Halloween is tomorrow! Blogtober is over! What a month this has been!

My original plan for this post was to decorate a box cake with chocolates set in molds. However, I have been OBSESSED with Christine McConnell and her new Netflix series The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell and I decided to step up my game! No boxed cake, no molds, no store bought costume - all handmade.

While my work is sloppy and amateur, I learned A LOT. Plus, if you look at it all from a distance, it doesn’t look half bad!

The Cake

What could be better than a cake made from the blood of the innocent, the wings of a demonic bat, and poison apples? If you don’t have these fresh ingredients on hand, store bought is fine. Demonic bats are seasonal, so if you can’t find them at your local Kroger, I recommend chocolate as an acceptable substitute. Caramel sauce with red food dye makes for a tasty, if not less exciting, substitute for blood. Lastly, if poison apples are all sold out (as they normally are this time of year), honey crisp apples work just fine.

I found the recipe for this really yummy Apple Spice Cake by Preppy Kitchen on Instagram. John Kranell, the baker for Preppy Kitchen, has a great IG feed, website, and YouTube channel. While his cakes may not summon the fires of hell, they happen to be absolutely delicious.

Having never baked an apple cake or made buttercream frosting in my life, I had a few disastrous moments that almost led to an emotional breakdown and homicide. However, no humans were harmed in the making of this cake (all work and no play, amiright?) and I am very happy with how it turned out! All I did differently from the Preppy Kitchen recipe was to add red food dye to the caramel sauce, fully frost the entire cake, and make deliciously terrifying chocolate decorations.

Piping chocolate was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Obviously, they’re a bit sloppy looking but I think they’re A-OK for my very first attempt! I added a support base to the wings so I could insert them into the cake, but if I’m being honest, they ended up falling down after a bit. Better luck next time, right?

All in all, I’m so proud of this cake!

The Ears

After making the felt pig ears for my DIY Pig in a Blanket costume, I knew I wanted to make ears that looked a bit more realistic. Capturing a werewolf in the wild, surgically removing its ears, and magically adhering them to my head seemed like too much work for a lazy Saturday. Instead, I thought craft fur would be an easier approach.

I’ve never worked with fake fur before but Michaels sells a small strip of craft fur for $3 that was perfect for my ears needs. I had some leftover felt to use on the inside of the ears, bought a $0.99 pack of pipe cleaner for structural support and foldability, and purchased a $0.30 sheet of foam paper for a base. All in all, I spent less than $5 on these!

While they may look a bit rough, they didn’t look half bad when I put them on. It was cheap, pretty easy, and realistic-ish from a distance. That is all I needed!

Supplies

Craft Fur
White Felt and Light Pink Felt
Foam Sheet
Pipe Cleaner
Headband
Hot Glue
Scissors

Step One - make base

Cut out the desired shape of your ear on the foam sheet.
Glue the foam onto the white felt and cut around it.
Cut and glue pipe cleaner around the shape of the ear to provide support and allow you to shape the ears once you’re done.

Step two - add fur

Glue the pipe-side of the ear to the inside part of the fur.
Cut out about 3/4” extra around the sides.
Glue and wrap the excess around the ear.

Step three - Mold Ears

Glue only the bottom part of the ears to a headband. This allows the top part to be molded and wrap around your ear.
Fluff the fur on the ears.
Put on your ears. Howl at the moon. Leave no evidence.
Enjoy!

Blogtober | Happy Halloween!