First Apartment, First Kitchen: Jack-O-Lantern Fun: Cupcakes & Pumpkin Carving!

Monday, October 18

Jack-O-Lantern Fun: Cupcakes & Pumpkin Carving!

Daddy tried to get his attention away from the
cupcake...

Humptoberfest 2010 was a blast!

Everyone contributed a little here and a little there...

Just read the menu:

Homemade Cider Beer (by the hostess-with-the-most-est, JH himself!)

Fresh fruit & dip (cream cheese, marshmallow fluff, & powdered sugar)

Chips & cheese dip (plus pretzels to dip too)

Crispy Cabbage Salad

A fresh bean, corn, veggie salad (recipe to come)

Potato salad

Grilled chicken & brats (plus grilled onions and peppers to top them off)

For dessert:

Lemon & blueberry pie

Chocolate pie

Some sort of apple crisp pie combination...

AND...

Jack-o-Lantern cupcakes for dessert!

   The cupcakes were a crowd-pleaser, once again. Little did I know, but there was going to be a clan of kids - from 15 months to 10 years old - and the cupcakes were a huge hit! All of the kids were ADORABLE... I may have done more puzzles, drawing, and played with the kids more than I talked to the adults!
   The cupcakes are great for any Halloween occasion... and they're so so so easy! I use cake mix because the frosting takes a decent amount of time. Plus kids don't care whether they're homemade or what they taste like--the decorating is WAY more important!!!
   Grab a box of Devil's Food Chocolate and a box of Yellow Cake Mix (I use Pillsbury) and go cupcake crazy! I made a batch of each (48 total) and bought 2 tubs of vanilla frosting. To the frosting, I added yellow and red food coloring and mixed with an electric mixer until I got the desired orange color I wanted. Frost the cupcakes once they've cooled, and decorate with black and green gel to make funny Jack-o-Lanterns any kid (or grown up) will love!