I Need a Hot Pink Chocolate Halloween Cake

[daniellewiley]

I hope this is the right forum for this inquiry - I've never posted here before!

My daughter is turning three on November 12, and we are having a big party on the 14th. The party will be for both adult family and all of her friends. The theme is Halloween Redux, and everyone will be in costumes. All of the decor will be Halloween, and the activities will be Halloween-related as well (painting mini-pumpkins, etc.). When I asked Dylan what kind of cake she wanted, she said she wants a hot pink chocolate cake. She has clarified that the hot pink is referring to the frosting (or crossing, as she says). Here is what I'm wondering:

What is the best chocolate cake recipe for 3 year olds? I want something moist but not fudgy. They are all likely used to cake mix cakes, which I refuse to do, but I don't want to fall on my sword - I want them to actually eat it.

How can I decorate it? Hot pink isn't exactly "Halloween'y". Luckily, Dyl's costume is a hot pink (see a theme here?) butterfly, so I'm thinking I can coordinate?

What shape is best? My friend offered to lend me her round cake pan, which makes a giant half dome. I think that might be hard to cut. I am leaning towards a sheet cake, as that will be easy to cut and serve out to the little ones. A layer cake seems too large for 3 year olds. We'll probably have about 10 kids and 10 - 15 adults.

Thanks all!

[momlovestocook]

Hi

I can only speak to my experience with my two girls(4 and 7) and hot pink frosting LOL. I think I have at least three pink paste colors in my cupboard. One suggestion is to make a cake for adults and for the happy birthday singing and candles. For the kids, decorate your own cupcakes. Kids can decorate them as they like and adults can have whatever cake you like. I just made everyday chocolate cupcakes from Martha stewart's site this morning to bring to school for a function tomorrow-the batter tasted awesome.

I made the cake from the best chocolate cake thread for dd's birthday and it was a hit. My brother-in-law couldn't stop eating it-he had three pieces.

Good luck, have fun. My dd turns 5 on the 15th of December and she's already planning her party(we bought a pinata yesterday LOL).

Sandra

[amyd]

I am making a birthday cake for a one year old next week. His party is also Halloween themed. It will be a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting in the shape of a 3-D pumpkin. I am going to make two small cakes using a bundt pan, turn one upside down for the base and place the other on top to form the pumpkin. I am going to color the frosting orange and decorate as a jack-o-lantern. I got the idea looking at a couple internet sites:here and here.

I don't think a Halloween redux party would be complete without a hot pink pumpkin! This is something that could easily be done with a chocolate cake and pink icing. You could even add wings made from sugar.

As for a recipe for chocolate cake that everyone will like, I like a chocolate genoise.

[Wendy DeBord]

If your image is clearly halloween items, what color they are doesn't really matter. A hot pink pumpkin could be very cool!

[petite tête de chou]

Im not sure how your art skills are, but witches with green faces and pink clothes would be kind of cool. Maybe pink ghosts?

[daniellewiley]

Im not sure how your art skills are, but witches with green faces and pink clothes would be kind of cool. Maybe pink ghosts?

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My art skills are mediocre at best, but my mom, a retired art teacher will be visiting for the party. She could definitely do that!

Here's Dylan's first birthday cake, courtesy of Nana:

[Deborah]

Sounds like a fun party! If you decide to do a pink pumpkin-- using two bundt pans would be the easiest as you don't have to worry about carving. You could then use black fondant for the stem, vines, and face details.

Another idea, and you could do this on a round or a sheetcake, is to have a pink background and then black fondant halloween cutouts for your pattern. Just get the small Halloween shaped cookie cutters, roll out your fondant, and then cut them out and put them on your cake. Ta da!

[daniellewiley]

Another idea, and you could do this on a round or a sheetcake, is to have a pink  background and then black fondant halloween cutouts for your pattern. Just get the small Halloween shaped cookie cutters, roll out your fondant, and then cut them out and put them on your cake. Ta da!

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Hey all, I'm back.

I'm going with the above idea, but I did a search for fondant recipes and was overwhelmed to see multiple types. What kind of fondant do I want for the above application? What is the best recipe for this?

[Deborah]

There are several good premade fondants(aka sugarpaste or rolled fondant) on the market if you want to make things easier especially if you are just using it for cutouts and not to cover the entire cake. I like and use Pettinice brand. You should be able to get premade fondant at most cake shops.

I haven't made it from scratch yet since I've been really happy with the Pettinice brand.

[daniellewiley]

There are several good premade fondants(aka sugarpaste or rolled fondant) on the market if you want to make things easier especially if you are just using it for cutouts and not to cover the entire cake. I like and use Pettinice brand. You should be able to get premade fondant at most cake shops.

I haven't made it from scratch yet since I've been really happy with the Pettinice brand.

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And it comes in colors? Or do I mix in the black food coloring?

(can you tell I'm not a baker?)

[Deborah]

Premade fondant usually comes in white, off white and chocolate. You just take a bit of black food coloring and knead it into the fondant. If you start with a chocolate fondant it will take less black color to achieve black fondant. If you start with white fondant color it brown first and then add your black. You can go from white to black but it takes a lot of black.

Another option, Wilton makes precolored fondant (all different shades including black) and you can get that at Michaels craft store if you have one around you. Personally I don't care for the taste of the Wilton premade fondant but for just cutouts this would probably work fine.

Hope that helps.