The Truth About Vampires

S Roberts asked:


Everyone loves chocolate cake; hand here is a fun recipe to make a Halloween cake that looks like a bat. It’s not hard to make, it starts off as a simple Chocolate Victoria sandwich cake but it is cleverly cut and put together to look like a bat.

Ingredients

2 tbsp cocoa

3 tbsp boiling water

225g/8oz soft margarine

225g/8oz caster sugar

4 eggs

225g/8oz self-raising flour

2tsp baking powder

For the Filling and Topping:

Strawberry jam

50g/2oz soft margarine

175g/6oz icing sugar, sifted

1 tbsp milk

A bar of Cooking Chocolate

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Grease and base line 20cm / 2×8in sandwich tins with greased greaseproof paper.

2. Blend the cocoa and water in a mixing bowl then leave to cool slightly. Measure all the remaining ingredients into the bowl and beat well until thoroughly blended. Divide the mixture evenly between the tins and level out.

3. Bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes or until well risen and the tops of the cakes spring back when lightly pressed with a finger. Leave to cool in the tins for a few moments then turn out, peel off the paper and finish cooling on a wire rack.

4. To make the butter cream, blend together the margarine, icing sugar and milk until smooth. Keep one of the pieces of sponge cake whole to form the base. Spread a thin even layer of jam on the cake base, and add half the icing and spread this out over the top of the jam.

5. Take the second piece of sponge and with a large round pastry cutter, cut a circle in the middle of the sponge. Now cut two more circles, one above and one below the centre hole. The two big cake halves left form the bats wings, stick them on top of the base of the cake with the scalloped shaped edges sticking outwards. (See picture at link below)

6. Take two of the three circles that were cut away when making the wings. Stick the two circles together with jam and icing and stick them in one of the triangle shapes between the wings to form the bat’s head. The final circle should be cut in half and stuck with icing above the bat’s head to form the ears. Bats have large ears you know.

7. Melt the cooking chocolate in the microwave for a couple of minutes – stirring half way through. Melt the cooking chocolate in the microwave for a couple of minutes – stirring half way through. Spread the chocolate evenly over the bat’s wings, head and ears. Give the Bat a face with some icing and red jelly sweets for spooky eyes.

This lovely bat cake makes a great centrepiece to any table. It will look as if you have spent hours slaving away to make him but as you will know, he was rather quick and easy. Just watch the slices of cake fly off the plate!

A few batty jokes…

Why don’t bats live alone?

They prefer to hang out with their friends.

How can you tell a vampire likes baseball?

Every night he turns into a bat.

How does a lady bat attract a mate?

She bats her eyes.

Why doesn’t anybody like Dracula?

He has a bat temper.

A group of bats, hanging at the ceiling of a cave, discovers a single bat standing upright underneath on the floor of the cave. Surprised by this unusual behaviour, they ask this fellow: “What the heck are you doing down there?” And the fellow shouts back: “Yoga!”

Joel Owens asked:


Are you still clueless about what costume to wear this Halloween? Still stressing out about what Halloween strange creatures to don? Instead of looking like Halloween because of stress and costume troubles, spice up the season with Twilight characters as costumes!

To help you out of your dilemma, I’ve come up with a wise list of Halloween strange creatures from the famous Twilight series that you can rock this Halloween.

Twilight Vampires

Who says you need to go traditional about Halloween strange creatures like vampires? Since Twilight came into the picture, vampires have never been so smoldering hot. Sport the look by wearing gold or yellow contacts and those sexy incisors are a must-have if you really want to get the look right.

Edward Cullen

Put on a rock-and-roll vibe by wearing your casual jeans and t-shirt that scream the Edward Cullen style. To finish the look, match it with bronze hair color, smear a little red on your lips, and make sure that you have a glowing alabaster-like look to your skin. On the other hand, if you want to look like a blood-deprived vampire, wear coal black contacts to recreate the look.

Rosalie Hale

Shock everyone with your electrifying presence as Rosalie Hale by wearing a long straight blonde wig (or a curly one if you like). Don a light beige ruffle baby-doll top and layer it with a white lacy top. Pull the Cullen crest by copying the real thing using hard clay or by just wearing a skull necklace to get the look. Accessorize with red lipstick and big round-loop earrings to accentuate the look. Oh, and don’t forget the bright yellow contacts!

Alice Cullen

As one of Halloween strange creatures, Alice Cullen might be your short stuff, but as they always say, great things come in small packages. Be Alice Cullen by wearing a black wig with a pixie-cut styling. Since she has one of the edgiest fashion sense among the Cullens, you can never go wrong with a little black dress layered with a red cropped jacket. Wear black leather boots, choker and bangles that totally yell rockstar. To really nail the look, wear red lipstick and gold or yellow contact lenses.

Jasper Hale

This tall and lean vampire is a stunner with his disheveled honey blond hair and regal stance. Sport the look by wearing a white long-sleeve shirt, black pants and black leather shoes. Then top the look with gold contact lenses and really pale skin to get the effect. Match the outfit with confidence and attitude and you are ready to rock the house as Jasper Hale.

In this day and age, originality is the name of the game. Who says you need to be like everyone else to make Halloween memorable? All you need are the right set of confidence to rock your costume, a little creativity and a fact or two about these Twilight vampires. Through this Twilight costume tips, become Halloween strange creatures all out to have fun.