If I Was Having a Halloween Party

this would make a wonderful dessert:


When you slice the cake each piece looks like a giant piece of candy corn!

It even uses that checkerboard cake pan I bought and have never used!

The recipe is from the Wilton site.

You just use any white cake mix you like.

Decorating instructions:
Place Divider Ring in one 9 x 2 in. pan from set. Tint 1 cup of white batter orange and 1 1/3 cup yellow; reserve 1/3 cup white.

Fill inside small center ring with white batter, inside medium ring with orange batter and inside large outer ring with yellow batter.

Carefully remove Divider Ring before baking. Bake and cool 1-layer cake.

Divide cake top: mark 2 inner circles, one 1 in. and one 2 1/2 in. from edge of cake.

Cover sides and top to 1 in. mark with yellow tip 16 stars, cover area to 2 1/2 in. mark with orange tip 16 stars, fill in center with white tip 16 stars.

Attach icing decorations to cake sides. Position candies around cake.



Have you ever seen anything cuter than these strawberry ghosts for appetizers? They are from Taste of Home.
They look pretty easy to make, too.
Strawberry Ghosts

30 fresh strawberries
8 ounces white baking chocolate, chopped
1 teaspoon shortening
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
Wash strawberries and gently pat with paper towels until completely dry. In a microwave-safe bowl, melt white chocolate and shortening at 50% power; stir until smooth. Stir in extract.
Dip strawberries in chocolate mixture; place on a waxed paper-lined baking sheet, allowing excess chocolate to form the ghosts' tails. Immediately press chocolate chips into coating for eyes. Freeze for 5 minutes.
In a microwave-safe bowl, melt remaining chocolate chips; stir until smooth. Dip a toothpick into melted chocolate and draw a mouth on each face. Yield: 2-1/2 dozen.