FOOD | 10.9.18 | Julie Rhodins
Photo: Wilton Products (PRNewsFoto/Family Features Editorial)
Kids love Halloween! But it can be a lot of work for parents, especially if it involves a Halloween party or taking Halloween-themed treats to other parties or events. So we’re always on the hunt for cute-but-easy, holiday-themed ideas. And so here are several simple Halloween food ideas that take minimum time and effort. Here you go!
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1. Frankenstein Cake
Photo: Wilton Products
While this looks like more artistry than there actually is (it’s actually super simple!), what we really like about this darling cake is that your energy is focused on a centerpiece dessert that will feed a large group and make big statement without having to do much else. For example, with this cake at a Halloween party, you could easily have some fun drinks and a few finger foods like crackers, cheese, carrots, apple slices — and you’re done! This recipe is courtesy of Wilton Products.
Serves: 12
- 6 cups favorite cake recipe or mix
- 4 cups Wilton White Ready-To-Use Decorator Icing (4.5 pound tub)
- Wilton Color Right Performance Color System (this is a package of food dyes to get vibrant colors in your icing — no more pink when you want red, specific greens instead of just Christmas green, etc.)
- Wilton Black Icing Pouch with Tips
- Wilton Large Candy Eyeballs (you get about 24 eyeballs in this pack, so if you want to make sure the rest don’t go to waste you can quickly make extra one-eyed monster cupcakes and use the same Spring Green icing color below)
Prepare cake according to box instructions and make two layers using 6-inch round pans. Bake and cool on cooling grid.
Prepare Spring Green icing using this color tint formula from the Color Right Performance Color System: 4 cups icing + 30 Y + 6 B. Stack layers on cake plate for a two-layer cake, using leveler as needed. Ice cake sides smooth with green icing.
Use black pouch icing without tip to cover top of cake. Use tip of spatula to create spiral effect. Use black pouch icing with star tip to pipe pull-out bangs around top edge and two hair strands on cake top.
Prepare a disposable decorating bag with green icing; cut a hole in point of bag the size of tip 3. Attach candy eyeballs with dots of green icing. Pipe green eyelids.
Use black pouch icing with round tip to pipe dot nose and neck bolts, outline mouth and stitches.
2. Chili with Worms
Make your regular chili, along with a batch of macaroni and cheese. Put spoonfuls of macaroni and cheese into the center of the chili as you serve. Wilton Products recommends that you bake the macaroni and cheese in muffin tins and insert the baked “muffin” into the chili so that it has more structure. Super easy!
Photo: Wilton Products
3. Frankenstein Pancakes
This is super simple. Add green food dye to the batter and cook your pancakes — try to shape the batter in the pan to be more of a rectangle or square pancake (or cut the sides later). Decorate the head:
- Raisins for the hair
- Rounded white cheese slices or sliced hard boiled eyes for the whites of the eyes
- Chocolate chips or raisins to finish off the eyes, nose, and mouth
- Plum, fig, or prune halves for the large Frankenstein head screws
Photo: instagram/thejoysofmyboys
4. Ghost Bananas
This is a 30-second idea! Cut your banana in half. The pointed end is the ghost’s head. Use chocolate chips or raisins for two eyes and a mouth.
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5. Monster Grape Cup
Here’s a gluten-free 1-minute food idea — use a medium-sized clear plastic cup, fill with green grapes. Shape a cut of white cheese into two eyes — or you could use two banana slices. Draw two dots for eyes and a smiley face. So cute!
Photo: instagram/polkadotsandpigkisses
6. Apple Pie Potion (beverage)
For this recipe, you’ll need to purchase the Wilton Treatology Flavor System which include 8 concentrated flavors that can be used alone or mixed together in your recipes. Wilton says these flavors are three times stronger than your traditional extracts.
Photo: Wilton Products
This is a hauntingly fun green drink recipe for both kids and adults.
Makes: 8-10 servings
- 1 bottle (1 liter) club soda, chilled
- 5 cups apple juice, chilled
- 7 drops Wilton Treatology Warm Cinnamon Graham Flavor Concentrate
- 3 drops Wilton Treatology Creamy Vanilla Custard Flavor Concentrate
- 4 drops Wilton Yellow Color Right Performance Color*
- 1 drop Wilton Blue Color Right Performance Color*
(*You can get the green color of the drinks via the colors in the Wilton Color Right Performance food dye system here.)
7. Boo! Cupcakes
Make simple cupcakes (any flavor). Decorate with frosting and sprinkles. Then, use black icing to write “Boo!” You can get a dozen finished in a dash.
Photo: instagram / everydayishalloweenpty_anix02
8. Orange Pumpkin Treats
Peel an orange (or tangerine). Make 3-4 inch long celery sticks. Stick a celery stick into the peeled orange’s core opening. And it looks like a pumpkin with a stem. Picture here.
9. Spook-tacular Fruit Cups
This is another way to use oranges, only you use the peel to make little jack-o-lantern faces — from fruitsfromchile.com.
Photo: Spook-tacular Fruit Cups (PRNewsFoto/Family Features Editorial Syndi)
Cut off top 1/5 of an orange and use paring knife to separate fruit from inside of orange, being careful not to cut through the peel. It’s not necessary to get all of the flesh out, just enough to fill with cut fruit.
Squeeze juice from removed fruit for tomorrow’s breakfast (this is a multitasking treat!).
10. Spider Fruit
Take any fruit (an apple is a great choice), cut in half, add some simple whip cream or cheese for eyes with raisin centers. With toothpicks, stack up grapes or blueberries for the legs, and you have your spider! (just make sure the kids don’t poke themselves with the toothpicks)
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This post was originally published on 10/13/15 and updated on 10/9/18.
