Ingredients
White Sheet Cake
Confectioners’ Sugar Icing
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, for eyes and mouth
Directions
1.Using a 1 1/2-inch cookie cutter, cut out circles from cake. Brush off any crumbs with a pastry brush.

2.Fit a pastry bag with a plastic coupler, and top cake rounds with icing in a ghost or hat shape,about 1 inch high.

3.Place a wire rack over a rimmed baking sheet; set aside. Set an iced cake round on a fork; hold over bowl of glaze. Using a large spoon, drizzle glaze evenly over cake and icing until completely covered. Transfer to wire rack. Repeat with remaining rounds. Let set, about 5 minutes.

4.Place chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water; stir chocolate until melted. Transfer to a disposable pastry bag or resealable plastic bag; snip off tip with scissors. Pipe eyes and a mouth onto ghosts.

1 cup self-rising flour
2/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 large egg
1/2 cup canned pure pumpkin
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Chopped crystallized ginger (optional)
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
Orange and black food coloring; orange, black, white, and yellow candies and sugar crystals
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 mini muffin cups with 1 3/4x 1-inch paper liners. Mix flour, golden brown sugar, and pumpkin pie spice in large bowl. Whisk egg, canned pure pumpkin, vegetable oil, sour cream, and vanilla extract in medium bowl. Add mixture to dry ingredients; stir to fully combine. Spoon batter into paper liners (batter will almost fill liners). Scatter crystallized ginger over, if desired. Bake cupcakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 16 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan and let cool completely on rack. Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl to blend. Beat in powdered sugar. 

Divide frosting among 3 bowls. Tint frosting in first bowl with orange coloring (or combine red and yellow coloring to make orange) and frosting in second bowl with black coloring, keeping frosting in third bowl white. Chill frosting 2 hours or until firm enough to easily spread. Frost cupcakes; decorate using candy and sugar crystals as desired.

What you will need: (makes about 12 mini pumpkins)
12-Cavity Mini Bundt Pan, found where Wilton products are sold, I found mine at Walmart.
1 Cake Mix of your preferred flavor
1 can frosting, cream cheese or vanilla
Orange sanding sugar
Tootsie rolls 

Bake your recipe or mix according to the directions, but make sure to fully coat your pan with cooking spray. After baking, let the cakes cool completely before trying to remove them from the pans. You may have excess cake creating a “muffin top”, which can be cut off like in the photos above.

Place one cake on top of the other and it’s already beginning to look like a mini pumpkin!

Form the stems out of tootsie rolls and create a tootsie roll “disk” so the stem doesn’t fall through the hole on the top of the cake, and set aside.

Spread your frosting in between the two cakes and frost the outside. It doesn’t need to be perfect, since you will be covering the pumpkins with sanding sugar, but you may have to put them in the freezer for a few minutes for easier spreading. Place the tootsie roll stems in the top of the mini bundt cake and cover with extra frosting. Sprinkle sanding sugar over the whole pumpkin.

Ingredients

Unsalted butter, for pans

Unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder, for pans

3 batches Devil’s Food Cake Batter

Chocolate Buttercream

1 package (10.58 ounces) soft chocolate torrone or nougat, cut into 2- to 2 1/2-inch blocks

1 thick block milk chocolate, for shaving

Haunted-House Chocolate Cookies

Candy Cats, optional

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Butter three 11-by-2-inch round cake pans and three 9-by-2-inch round cake pans. Line bottoms with parchment, then butter parchment. Dust pans with cocoa powder, and tap out excess.

Pour 5 cups devil’s food cake batter into each 11-inch pan and 3 cups batter into each 9-inch pan. Bake, rotating pans halfway, until testers inserted in centers come out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool in pans on wire racks. Invert cakes. Remove parchment. Trim tops of each cake to create a flat surface. Reserve trimmings for another use.

To assemble the cake: Secure one 11-inch cake layer to corresponding-size round foam board with a dab of chocolate buttercream. Spread 2 cups buttercream on top. Stack another 11-inch cake on top of frosting, and frost as before. Top with remaining 11-inch cake. Spread 1 cup frosting over top and sides of tier, scraping lightly to create a crumb coat, and refrigerate until frosting is firm, about 30 minutes. Spread 2 cups frosting over entire tier until smooth. Repeat with 9-inch cake layers, using 1 cup frosting between layers, 1/2 cup for crumb coat, and 1 cup for the final coat. Trim 5 dowels to height of 9-inch tier and 6 to height of 11-inch tier. Insert dowels in corresponding tiers in a circle 2 1/2 inches from the edge of cake.

Center 9-inch tier over 11-inch tier, pressing gently to secure. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch round tip with remaining buttercream. Pipe pearls around bottoms of tiers.

Cut toothpicks in half. Insert into torrone blocks, and push blocks into cake to create steps, starting from top of 9-inch tier and curving to bottom of 11-inch tier. Using a vegetable peeler, shave milk chocolate, and sprinkle over tops of both tiers.

Carefully transfer house to top of cake. Press cookie doors into cake in front of house. Decorate cake with cookie tree, tombstones, and candy cats if desired. Press caretaker cutout onto top of cake, behind house door. Arrange a flashlight behind cake to shine through door and windows. Cake will keep, refrigerated, up to 3 days.

Crust:
1 1/2 cup(s) ground chocolate wafers (Famous Chocolate Wafers)
4 tablespoon(s) sugar
5 tablespoon(s) butter, melted
Filling:
2 package(s) (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup(s) sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon(s) grated orange zest
1/2 cup(s) sour cream
Yellow food coloring
Directions
Heat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom.

Combine cookie crumbs, sugar, and melted butter in a medium bowl; stir well. Press crumbs evenly onto bottom and sides of prepared tart pan. Bake until fragrant and lightly toasted, about 7 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Reduce oven temperature to 325°F.

Beat cream cheese and sugar in a medium bowl, until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and making sure to scrape sides of the bowl. Add orange zest and sour cream and beat until just blended.

Add 4 drops of yellow food coloring and stir well to blend. Remove 1/2 cup of the cheesecake batter and place into a small bowl. Add 5 drops of yellow food coloring to the 1/2 cup batter and stir well. Spoon into a resealable bag.

Pour light yellow batter into baked tart crust and smooth top. Snip a very small corner from bag with darker yellow batter. Pipe random spots of batter on top of the tart in a variety of sizes to make the cheese holes. Bake tart until lightly puffed and center is just set, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; cool completely. Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving. Serve with Chocolate Rats.

Chocolate Rats
Ingredients
8 large strawberries, stems removed
Sliced almonds
1 container(s) (7 ounces) dipping chocolate
1/2 cup(s) black decorating sugar
Yellow and brown candy-coated chocolate-covered sunflower seeds
Slivered almonds
Black licorice laces
Directions
Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Trim a small piece from one side of each strawberry so they can rest horizontally on wax paper. Insert 2 sliced almonds — about 1 inch from pointed end of strawberry and about 1 inch apart — to make the ears of the rat.

Follow heating directions for dipping chocolate. Insert a fork into the large end of a strawberry. Holding strawberry on fork over container of dipping chocolate, spoon chocolate over strawberry to coat. Allow excess chocolate to drip off, tapping fork lightly. Sprinkle with black sugar to coat and transfer strawberry to prepared cookie sheet. Add yellow candies for the eyes, slivered almonds for the teeth, and brown candies for the nose. Repeat with the remaining 7 strawberries. Refrigerate rats until ready to serve.

Make a hole with a toothpick in back side of a chocolate-covered strawberry and insert one end of a 4-inch piece of black licorice for the tail. Repeat with the remaining 7 strawberries. Serve with Creepy Critter Cheesecake. Read more: Chocolate Rats - Redbook Read more: Creepy Critter Cheesecake Recipe - Redbook

Ingredients

23 chocolate wafers (reserve 3 wafers for the bat wings)
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2/3 cup chopped Twix Cookie Bars
4 tablespoons butter, melted
2/3 cup chopped Milky Way  Bars
1/4 cup lowfat milk
3 packages (8 oz. each) fat free cream cheese, room temperature
4 large eggs
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
Yellow food coloring
3 M&M’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Candies
1 8-inch round spring form pan(s)

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Prepare the baking pan. Line the bottom of an 8-inch round spring form pan with heavy-duty foil. Grease the pan’s sides and bottom. Wrap foil around the outside of the pan; set aside.

2. Process 20 chocolate wafers, 2 tablespoons of sugar and TWIX® Cookie Bars in a food processor fitted with a metal blade until finely ground. Add the melted butter and pulse until combined. Press the mixture evenly around the bottom of the prepared pan. Place that pan into a larger pan, such as a shallow roasting pan. Set aside. 

3. Prepare the batter by heating MILKY WAY® Bars and milk in a microwave until melted, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Stir until smooth. Set aside. 

4. Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and 3/4 cup sugar until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

5. Divide the batter between two mixing bowls. In one bowl, add cocoa powder and the chocolate mixture; stir until blended. Pour chocolate batter into the bottom of the prepared cake pan. Tint the remaining bowl of batter yellow. Gently spoon this yellow batter on top of the chocolate layer, covering it completely.

6. Before baking, create a water bath to keep the top of the cheesecake from badly cracking. Carefully pour boiling water into the roasting pan until it comes halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until the cheesecake sets with a 2-inch jiggly circle in the center. Turn off the oven and let the cheesecake remain inside for 30 minutes with the door ajar. At this time, remove the roasting pan to a wire rack, and allow the cheesecake to cool in the water bath until it lowers to room temperature. Remove the cheesecake pan from the water bath and loosely cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours before cutting into wedges.

7. To unmold the cake, gently run a small knife around the pan’s edges; loosen the hinge, and remove the cake. Place on a serving platter.

8. To make the bats, cut the 3 reserved cookie wafers in half. Either leave the edges jagged or, using a small cookie cutter, press out a scalloped edge. Arrange pairs of the cookie halves close together to resemble bat wings, pressing the inside tips slightly into the top of the cake. Place black M&M’S® Brand Peanut Butter Chocolate Candies in between for the bats’ bodies.

Yield: 12 to 14 servings
Prep Time: 40 min + cooling & chill times
Cook Time: 1 hr, 45 min 
Ingredients:
2 cups finely crushed Oreo cookies
1/4 cup butter, melted
3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
8 ounces mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
8 ounces sour cream
1 1/2 cups honey
1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
6 large eggs
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
yellow color paste (or gel)
orange color paste (or gel)
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, for topping
candy corn, for topping decoration
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 10-inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray (see tips below if you only have a 9-inch pan).

Prepare crust: In a medium bowl, mix cookie crumbs and butter. Press into bottom of prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes; remove from oven and let cool.

Prepare cheesecake: In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, mascarpone, and sour cream. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add honey and sugar; beat until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down sides of bowl, and beat until smooth. Reduce speed to low. Add flour, cream, and vanilla, beating until combined. Divide batter into thirds, reserving one-third of the batter white. In one bowl, add a small amount of yellow color paste; whisk until combined and add more color until desired hue is reached. In a second bowl, repeat this process with the orange color paste.

Pour yellow batter into baked cookie crust. Bake 30- 35 minutes, just until set and no longer jiggly. Remove from oven and let cool for 20 minutes.

Pour orange batter on top of the baked yellow layer. Bake for another 30-35 minutes, just until set and no longer jiggly. Remove from oven and let cool for 20 minutes.

Pour remaining untinted batter onto baked orange layer. Bake for another 30-35 minutes, just until set and no longer jiggly. Remove from oven and let cool completely.

Refrigerate for 24 hours. Gently run a sharp knife around the edge of the pan; then release the sides. Slide a long, sharp knife under the bottom of the crust and carefully slide the whole cheesecake onto a platter, removing the bottom of the pan (if you feel brave enough!)

In a medium bowl, whip 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream at high speed until stiff peaks form; spread whipped cream on top of cheesecake; use candy corn to decorate.

Tips:
*Color paste or gel can be found at craft stores like Michael’s. You can use liquid coloring in place of the paste/gel. Mix red & yellow to create orange.
*Using a 10-inch springform pan will ensure that you use up all of the batter in this recipe. I only had a 9-inch pan and left about 1/2 cup or so of batter out of each layer (with the extra batter, I made a mini cheesecake on the side).

Ingredients
For the Crust
Vegetable oil, cooking spray
18 ounces chocolate wafers (about 90), finely ground (4 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
6 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon coarse salt
For the Ganache
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate (preferably 61 percent), finely chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
For the Filling
32 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 cups heavy cream, cold
Candy Spiders, optional
Directions
Make the crust: Coat a 10-inch springform pan with cooking spray. Mix wafers, sugar, butter, and salt in a medium bowl. Pat mixture into pan, pressing firmly into bottom and all the way up sides. Cover, and refrigerate until ready to fill.

Make the ganache: Place chocolate in a food processor. Bring cream to a simmer in a small saucepan, then pour over chocolate. When chocolate begins to melt, process until smooth. Reserve 2 tablespoons ganache for decorating, and spread the remainder evenly on bottom and all the way up sides of crust. Cover, and refrigerate until ready to fill.

Make the filling: Beat cream cheese with a mixer on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low, and slowly add sugar and salt. Raise speed to medium-high, and beat until very fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in lemon juice.

Whisk cream until medium-stiff peaks form. Whisk 1/4 of the whipped cream into cream cheese mixture, then fold in remaining whipped cream. Pour filling into crust, and spread evenly. Gently tap bottom of pan on counter to release air bubbles.

Transfer reserved ganache to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch round tip. Starting in the center of the cheesecake, pipe a spiral, spacing lines about 1/2 inch apart. Pull the tip of a paring knife in a gently curved line from the center of the spiral to outer edge. Wipe knife clean, and repeat every inch or so to form a web.

Cover, and freeze for at least 1 hour or overnight. Unmold cheesecake, garnish with candy spiders if desired, and serve immediately.

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce

1 egg

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup raisins

1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

In a bowl, combine the first five ingredients. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Add to applesauce mixture; mix well. Stir in the raisins and walnuts. Pour into two greased 8-in. x 4-in. loaf pans. Bake at 350° for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Yield: 12-16 servings.

Ingredients

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, broken into pieces

1/2 cup boiling water

1/2 cup shortening

2 cups packed brown sugar

2 eggs, separated

2 cups sifted cake flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

COCOA FROSTING:

6 tablespoons butter, softened

3-1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar

1/2 cup baking cocoa

1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Pinch salt

4 to 6 tablespoons milk

Directions

In a small bowl, stir chocolate in boiling water until melted; cool for 10 minutes.

In a bowl, cream shortening and brown sugar. Beat in egg yolks and chocolate mixture. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk. Gradually beat in water, nuts and vanilla.

In a small bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form; fold into batter. Pour into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan. Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.

In a bowl, cream butter. Combine sugar and cocoa; gradually add to butter with vanilla, salt and enough milk to achieve desired spreading consistency. Frost cake. Yield: 12-15 servings.