While talking to my sister recently, she whipped out her iphone to show me a picture of a Halloween theme cake. Wow... I was swooned by it, and suggested we make it together. She gladly agreed and we spent half a day baking and decorating the cake, & bonding with each other  (err.. while waiting for the cake to bake/cool, we also ended up shopping online... haha that's the result of two ladies coming together =P )

The challenge for us, is in making the meringue ghosts. Luckily, we managed to get some ideas from  Joy of Baking. My sister did a really wonderful job in piping the meringue. However, the key ingredient needed is also patience. Meringue has to baked at very low heat, and ours took about 1.5hrs to to be ready.

I must admit that I've never taken a fancy for meringue. When I see them in shops, I always wonder who would buy them home. My impression of them is they are dry and just too sweet. While it's true that they are very sweet, freshly made meringue does taste very good - crispy on the outside, and soft inside. It's like a lighter, and not so sticky version of marshmallows.

scary or cute?

I didn't follow the initial recipe for the chocolate cake, but tried out the Moist Chocolate Cake from here.




Recipe for Meringue Ghosts

2 egg whites
100g caster sugar
*Makes about 24 small ghosts. The proportion for meringue is always 1 egg white to 50g sugar. 

Beat the egg whites till stiff. Pipe out the shape onto a lined baking tray. Bake at 110 degree celsius for 1 to 1.5hr depending on the size / height of your meringue.

Am submitting this for October event hosted by Hankerie.