Editor's note: This recipe is adapted with permission from Cakes for Kids, by Matthew Mead.
Bake this cake for a Halloween party and your guests will be trick-or-treating at your house for years to come. If you wish to serve this cake in a compote or other shallow bowl as we did, be sure to place it on a cardboard base first so you'll be able to set it in the compote without disturbing your work.
Skill Level: Medium
•Choose your colors: The best food colorings to use are the gel and paste varieties; the liquid type comes in fewer colors and you need much more of it than of the gel or paste to achieve the same tint intensity. If you wish to mix a custom color, mix gel with gel, paste with paste, or liquid with liquid. Gel color comes in a bottle with a squeeze top; simply squeeze out drops of color. Paste color comes in a small jar; it is more concentrated than gel and you need less of it. Use a toothpick or the tip of an offset spatula to add a "drop" of paste color to your frosting.
• To tint frosting, add a few drops of color, mix thoroughly, and then add and mix in more color one drop at a time until the desired intensity is achieved.
• To fill a pastry bag with frosting or glaze, first fit a coupler and tip on the bag. Then fold down about 2 inches at the open end. Grasp the bag below the folded-down section (or support it in a small glass) and fill the bag half full with the frosting. Unfold the bag and twist the top, forcing the frosting down into the tip.
• You can use ready-made green candy leaves and green candy strings instead of tendrils if you don't wish to pipe the frosting.
• Instead of using fondant for the features, you can roll black gumdrops between sheets of waxed paper.
