Halloween Party!

My last baking project--vegan chocolate cake! It was super moist and delicious. I got the recipe from Instructables: http://www.instructables.com/id/The-BEST-chococlate-cake-ever...that-happens-to-be/ But of course I adjusted the recipe.                     Cake Ingredients 

1 1/4 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used at least half Hersey's "special dark" choc cocoa)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup warm water (I used coffee)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp distilled white or apple cider vinegar (I used white)

Also I doubled the recipe to make a layer cake. The directions didn't say to, but I beat the wet and dry ingredients separately, then together. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30min or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Chocolate Glaze

1/2 cup sugar
4 tbsp margarine
2 tbsp soy milk
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp vanilla extract 

Ok, if you truly want it to be vegan, you can't use any old margarine--you have to use something like earth balance that is 100% veggie oil. The girl who wrote the recipe says that if you don't care about it being vegan, you can use butter and regular milk. I used crisco because that is what I had. 

You bring the sugar, margarine, milk and cocoa to a boil in a saucepan stirring frequently. Simmer for 2 minutes stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir for 5 min. Add vanilla and pour over cake immediately! 

The glaze was good, but the sugar didn't dissolve completely so it had a bit of a gritty texture. Maybe using super-fine sugar would help or even powdered??? Maybe that would make it into more of a frosting I don't know. Still yummy. The cake turned out super dark too, perfect for halloween with the drippy glaze so I dubbed it MIDNIGHT CAKE.

On to decorations! Our hearth. Punch served out of the cauldron. Oh! Punch recipe. This was cheapo champagne, cheapo white wine, sprite (sparkling water would make a less sweet version), vodka, frozen lime, cranberry, and pink lemonade concentrates. I am not bothering to put proportions, because I remade it many different times throughout the night with no regard to amounts and it was SO GOOD. I also froze blue-green water in a glove and had removed the glove for a hand shaped ice float. Cool at first, but the fingers melted pretty quick.

Brainz

The Spread.
Guac was also present, along with pigs in blankets (or bandaged baby toes?) not pictured.

 The Laboratory--AKA a G&T station. The glowing stuff is tonic--turns out quinine glows under blacklight. We put Rose's lime in the test tubes.

 The witchy mantel

 witchy mantel detail

 This is a seaweed I found at the beach with Michael and Emily

A little owl in these squiggly branches I also collected on my outing with M&E. I climbed up in this willow-y type tree and knocked them down (already dead) but they look so cool. Better in real life.

 Me in my laboratory

 Nathan beats me up (he is dressed as my nemesis Captain Hammer, although you can't see his shirt in this photo)

Roughly like this, except I'm the Dr. Horrible from the end of the movie, so that's why my coat is red.

 This photo is for Steph! Me, Michael, Hannah. Reunited!

 This is the plum bistro crowd who showed up!