My most ambitious project to date. I was fairly happy with how it turned out despite the fact it wasn’t perfect. Is anything ever perfect?While it looks fabulous, the average person’s reaction is probably: “I do NOT have days to dedicate to this.” Understandable.
If it looks too large, you can pick part and re-make that. Trust me, if you break it into parts, it’s much easier than it looks. Buck”eye” Lake was the most popular (they were eaten before everyone got to see the finished product! haha). The castle was the messiest, but may have been the tastiest.
OR…you can make just one of the delicious treat below.
“Chocolate Castle” made out of Grandma’s Best Brownies
“Buck-‘eye’ Lake” made out of Buckeyes
“Spider’s Nest” made out of Red Velvet & Dark Chocolate Cake Bites
“Mummy Meadow” made out of Strawberry & White Chocolate Cream Cheese Cake Bites
“Ghostly Graveyard” made out of Peanut Butter White Chocolate Ghosts
Mise en place has never been more important. I drew out the plans (It is quite obvious I am no one’s architect…but it gets the idea across). Then I gave each section it’s own “page” listing what was going into it. For example: Buckeye Lake had not only all of the the ingredients for the buckeyes, but also blueberry syrup, blue glitter gel, and extra M&M’s for the coastline.
After I purchased the ingredients, I sorted them on the counter by section (again). Then I double-checked and made sure I had everything! (Note that the brownies and two red velvet cakes had been made the day before).
Then I started with the hardest and worked towards the easiest. I made the spiders first. And about cried. They were hard to figure out.
Then I made the mummies.
The buckeyes.
The ghosts.
For actual assembly:
1) Start with the castle. Stack brownies, use frosting as cement. Dip ice cream cones in melted chocolate. Let them dry and then brush with frosting so the colors match. Details. I could have done much more, but I wanted to get everything done.
2) Border around the entire platform. I did not put a border/fence-line behind Buckeye Lake, but if I did this again: I would. The border is piped peanut butter and frosting.
3) Buckeye lake is mixed blueberry syrup and sparkly blue gel. (I waited to place buckeyes in the lake until last because the red dye likes to get all over.)
4) Mark out the path for slime river. Pipe sparkly green gel into river. Place M&M’s (or brown Reese’s Pieces) as the river border. Then touch up the river. Q-tips or toothpicks work well.
5) Castle path: chocolate syrup to hold candy corns vertical. Chocolate syrup as roadbed. Reese’s Pieces as bricks.
6) Mummy Meadow: crushed oreos sprinkled as base. Green sprinkles and little decorating balls for grass. Place the mummies.
7) Spider’s Nest: crushed oreos sprinkled as base. Red sparkles to give some slight contrast. Red candies as bushes along the border. Place the spiders. Have fun getting the legs to stay.
8) Ghostly graveyard: crushed oreos as dirt. Gummy worms half-buried throughout. I used “halloween gummy worms” that I found so the colors were seasonal. The graves are graham crackers brush with melted chocolate. Sparkly white gel to design. Ghosts and tombstones scattered around. If you are lucky enough to find the little skull and bones I did, put a few skeletons digging here way out in front of tombstones.
9) Detailing.
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