I’ve made a lot of Halloween progress this past week! Since I can’t assemble the gingerbread haunted house until the last couple days, I’ve been working on the accessories so they’re all ready to put in place. I can’t show you the figures because they are part of the quiz, but at least they are as complete as they can be before putting in place. These are mini hollow jack o’ lanterns hand-sculpted from marshmallow fondant that are open on the bottom to sit over LED flicker tealights. I will paint them orange later but I was so excited they turned out so well I already took a photo!
I’ve also been experimenting with new Mojitoes, since the original recipe I thought was solid enough for the first book in 2008 was acting weird in 2009, so I took a year off last year. These are lime gelatin with mint extract, rum & evaporated milk, and conveniently one box of gelatin (1.5 cups liquid) makes a dozen of my toe molds. I think I finally have the best plan for making the food-grade silicone molds with the least amount of material, so I plan on selling them next season with the recipe included. I will be making “virgin” Mojitoes too, with different color toenails so everyone is aware which ones they’re eating!
Sunday evening was a continuing frustrating fight getting the gingerbread all baked first, so when I finally got out my new edible printer, set everything up, and printed my first frosting sheet of Tasty Tombstones, I was literally so happy I squealed for joy! 
These are the first batch, and I decided to try baking the sheets directly on the tinted gray shortbread, and they worked perfectly & taste great! (And since I used margarine, they’re even vegan, including the frosting sheets!) These are images of my foam carved & painted gravestones, with the original eiptaphs edited out in Photoshop, then with my favorite “punny” epitaphs instead. These will populate the haunted house cemetery (one you cannot see in the photo is a clue!) as well as I have 5.5 dozen more to serve at the party. Since I can mail the printed frosting sheets in flat-rate USPS Priority Mail envelopes, I plan to sell these next season too, as the set of 13 punny ones with the recipe included, as well as a blank set to write your own epitaphs with food coloring pens, or custom epitaphs for a higher price.
So for party food progress, I am very pleased that these are already done:
4 dozen Savory Spiders biscuits in freezer, ready to bake party morning
5.5 dozen Pumpkin Pasties in freezer, ready to bake party morning
5.5 dozen Tasty Tombstones ready to serve, plus 14 for the cemetery
3 dozen Mojitoes so far, easy to whip up a dozen to set in the fridge overnight so will continue
11 dozen Brittle Bones safely in plastic hoping they don’t go soggy
Freaky Witches Fingers dough is chilled, ready to form & bake soon
The Etsy-profits spending spree continued with these dragon sconces I’ve had my eye on for years from DesignToscano.com. I finally splurged on the set of 6 for Halloween decor now, plus permanent installation in the castle I will build someday. 
2 will flank the pipe organ, 2 will be out front as part of secret project #2, one will be in the dining area, but I haven’t found a place for #6 so it’s safely in the box.
Since the current Airport Express models allow wifi and cabled ethernet now, I have solved the patio webcam wifi issue by avoiding it! A long ethernet patch cable from the Express inside the garage out to the webcam is working like a charm now, but the cable is thick enough it won’t fit through the door gap like the thin power cable does, so I will be drilling a hole this weekend for the cables to come through the garage wall to the patio up at the ceiling corner. Cron jobs are set up to capture final party prep & the party, so it looks like the webcast will be a go again!
Hopefully I won’t jinx myself that I think I have now solved all the technical difficulties that cropped up for secret project #1, so that is definitely a go! Secret project #2 is well underway, and the new paint sprayer has been working great with only a little water required to thin my paint, but has a LOT to finish this weekend. I am very pleased to have two house-elves who volunteered this year, one for extra hands & collaborating with the two secret projects, and another for Thursday evening, Friday evening & party day prep! I painted all the LED tapers black one by one over several days, but since it’s spray paint over wax, it can easily be scratch or bumped off, so I have saved the original plastic box packaging for later storage. All the gingerbread haunted house pieces were baked over the weekend & are safely in plastic bins with silica gel until decorating commences this weekend, but I still have to get my costume done first so all the non-food projects can clear the main worktable. Here are a couple hints since the shirt & skirt are now complete…can you guess what my costume is yet? 
I’ll try to update again next week before the final party prep crunch! Hope everyone is enjoying your Halloween season!
Subscribe RSS
Holy crap you’re talented!
Do you have some sort of actual “edible printer” (no, not one you eat), or are these just edible sheets running through a regular printer with edible ink?
Love those scones, although I tracked them down to designtoscano.com (not just toscano.com) out of curiosity.
I’m going to have to see if you’ve posted anything else on the fondant “candle” covers…whenever I’ve tried working with the stuff I’ve NEVER liked the taste (and my friends agreed the flavor wasn’t good), but you’re using it in an incredibly interesting new way. I’m assuming these little guys will dry and possibly become brittle? How long would you say it takes you to make each jack-o-lantern?
We’ve actually decided not to have our Halloween party this year – it’ll be my first year not having it in over a decade, and I’m both enjoying the downtime of not having to prep, spend all the money, etc annnnnd it’s killing me just a little bit. I can live vicariously through your blog!
Yes it’s a regular printer but to keep it food safe it is brand-new & never been used with normal inks. Kopykake makes food coloring cartridges for several printer brands & models, and they also make the frosting sheets. I found resellers on Amazon selling for good prices, and could use my Amazon points toward the purchases.
I agree, normal fondant tastes icky, and the prebought stuff is expensive. I always avoided fondant because of those reasons until a reader recommended marshmallow fondant and that her guests loved the flavor. I tried it for the guitar hero cake 3 years ago, & everyone loved it, so I have been using it ever since. The only reason I would buy fondant would be for a vegan or vegetarian since there is gelatin in the marshmallows. It is also super-cheap to make, and easy if you have a stand mixer with a dough hook. I made it by hand the first few times and it’s really messy but still works. http://whatscookingamerica.net/PegW/Fondant.htm
The set of 13 pumpkins was a couple hours to make. The hardest part was making them hollow but still pumpkin shape curving at the bottom, so I basically made deep cups hollowed out with my thumb. After I got them into shape and added the grooves with the back of a knife, I let them dry while I made a couple more pumpkins before I cut the faces. They have been drying in open air in my pantry a week now, so they are nice & hard, but chewable like stiff candy, not crunchy like royal icing. If they touch moisture, they will soften again & eventually melt, so I will paint them carefully.
Glad I can provide you with vicarious party prep!
I can see you now, re-enacting the famous scene from Ghost, where you have fondant jack-o-lanterns forming upside down on a pottery wheel, digging your thumbs in to hollow them out while Patrick Swayze helps from behind! LOL
Just got your latest book the other day – great stuff!! Even though we’re not having the Halloween party this year and SWORE that meant I should have zero Halloween expenditures, your book had me on Amazon ordering some of the color-changing tea lights, which should be arriving today. I think they’ll look great on the front porch with some of the other decorating, and I might be rigging up a simple crystal ball for my bf’s mom to sit out on the porch, dressed as a gypsy/fortune teller, giving out candy and reading fortunes for the neighborhood kids who have a “private” party followed by their trick-or-treating.
Since most cities have moved trick-or-treating to daytime, it’s just not as much fun – so a family in our neighborhood has a private party for the kids and then if neighbor’s want, we can pass out candy to them as they go around on a scavenger hunt. Sure, it means the kids could be double dipping if they also do the daytime t-o-t, but ooooh well, good for them!
I love your website!And you did such a great job on the archway!I was also wondering where the webcam was going to be online so your fans can watch the party?Hope you have a great one.
Hilary