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The Undercover Cook
Full-time mom & marketing manager in search of interesting food choices, smarter eating and the latest food trends even when time is in precious short supply.
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Category Archives: halloween
Spider Cakes (Golden Butter Cakes with Peanut Butter Icing)
Just when you think a week can’t get any more hectic my child’s school goes and throws a bake sale fundraiser into the to-do list. The request was for something yummy, individually portioned and bug-themed to be brought to school last Wednesday morning. (Wednesday? Really? If you want people to get really creative ask for bake goods on a Monday not a Wednesday….I am just sayin’….)
Anyway, since (a) I absolutely love love love my child’s preschool and (b) I am a huge fan of the anti-bug misting system for the playground (the reason for the fundraiser) and most importantly (c) I really don’t want to be seen as the slacker parent, I decided I had to come up with something. However since it was the middle of the work week and I was leaving to go out of town the next day it was going to have to be easy.
I settled on Spider Cakes because this time of year little plastic spider rings are easily accessible and make a perfect bug-themed topper. For the cake I made one of my absolute favorite recipes, Desert Island Butter Cake from the All-Butter Fresh Cream Sugar-Packed Baking Book by Judy Rosenberg. This is an incredibly simple, limited ingredient recipe. And the only thing I really changed about the recipe was to turn it into cupcakes instead of using a springform pan.
For the icing I wanted something kid-friendly, in an earthy color and very simple to make, so I went with Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Icing. The recipe came from Sky High Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes. (This is another one of my go-to recipe books that I use all the time!) The only thing I changed was to decrease the sugar and bump up the peanut butter to make the icing just a bit less sweet.
For the bake sale I made 2 batches of the cupcakes (for a total of 24 cupcakes) and 1 batch of the Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Icing (which left me with a little icing to spare). I found little individual white cupcake boxes at a big chain arts and crafts store which made for an excellent presentation. The cupcakes turned out to be a huge hit and sold out early at the bake sale. I am calling this one a total bake sale success!
Spider Cakes
Makes: 24 cupcakes
- 2 batches of Golden Butter Cupcakes (recipe below)
- 1 batch Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Icing (recipe below)
- 24 plastic spider rings
Bake Gold Butter Cupcakes and let cool completely. While cupcakes are cooling prepare Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Icing. When cupcakes are fully cooled top with icing. Garnish each cupcake with a plastic spider. Enjoy!!
Golden Butter Cupcakes
Prep time: 8 minutes – Bake Time: 22-25 minutes – Makes: 12 cupcakes
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
Preheat over to 350°F. Place muffin liners into muffin tin and set aside.
Place eggs and sugar in a medium sized mixing bowl. Use an electric mixer on high to beat the eggs and sugar on high speed until mixture is thick and pale yellow (about 4 minutes).
Add sifted flour to the egg mixture. Fold it in gently with a rubber spatula until it is almost but not fully incorporated.
Slowly fold in melted butter. Gently stir until the batter is fully mixed.
Pour batter into prepared muffin tin. Bake in the center of the oven for 22-25 minutes or until fully cooked (a knife inserted in the center comes out clean). Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before adding frosting.
Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Icing
Makes: enough to top 24-28 cupcakes
- 10 oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
- 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 cup smooth peanut butter*
Place cream cheese and butter into a large bowl. Use an electric hand mixer to beat them together until light and fluffy.
Add confectioners sugar 1 cup at a time, blending thoroughly after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Blend on medium speed for 3-4 minutes until mixture is light and fluffy.
Add the peanut butter and blend until thoroughly mixed.
*Note: this is one of the few times you will see me recommend against all natural. Regular hydrogenated peanut butter works better than all natural peanut butter in this recipe because the oil won’t separate out.
Other Recipes You Might Enjoy!
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Batty Chicken Salad
This week’s Halloween meal idea is a soup and salad combo. I will show you how to make the salad today and come back tomorrow with a seasonal soup recipe.
I started with a simple salad of lettuce, cucumbers, carrots and avocado. You could swap in any salad vegetables you like really. Next add some cooked chicken for protein. I sauteed a chicken breast in a skillet for my salad, but you could use rotisserie chicken or leftover cooked chicken to save time.
The real fun of this salad idea comes with the crunchy wonton crisps you add at the end. These are really so easy to make. All you need is uncooked wonton wrappers, some small Halloween themed cookie cutters and 4 minutes to bake. The one watch out I will give you is to keep an idea on the wonton wrappers while they are cooking. They go from perfectly cooked to over cooked very quickly. Otherwise these crunchy wonton toppers are a cinch to make.
Wonton Salad Toppers
Prep: 3-5 minutes - Cook time: 3-4 minutes
- refrigerated uncooked wonton wrappers
- non-stick cooking spray
- garlic salt
- small Halloween themed cookie cutters
Preheat oven to 350º F. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
Place an uncooked wonton wrapper on a cutting board. Use cookie cutters to cut out halloween shapes (bats, ghosts, cats etc). Place cut outs on prepared baking sheet (single layer, not touching).
Spray wonton cut outs with nonstick cooking spray. Flip wonton cut out over and spray the reverse side. Sprinkle with garlic salt.
Bake for 3-4 minutes until wontons crisp up and just start to turn a little brown around the edges. Keep a close eye on while baking so that they don’t over cook.
Use cooked wonton crisps to top salad. Serve and enjoy.
Other Recipes You Might Enjoy!
Curry Chicken Salad
Inside out Chicken Egg Roll
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Chicken Fingers Dressed up as Witches’ Fingers for Dinner
It is the third and final day of this week’s Halloween meal build. Today I am dishing up the main attraction – Witches’ Fingers. Combine these tasty “Witches’ Fingers” with the “Roasted Toadstools” and “Dragon Tails and Scales” from the past 2 days and you have one boo-licious Halloween dinner!
Witches' Fingers, Roasted Toadstools and Dragon Tails & Scales
Witches’ Fingers are really easy to create. They are simply panko encrusted chicken fingers with almond slices add to give the effect of finger nails. I used sweet chili sauce to attach the nails but you could use ketchup to get the same effect if you prefer. Just be sure you let the chicken cool a bit before you attach the almond slices. If the chicken is too hot the chili sauce will melt and the almond sliced may slide right off before you can serve.
You may notice that all three of my dishes for this week’s Halloween meal are baked in the oven. They all cook at the same temperature so yo can put everything in and walk away while it cooks. Just keep an eye on the food. Depending on your oven, having a fully packed oven may extend the cook time by a minute or two.
Hope this frightfully good meal gets you in the Halloween spirit. Make sure you check back in next when I will dish up another complete meal idea all dressed up for your Halloween festivities.
Witches’ Fingers (a.k.a Chicken Fingers)
Prep time: 10 minutes - Bake time: 20-25 minutes - Makes: 4 servings
4 chicken breasts- 2 eggs, beaten
- Italian Panko crumbs
- Sweet Chili Sauce
- Sliced almonds
- non-stick cooking spray
Preheat oven to 400º F. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
Cut chicken breasts into strips (4 per breast). Dip strips into beaten eggs. Roll in panko crumbs. Place on prepared baking sheet so that none of the strips are touching. Spray encrusted strips generously with non-stick cooking spray. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until fully cooked.
Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes. After the chicken strips have cooled you can assemble the “fingers”. Place a dollop of the sweet chili sauce on one side of a slice of almond. Place almond slice chili side down on the tip of a chicken strips to look like the witches’ finger nail.
Serve “Witches’ Fingers” with extra chili sauce for dipping if desired.
Other Halloween Meal Ideas You Might Enjoy!
Black Bean Spider Burger
Swamp Cakes and Mud (Almond Pancakes)
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Posted in chicken, entertaining, halloween, oven fried
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