Leprechaun Cupcakes

 Happy St. Patrick's Day!

     I used the holiday as an excuse to try out these Guinness and Baileys cupcakes I'd been hearing so much about. These are probably the best chocolate cupcakes I've ever had. The batter contains a generous amount of Guinness, which made them nice and moist without tasting of stout. They're filled with a Baileys-chocolate ganache and topped with Baileys buttercream icing and they taste like Irish heaven. 

I live in Canada, so all I could find were chocolate loonies... Deal with it.

Photo credits: Kelly Garsha

     You may or may not have heard of the movie Leprechaun (1993). It's mostly known for featuring a pre-Rachel Jennifer Aniston and for being awful. A leprechaun is trapped inside a wooden crate in a South Dakota basement for 10 years, until the four-leaf clover holding him captive is brushed aside. Now, he's on the loose, and he's after his gold. He can teleport and he's got a nasty set of chompers, but you can easily distract him by throwing dirty shoes in his direction, as he is compelled to polish them. I've definitely seen worse films, but this one is pretty bad. It consists mainly of Aniston screaming "Leave us alone!" and the Leprechaun replying "I want me gold!" However, there are some amusing sight gags and even a scene where a man is killed by a pogo stick. 

Try as they will, and try as they might, who steals me gold won't live through the night."

The rainbow cupcake featured in the second photo is from my Serpent and the Rainbow cupcakes.

The Serpent and the Rainbow

     I thought it was time to add some Caribbean flair to my blog to combat the late-winter blahs. These cupcakes and coffin-cake are banana rum. The rainbow icing is, well, rainbow and the coffin is covered in salted caramel icing. The "snake" was made from half-and-half and then painted, as were the almond "petals".

Photo credits: Kelly Garsha

     This sweet scene was inspired by Wes Craven's The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988). Loosely based on the non-fiction book of the same name, it tells the story of an ethnobotanist/anthropologist who travels to Haiti to investigate a poison used by vodou practitioners to make their victims appear dead. Later, they rise from the grave as zombies. It soon becomes clear that the more our curious scientist keeps "digging", the more likely he is to get voodooed himself. 

"Don't bury me... I'm not dead."

Do you like your cake with a side of cupcakes? Then take a look at these Shining Cakes.

Gingersnaps

     Gingersnaps are basically an excuse to eat gingerbread year-round, and I adore spice cookies. These ones appear to have fallen into the hands of a teenage werewolf. Ouch! I scratched them up when they were fresh from the oven, and the "blood" in the cuts is made from strawberry jam and grenadine.

Photo credits: Kelly Garsha

     These classic cookies also lend their name to the excellent Canadian werewolf movie Ginger Snaps (2000), which is probably my favourite coming-of-age horror film. Ginger and Brigitte Fitzgerald are two sisters who don't fit in at their high school, probably because they spend so much time faking their own deaths and hating their classmates. One evening, big sister Ginger falls victim to puberty, as well as the savage wild beast terrorizing their suburban neighbourhood. But hey... same thing, right? She loses control of her body and behaviour as she becomes a lycanthropic woman. Brigitte must do what she can to help the now unpredictable sister she used to know so well. I love this movie for the setting, the dark humour, and because for anyone who survived adolescence, the central metaphor is spot-on. 

"Ginge, what's going on? Something's wrong with you. More than you being just...female." 

If you like scary spice cookies, feast your eyes on my Nosferatu Pfeffernüsse.

28 Days Later Cupcakes

Feeling enraged? Here, have a cupcake...

     These are your standard infected chocolate cupcakes, dipped in red glaze and topped with rage-eyes and biohazard symbols made out of half-and-half (fondant + gum paste). To make the biohazard symbols, I consulted Zilly Rosen's book Zombie Cupcakes, an excellent resource if, like me, you prefer your desserts undead.

Photo credits: Kelly Garsha

     These cupcakes were inspired by a film that I hold very close to my heart. I'm talking, of course, about Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later (2002), one of the best "zombie" movies of this century. Every time I re-watch it, I find I like it more. The story is imaginative, detailed, and tragically human, not to mention scary as hell. Just thinking about the infected with their frantic yet absent expressions makes me want to barricade the doors and  windows. It's not all-killing-all-the-time, though. Boyle carefully balances the moments of boredom and terror that make up any apocalyptic tale worth its salt... or sugar, in this case. 

"Mmmmmm... Irradiated!" 

Do you like zombie movies? Then you'll want to check out my Dawn of the Gingerdead Men.

The Shining Cakes

Heeerrrree'ss Joohhnnnyy!

     First I made little fondant axes based on the one from the movie. I made an eggnog cake (gotta use it up) and a couple of eggnog cupcakes. The icing has some eggnog in it as well. It's a subtle flavour but makes for some really moist cakes! I cut off a slice and decorated it to look like a door, with white chocolate splinters and a chocolate chip doorknob.

Photo credits: Kelly Garsha

     These cakes pay homage to the famous scene from Kubrick's The Shining (1980). This is an excellent film that drips unsettling originality all over the screen. It tells the story of Jack Torrance, a writer who takes a job as caretaker of snowed-in hotel. He, his wife, their young son and a whole host of ghosts live together for months, cut off from the outside world. Eventually the cabin fever gets to Jack and he develops a strong dislike of bathroom doors and hedge mazes. 

Hey, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy! And evil ghosts don't help either.

And if you like cakes that don't look like cakes, check out my Evil Dead Cake.

Excision Lungcakes

And now for something gross to test your appetite...

     The cupcakes are basic vanilla with buttercream. I loved practising the swirls with my new decorating tips. I made the "lungs" out of half-and-half (equal parts fondant and gum paste) coloured pink. I made the ridges of the trachea and the branches of the bronchi and bronchioles using a matching pink icing. I then splattered them with a mixture of strawberry jam and grenadine. I got the idea of the lungs from Zilly Rosen's awesome book Zombie Cupcakes.

Photo credits: Kelly Garsha

     These cupcakes were inspired by the seriously creepy film Excision (2012) from newcomer Richard Bates Jr. Excision tells the story of an utterly insane teenage girl who is obsessed with blood and dreams of becoming a surgeon. No one imagines how destructive her delusions would become.The awkward dark humour makes it feel a bit like Donnie Darko, and her disturbing (day)dream sequences feel very Cronenbergian. Overall, the whole thing is superbly acted. It's excellent, but a word of warning: It is a disgusting, nightmarish trip. 

...Something less disturbing next time, I promise!

If you liked my lungcakes, be sure to check out my braincakes as well. 

What other body parts should I make?

Dawn of the Gingerbread

Ever wonder what happens to the poor gingerbread souls who still haven't been eaten days after Christmas?

Zombies! These cookies are made from your basic gingerbread recipe, cut to look like people, some of them sans limbs. Once baked and cooled, I decorated them using a basic milk+icing sugar glaze. 

Photo credits: Kelly Garsha

     These zombie cookies inspired me to re-watch Dawn of the Dead (2004). I'm probably among a minority group of people who actually prefer Snyder's remake of Romero's 1978 original. I recognize that the original is probably "better" in terms of originality, influence and social commentary, but I find the remake to be much more enjoyable. First of all, I prefer fast and strong zombies for their ability to scare the living daylights out of me, even if they are less "authentic." Then again, why can't we have both? If you don't have anything better to do with the rest of the holiday season, you can watch both of them while nibbling on some stale gingerbread.

Happy New Year!

Gremlin Cookies

Meet Gizmo, the sweetest little mogwai of the bunch!

     For these, I used a basic sugar cookie recipe and cut out individual, mogwai-shaped cookies before baking. Coincidentally, a mogwai head is about the same shape as Yoda's head, so you could easily double up on your pop culture references in one batch. Here, I kept it (sort of) simple. The icing is a basic glaze made from icing sugar and milk. The consistency should be smooth but not runny. I used gel colouring to get the right shades and then I broke out my paintbrushes and got to work.

Plush Gizmo, for comparison.

Photo credits: Kelly Garsha

     These sweet little treats might not look very terrifying, but appearances can be deceiving. They hail from the classic Christmas movie that gave you nightmares as a child: Gremlins (1984). It's hard to see how anyone wouldn't want a mogwai for Christmas. They're only the cutest pets imaginable. They sing, they play games and they're fairly low-maintenance, too. You only need to follow three simple rules: 1. Keep them out of bright light, 2. Don't get them wet, and 3. Never, ever feed them after midnight. Remember, the last one is especially important.

Merry Christmas!

Nightmare Before Christmas Cupcakes

Time to start making Christmas!

     These rich chocolate cupcakes are topped with fondant that I painted using food colouring and a few drops of vodka. It was just like doing watercolours! Once they've dried, you can't taste the alcohol at all. 

Photo credits: Kelly Garsha

     I've painted scenes from everyone's favourite macabre children's holiday classic, The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). Pictured above (clockwise) are Skeleton Jack's silhouette on a mountaintop, the Boogeyman,  Jack's ghost-dog Zero and a close-up of Skeleton Jack's face. As a small child, this movie was one of my earlier experiences with horror and dark comedy. I remember being captivated by the world of Halloween and all the creepy characters, stunning animation and catchy music. This might be a family-friendly film, but even today, as an adult, I find the scenes where Santa is mistreated to be incredibly disturbing. That's probably the only part I still don't like. I love Jack's hilariously misguided attempts to make Christmas, resulting in a hysterically funny and terrifying Christoween. If you haven't watched it in a while, I recommend putting it on again this season. It's as charming as ever!

Fingers from the Grave

Yikes, looks like somebody just won't stay buried!

     This week I used another Martha recipe, this time for Ladies' Fingers. Although, I think mine look much more disturbing than hers, with their bony knuckles and unvarnished, rotting nails...

Photo credits: Kelly Garsha

     These dreadful digits remind me of the final scare from the movie Carrie (1976). Carrie White is a very unfortunate teenage girl. She's the daughter of a religious fanatic and everyone at school hates her for existing. It just so happens that Carrie also has telekinetic powers, which she uses to exact revenge against the whole town. After the ordeal is over, a surviving classmate is racked with guilt at the way Carrie was treated, and visits Carrie's grave in her dreams. As she kneels down to lay flowers on the grave, an undead arm reaches out of the earth and grabs hold of her. Gotcha! She wakes up, screaming. This is one of my favourite jump scenes, and I am not a fan of jump scenes. I wonder if they'll try to do something like it in the remake that's coming out soon. We'll see.

If you've got a taste for terror... stay tuned for more Terrifying Treats.

Suspiria Cupcakes

These cupcakes have seen better days!

     I was inspired by this recipe from Martha Stewart, of all people. I used chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream icing. The sugar glass is made by heating sugar just short of caramelization. I added food colouring and made sugar glass in blue, green, orange and clear.

Photo credits: Kelly Garsha

     These cupcakes pay homage to the famous execution scene from Dario Argento's Suspiria (1977). A deranged murderer is on the loose in a ballet academy and ends up killing two birds (ballerinas) with one stone (stained glass ceiling). Suspiria is a brilliant, colourful, twisted movie that's a lot of fun to watch. It's about an American ballerina who moves to Munich to attend a prestigious ballet academy, when strange things start to happen...

Ouch, that's gotta hurt!

Minnie Castevet's Chocolate Mouse

     Mousse au chocolat or "chocolate mouse", as she calls it, is one of Minnie Castevet's speci-al-ities. I used a recipe involving Kahlua; it's like eating chocolate velvet. Each ramekin is initialed with pink icing.    

I know which one I'm eating...

Photo credits: Kelly Garsha

    So far I've chosen desserts and tried to make them scary, so this time I tried to think of horror movies in which a dessert plays an important role. My all-time  favourite horror movie, Rosemary's Baby (1968), just happened to fit the bill. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the pivotal pudding that gets the ball rolling, and the precursor to one of the most uncomfortable dream sequences of all time. From confection to conception. Allow me to explain...

     Rosemary's husband, Guy, answers the door after dinner and brings in two cups of chocolate mousse from their next-door neighbour, Minnie. One for him and one for her. As they eat, Rosemary notices a funny taste, while Guy denies this and aggressively tells her, "The old bat slaved all day on it; now eat it!" Even though she slips most of it into her napkin, within 10 minutes she's losing consciousness. Oh yeah, and when she wakes up the next morning, she's pregnant with the devil's child.  

"It has an undertaste... a chalky undertaste"

Teeth Cookies

     Try taking a bite out of these goofy cookies!  I have to admit, I didn't come up with the idea; it was based on the winner of the Toll House Spooktacular Baking Contest, which you can find here.  I omitted the almond slivers, since I made vampire cookies not too long ago, and went instead for a more generic, toothy look, with pink gums.  

Photo credits: Kelly Garsha

Okay, but what horror movies are about teeth?  Teeth... teeth...

I'm so sorry.

     Really though, Teeth (2007) is a pretty interesting movie, with an original concept.  Some parts are disgusting and other parts are hilarious and absurd.  Overall, it's fairly well-done.  Just do some research before you watch, and you'll find  out very quickly if it's your kind of movie or not.  

"Dentata... it's Latin for 'teeth'"