Food Network: Witch's House

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Witch's House
Recipe courtesy Family Fun Magazine

Ingredients
Part One: DEVIL'S FOOD CAKE
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups milk
5 1/4 cups allpurpose flour
4 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13 by 9 by 2 inch pan, an
8inch oven-proof bowl and a 6 inch loaf pan.

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar, then beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the
cooled, melted chocolate and the vanilla extract, then gradually stir in the milk. In a separate
bowl, sift the flour, baking soda and salt. Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture,
stirring until just combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared baking pans, about two thirds full (begin with the loaf pan,
followed by the bowl and then the baking pan). Bake the 13 by 9 by 2 inch pan and the bowl for 45 to
50 minutes, and the loaf pan for 35 to 40 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the center to see if the
cakes are done. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Tip: To make the project more manageable, bake the cake one day and decorate it the next.

Ingredients
Part Two: CHOCOLATE MUD FROSTING
2 cups unsalted butter,softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
6 cups confectioners' sugar

2/3 cup cocoa powder
4 to 6 tablespoons milk

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter, vanilla extract and melted chocolate. In a
separate bowl, sift the confectioners' sugar and cocoa powder. Gradually add it to the butter
mixture, blending well after each addition. Mix in enough milk to make the frosting "muddy."
Tip: The frosting may be made a few days in advance and stored in the refrigerator. Before frosting,
bring it to room temperature, then re-whip.

Directions
Part Three: ASSEMBLING THE CAKE
Decorations:
Orange frosting
Green gumdrops
Chocolate graham crackers
Chocolate icecream cones
Regular and chocolate peanut butter sandwich cookies
Black licorice twists

Chocolate kisses (recommended: Hershey's)
Mini chocolate chips
Green hard candies
Black shoestring licorice
Mini marshmallows
Chocolate covered raisins

Cover a large cutting board or piece of cardboard with aluminum foil. Place the 13 by 9 by 2inch
cake on the top of the foil to create the "graveyard." On one end, place the bowlshaped cake to
create the "hill." Generously frost the graveyard and hill. Next, cut a 2 by 3-inch rectangle, about
1 inch deep, on top of the hill to accommodate the house.
Tip: For crumbfree spreading, frost a very thin layer on the entire cake, then spread with a fluffy
layer.

CREAKY ROOF
To create the roof on the Witch's House, cut the corners off one end of the small loaf cake (a job
for older kids). Place the house in the 2 by 3-inch slot, securing it with toothpicks or a bamboo

skewer. Then "paint" the house with orange frosting.

Tip: To make the orange frosting, tint 1 cup of storebought or homemade white frosting with orange
food coloring. For a vibrant color, use food coloring paste, which is available at kitchen and party
supply stores.
Tile the roof of the house with chocolate graham crackers and frosting. Add a few scary details:
windows made of broken chocolate cones with orange icing grids and a peanut cookie door with a candy
doorknob. Surround the house with shoestring licorice barbed wire. Then add a flying witch. Use a
toothpick to attach the witch's face (a gumdrop cut in half, lengthwise) to her hat (a chocolate
cone) and to her broomstick (licorice with three slits cut in the end).

CANDY GRAVEYARD
To create the gravestones, break peanut cookies in half and pipe on spooky sayings with orange
frosting (R.I.P., Boo and so on). Secure in the muddy frosting. Next, make ghosts in the trees. Use
scissors to cut three crooked branches in a piece of licorice. Tuck two mini marshmallows between
the branches and place tree on a piece of waxed paper. Microwave for 10 seconds to slightly melt the
ghost. Give the ghost two mini chocolate chip eyes, then plant the trees in the mud.

Ingredients
SPOOKY WALKWAY
Next, add the spooky walkway leading up to the house. Draw a crooked path from the base of the cake
up to the witch's door with a toothpick (use this as your guideline). Outline the path with
chocolatecovered raisins, then sprinkle with broken green hard candies. At the entrance to the
pathway, add a chocolate graham cracker drawbridge.
Tip: Lay all the decorations out before you start. Show the kids our photoand allow room for their
own creative additions.
For a frightful finishing touch, outline the graveyard with broken chocolatecone fencing. Set the
Witch's House in a place for all to seeand scream at.