Halloween food and dressing up are my favorite parts of Halloween, especially since our friends host an awesome Halloween party, just for the adults, each year. Whereas I don't usually get into the gory, bloody parts of Halloween, I love making the creepy food items. The grosser looking, the better!
Last year, our friends had a newborn, so the epic Halloween party was canceled. This year I really wanted to defend our streak of winning the creepiest looking dessert.
We had won the best dessert prize three years in a row with such delights as:
"bloody poop" which were actually squished Oreo truffles with food coloring dropped in the cracks
"witch fingers" which were sugar cookies shaped like fingers with almond nails
So this year Johnny and I came up with something incredible! Inspired by this article about creating a
fake head in a jar, we thought it would be awesome to make a some edible brains to complete the dessert.
Here was our final product for the Halloween dessert contest:
To make your own, visit this
head in the jar tutorial. He walks you through the photo editing process if you choose to use your own photos, or he allows you to print his head photo. We chose the easier route. I tried to make my own head photo, and I failed miserably, so for the sake of time, we used the example head.
To make the brain cake, I used advice from a few different sources. I watched a cake tutorial
here, and read a few
fake blood recipes here, and merged all the ideas.
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*With my mini pumpkin cake pan, I made the brain cake shape.
*After the cake cooled, I cut off the bottom in order to make the cake sit flat.
*I used white cream cheese frosting to pipe the brain pattern.
*Then I put the cake into the freezer to harden up the frosting. (Maybe 30 minutes?)
*I mixed corn syrup, water, and corn starch together, added some red Kool-Aid and chocolate syrup, and added a touch of blue food coloring to make the fake blood. My fake blood was runny, but yummy!
*I brushed over the frosting lightly with the blood, and used a spoon the run the red stuff over the cracks.
*I allowed the whole thing to set in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
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Once we arrived at the Halloween party, we assembled the jar, added the brain cake on top, and stuck a knife through the brain for effect. People oohed and awwed, but no one dared eat the concoction for over an hour. The cake was delicious once someone finally dared to try a bite.
And the winner is. . .
Our head in the jar brains won the prize!
Woot-woot! Four years in a row!
I'll admit I was super nervous as the votes were being tallied. My sister-in-law made some broken glass cupcakes (inspired by
this pin) that I thought would take home the prize. There were so many great appetizers and desserts and costumes last night. Everyone did a great job, and the party was a blast.
Labels: Crafts, Happy Tidbits, Recipes
