Haunted house cake and classroom cupcakes

Since Ben's birthday is so close to Halloween, I made him a haunted house cake to celebrate. I used a pound cake since I knew I would be stacking the cake so high and it did seem to make a difference in the stability. I made the cake in two square pans (eight inches and 10 inches), then cut them into strips to make the shape of the house.

Here are the five layers with the vanilla buttercream crumb coat:



I made marshmallow fondant to cover the house. Since the crumb coat had dried, I added just a couple of drops of water to the back of the fondant to make it stick to the frosting, smoothed it, and used an impression mat to give the side of the house a stone texture. I knew I would be putting some darker color on the walls and wanted the pattern to provide shadows across the surface.

The house, covered in fondant:



I needed something more rigid than fondant for the shingles, shutters, and doors of the house, so I mixed the remaining fondant with gumpaste (in a half and half mixture). Square cutters made quick work of the pieces I needed. I set them aside to dry and went back to work on the house.



I don't have an airbrush machine, so I used black color spray to get a darker color on the house.



Now, on to the fun part--adding the details! I piped a bat for the top of the house out of chocolate, and attached the shutters and door with frosting. I used edible glue to attach the shingles to the roof, and did some final outlining with orange frosting.





The demolition begins:



Ben and I also made cupcakes for him to take to school to share with his class. I frosted them, then Ben decorated them generously with Halloween sprinkles: