sprinkles. I fit another piping bag with a 2D tip and more of my orange frosting.

I swirled each with one large rose and topped with orange sanding sugar.

Then used my other bag of orange frosting with the #21 tip to pipe little stars around the edge.

And because nothing is done without flair...I added some fall foliage sprinkles I had leftover from previous bakes.

Honestly, they may be only half full, but they're completely filled in my heart thanks to those sprinkles. As sly and cutesy those foxes are, these roses are absolutely gorgeous.

Looks like fall decided to finally show up in Florida. On a plate.

I have to reiterate- BUTTERED RUM IS FANTASTIC. Guys, I know I try to sell you on everything I bake because dessert should be savored by all and in as many flavors as possible, but buttered rum cupcakes might just be peak fall flavor. Sorry pumpkin, you've been replaced. I am renouncing my basic white girl status. I am now solely interested in buttered rum flavor for fall.

Clearly, this fox approves.

Since these have both butter and a cream cheese frosting, be sure to keep your cupcakes in the fridge until you're ready to devour the whole skulk of them. I actually made these a week ahead and froze them, frosting and all, and I take a few out of the freezer at a time and let them thaw out in the fridge (only takes an hour or two) before we enjoy them after dinner. Happy to report that the Foxes are enjoying the foxes, and I am still completely pleased with both the amount of fox puns in this blog and the divine flavor combos of rum, cinnamon, and spiced cream cheese frosting with every bite. If you bring these to your Thanksgiving feast, you're gonna make whatever aunt or cousin you can't stand look real lame for bringing just a pumpkin pie. Have your cupcakes and savor that small, petty victory (zero fox given). 'Til next time, my fellow eaters!

You could also stay home, while being safe, and socially distancing from everything except these cupcakes.

One Last Nightmare Before Christmas

 As Baketober draws to a close, I knew I needed to create one last Nightmare Before Christmas, so to speak.You could argue literally everything about this year has been one big fat nightmare before Christmas, so my final spooky bake is firing on all cylinders, really...if you've got it, haunt it, I say. Many years ago when I first got into baking, I was commissioned to make a Jack Skellington birthday cake for a friend. To this day, it remains my most popular Pinterest creation, and every October, the repins go off the charts. I have come a long, long way since I made that cake in 2014, so I wanted to give old Jack an even more handsome cake countenance...

He is a witch's fondest dream, after all.

Quick-witted, legs-for-days, tune-carrying Jack Skellington with that wicked crooked smile always has been one of my favorite leading men, what can I say. My newest tribute to the Pumpkin King comes in the form of an orange creamsicle cake, and it is to die for...you could say I'm gonna be goblin up this cake with reckless abandon. Compared to Oogie Boogie's rich black velvet cake tribute, this cake is extremely light and almost summery...Jack would allow it since it means exploring other holidays like 4th of July World (pretty sure that wasn't a door in the movie, but you get my point). It has extremely refreshing bursts of orange flavor in an airy sponge cake with a tangy and sweet cream cheese frosting. It most definitely tastes exactly like an orange creamsicle in cake form, so mission accomplished, and at only 229 calories a slice (10 slices total), bone appetit, everyone, it's completely guilt free.

Orange you glad to see such easy ingredients?

Seriously, this is a very quick and easy cake recipe, I promise. All you need to make the cake layers are:

• 1 box sugar free yellow cake mix
• 3 egg whites
• 3/4 cup fresh-squeezed orange juice (I needed 2 large oranges)
• 1/2 cup of fat free or 2% skim milk (I use Fairlife fat free)
• 1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1-2 teaspoons orange extract (I used 2, and I love that there's no mistaking this is an orange-flavored cake)
• 1 box of sugar free orange Jell-o (they come in tiny boxes, but you really only need 1)

Preheat your oven to 325 and grease 3 6-inch round pans with cooking spray and bake even strips. Dump all your ingredients into a stand mixing bowl, blending on low for 30 seconds, then bump the speed up to medium-high for 2 minutes. Thanks to the orange Jell-o, you don't need to add any food coloring to make this cake pop with orange coloring. 

Now, evenly pour your batter between all 3 pans.

Bake at 325 for 25-28 minutes, until a toothpick comes out of each cake round clean. Leave your cakes in the pan on top of a cooling rack for 10 minutes so they're easier to handle. Then, with the help of some tea towels, flip each round out of the pan and leave on the cooling racks to finish cooling completely. I placed mine into the fridge to speed this process up. If you don't have bake even strips, you will probably need to level your cakes once they're fully cooled.

Orange like a Pumpkin King should be!

Now, there are a few things to accomplish while those cakes cool:

1. Make chocolate skulls.
2. Cut out Jack Skellington's face.
3. Mix and try not to eat all the orange cream cheese frosting.

I will use these skull molds for any and all reasons I can come up with.

I have a detailed account of how to make these skulls in this blog post from last Halloween. Head there to get the specifics!

And say hello to my little friends.

I believe I made 20 of these skulls for Jack's "crown," and only used 14. I made these last week and kept them in a single layer in a Tupperware at room temp. I actually hate the way chocolate melts taste, so I don't ever eat these (they also add 13 calories a pop to the calorie count above), but damned if I don't love how absolutely creepy they look.

Once again, I did not cut off a finger, X-acto knife win!

Much like Oogie, I used an X-acto knife and a template on Parchment paper to create Jack's face. I found this pumpkin carving template online, resized it to fit my cake (I used Canva to resize it, but you could copy and paste into Word or Paint and scale the size up or down as needed), and with the help of my X-acto knife and a cutting mat, I cut out what was needed:

I can't say no to a devilish smile.

I actually did this twice, because Jack's face is on two sides of my cake, so no matter what angle he's sitting at in my fridge, he's smiling at me every time I open it. I'm almost as love-struck as Sally.

Ah black cocoa, we meet again.

No, this isn't a black cocoa cream cheese frosting for the third blog in a row. Sort of...part of the frosting that needed to be black is, but the vast majority of the frosting is a plain orange cream cheese icing. To make, you need:

• 1/2 cup low fat butter 
• 8 ounces reduced fat cream cheese
• 1 tsp orange extract
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional: omit this and use 2 tsp orange extract if you want more orange flavor)
• 4 cups of Lakanto powdered monkfruit sweetener
• 3 tsp of skim milk, divided
• 1 TBS black cocoa
• Orange and black gel dyes
• Orange Spooky Sprinkles 
• 3 piping bags
• 1M or 2D piping tip

Start by mixing the butter and cream cheese on medium high for 2-3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add in 2 cups of Lakanto, orange and vanilla extracts, and blend on low until fully mixed. Then add in the remaining 2 cups of Lakanto and 2 tsp of milk. Blend fully, and then take a heaping amount of frosting (I used 10 ounces), and set it aside in a medium bowl. Once this is done, add several dollops of orange gel dye to the frosting left in the stand mixer bowl. Mix well, and turn your attention back to the reserved frosting. Add the black cocoa, final teaspoon of milk, and some black gel dye to this, mixing by hand. Now, we're ready to assemble!

It smelled like a citrus factory at this point.

Put your first layer of cake face down on a cake board. Add a decent layer of frosting to the top of it smooth out, and repeat with the next layer. Add the final layer on top, then cover the cake completely in orange cream cheese frosting. Be sure to reserve some orange frosting for the swirls on top. I ended up with a bunch of leftover frosting (both orange and black), and I have it in Ziplocks in the freezer for the next time I just need to eat frosting and nothing else (I refuse to believe I'm the only person who does this).

EVERYTHING. GETS. SPRINKLES.

Once you've smoothed out the sides and top of the cake, very carefully pour the orange sprinkles on top, using light pressure with your fingers to get it to stick in place. This is a crusting frosting, so you can use the paper towl trick to smooth out imperfections once you've chilled your cake for 30 minutes.

I'm ahead of the carve here...

...you will need to chill it for 30 minutes anyway to help your black frosting layer from mushing into the orange completely. Once my 30 minutes was up, I smoothed out a few areas and then placed my templates on each side of the cake. I used a paintbrush and some small palette knives to make sure no edges of the template were sticking up. This will keep frosting from leaking through to the rest of the cake, so do not skip this step. I got sidetracked at some point (it was by food), so I put my cake back in the fridge for 15 minutes and came back to it to do my painting:

I am a messy artiste.

With the cake chilled, now you can use a small angled spatula or small palette knives to brush the black frosting over the template. You will want to use a bench scraper or the side of the angled spatula to smooth out this layer of frosting so it is evenly distributed and the layering isn't wonky.

A scare is born...

Once you've evened out the black frosting, carefully peel away your template, revealing the one and only Jack Skellington. You could call it a day, but I'm extra, so I wanted to give him a skull crown, too.

This is Halloween, everybody make a scene!

I placed my remaining orange frosting in one piping bag and the black in another. Then in a larger piping bag fitted with a 1M tip, in both of these bags went. I piped out a few dollops on a paper towel until the colors were both coming out evenly.

Spooookkkkyyyyy!

I simply piped stars around the top of the cake, but honestly, there's enough frosting to do larger swirls if you'd like.

Don't forget about my little friends.

Then I gently placed a skull into the top of each star.

And all was frightful.

And more sprinkles. Because it's me.

...and also because I forgot to clean off my cake board after frosting, so I wanted to hide some blotchy orange and black stains, and sprinkles are a great way to do this. While the outside of the cake is ORANGE (it might even glow in the dark?), the inside is a bit more subdued:

A nice, mellow orange. Sorry for the flashback, my photo takes potato-quality photos in evening light.

I'm giddy with delight at how cool this cake looks. It's a huge departure in style from the cake a novice baker tried her hand at 6 years ago. I enjoy baking in October so much because I can let my inner Wednesday Addams shine and come up with creepy cool cakes I'd love to bake every month, but I realize it wouldn't be as fun or unique if I did this ALL THE TIME. And in a year as useless as Halloween Town's mayor, it's been a ton of fun to have something to actually look forward to...especially when the end result is a delicious citrusy-orange cake with a heavenly smooth cream cheese frosting that I'm sad I have to share, but my husband definitely deserves cake after making it through shoulder surgery earlier this week *and* being married to my spooky self (he's gotta deal with all this spookiness 365 days a year). I'm already churning out new ideas for next October because I truly can't help myself. 'Til next time, my fellow eaters!

"And I just can't wait until next Halloween 'cause I've got some new ideas that will really make them scream..."