Yes, it is that time again! Time to share my kitchen disasters with you. Halloween is almost here. This spooky season started with lots of foodie disasters and during this month of experimenting in my kitchen I have had many more to share with you.
I was so excited to make skull cupcakes with a tray I bought from Spirit Halloween and to try out this recipe for chocolate cupcakes.
They popped out perfectly! Just like the mold. Then, I tried to decorate them…
My first attempt ended up looking like a monkey mummy. Then the orange one looked like a combination of C3P0 and a Sandman from Star Wars! I tried doing a green one that just looked weird and then gave up and just added skull candies to the eyes of the last one. I have never said I was a cake decorator in any way and I think these results prove it. Not only that, the cupcakes were dry and completely forgettable. Bummer!
I think this disaster was the worst! I followed a recipe from a Halloween magazine where you combine cranberry juice, white grape juice, throw in lots of sliced fruit, brown sugar and cloves. Boil gently, strain into a glass and add a cinnamon stick. This witch’s brew is exactly what kids would think of when they think of a disgusting brewed concoction. Horrid! So bitter from the pith of the fruit, overwhelmed by the power of the cloves… absolutely revolting.
I had zero warning of how awful this drink was. I set up the shot, adding a pretty napkin for contrast to the graveyard tombstone… turned off my camera and sipped it. Almost spat it out! Yuck!!! DO NOT MAKE THIS!
I saw a cool idea for floating lychee eyeballs and tried making them without reading the instructions. The first time I tried making these I used a raspberry and it was too big and ripped the eyeball, LOL. I did get one to kind of fit and when I added it to my drink it flipped over!!! Damn it! So I went and read the instructions and you were supposed to freeze them with the blueberries in the center first. Doh!
The blueberries completely bled into the eyeball which I figured would look pretty cool but when I put them on a baking sheet to go into my deep freeze many of them were tipping over. I ended up bracing them on small mounds of sugar and freezing them. The results?
Not too shabby! The eyball did not tip over… I could not believe it! For a cool drink idea I filled a glass with some white grape juice and then drizzled in some grenadine over the back of a spoon and down the side so there would be a bloody disk at the bottom framing the lychee blueberry eyeball. Effective! The flavour? Fantastic! Loved the drink and the eyeball was absolutely delicious.
I wanted to try making marshmallow eyeballs too so I brewed up some hot chocolate and cut a marshmallow in half so the bottom would be sticky, hopefully ensuring these eyeballs would not immediately turn over in the frothy hot chocolate. With a knife I put a little bit of chocolate icing on the back of a chocolate chip and fastened it to the marshmallows. Would it tip over too???
Almost! It came close but they did not tip over completely and this way they looked really weird, their funky gaze following me everywhere. The best part? The taste! Normally I am not a huge fan of marshmallows in my hot chocolate but the heat softened the frosting and the chocolate chips so they melted in my mouth! Damn, so good!
So yes, there were many things that did not turn out the way I wanted. Some undrinkable, disappointing, frustrating but others were not too shabby. Despite the failures, I will miss experimenting with creepy treats in my kitchen until next year. Oh how life will be so boring now!
It is so important to experiment and not give up in the kitchen. Foodie disasters happen to everyone and make the successes that much more worthwhile!
Happy Halloween! I can see you have been having a ball.
Rita
great post! The lychee eyes look amazing.
I’m so glad to see that I’m not the only one that has disasters in the kitchen. Experimenting is fun!
You look like you are having so much fun, disasters or successes…it’s all FUN! 🙂
Hehehe, that what blogging is made up of. I’ve had many of those!!
I don’t think I’d like my hot chocolate to glare at me accusingly as I drink it. Oh, the guilt!
I know this is a bit dated, but for the choco. skulls, have you considered a thin white chocolate ganache or n uber-thin powdered sugar glaze?
Wade, that is genius! A ganache glaze would work, thank you! I am also considering using it for Jell-o molds as well so they don’t go to waste but I like your idea. 🙂 Thank you!