Castellon's Kitchen: Haunted Gingerbread Cake Topper

OK, so it's been almost a year since I've blogged. My absence was partially because I was working on moving my blog to a website at castellonskitchen.com, but I realized that I needed a lot more work done on it. Work that I needed to pay someone to do. So I've put it off. But the biggest reason for my absence, was that I had some issues with my last mammogram in April which led to a diagnostic mammogram to look at the area of calcification in my left breast. That then led to a biopsy to get a look at he cells from that area. Biopsy Result: Atypical Lobular Hyperplasia. The good news was that it was not cancer. However, the presence of these cellular changes indicated increased risk of developing breast cancer in that breast.

So the first step was to remove the area of calcification. So in June, I had surgery (lumpectomy) to remove the 2 inch area of calcification. Result: Pathology report revealed that there was no healthy margin of cells present in the removed tissue. Translation: We didn't get it all.

The next step was to review my options. Since it wasn't cancer, I had time to decide. My options were to begin hormone treatments to reduce risk along with increased mammogram screenings. Which, in my mind, that meant waiting for it to turn into cancer. The other option was to remove the breast. After consultation with my doctors and my husband, I decided to have the mastectomy to remove my left breast. I had a mastectomy 4 weeks ago and I'll undergo reconstruction in December. For me, it was the right decision and the pathology report validated it. The pathology report on the removed breast showed extensive atypical lobular hyerplasia and lobular carcinoma in situ throughout the breast. I can't help but think that if I had taken "the wait and see approach" and waited another 6 months to the next screening, I might have gotten a very different result. So the moral of my story is that I caught these changes in my breast tissue early through regular mammogram screenings. If you are weary about getting your mammograms each year, I know they are not the most comfortable things to get, but don't wait. Not only is October the happiest time of year for this Halloween-loving gal, it's also Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so use this time of heightened awareness to schedule your mammogram today!

With these health concerns dominating my energies, I missed my annual Summer of Halloween this year which was a total bummer! But not to worry, I have this fun little recipe to get the Halloween juices flowing, even if it's a little later than usual. Reward all your efforts in self-care and do something fun! Pull out your stash of Halloween sprinkles and make this adorable Halloween Gingerbread Cake Topper! 🎃 Happy Halloween!

P.S. I must confess that I actually made these haunted Gingerbread houses at Christmastime last year after being inspired by a Mini Gingerbread Cookie Cutter I purchased from Cost Plus World Market. Since it's not Christmas, you can pick one up here to make your Halloween Houses.

Haunted Gingerbread Houses

1 stick butter

1/2 c brown sugar

1 cup molasses

2 eggs
Black gel food coloring (to desired darkness)

4 cups flour plus more as needed

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 T cloves

2 T cinnamon

2 T ginger

Royal Icing with added black food coloring
Betty Crocker® cookie icing, black
Black sugar

Various Halloween sprinkles (tombstones, pumpkins, bats, bones. eyeballs and ghosts)
Yellow Candy Melts (moon)
Favorite box Cake and chocolate frosting
Crushed chocolate sandwich cookies
Chocolate rocks, black

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream the butter and sugar. Add molasses and eggs and black food coloring. Add dry ingredients and mix until incorporated. Turn out on floured surface and add more flour until dough is not sticky. Portion out dough into small balls that can be rolled out to 1/8" thickness and to the dimensions that fit the cookie cutter. Place individually rolled dough on parchment lined cookie sheet and cut out gingerbread houses with floured cutter on the cookie sheet. Remove excess dough. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes and cool.

Royal Icing

2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1.5 T meringue powder
1-2 T water (to desired consistency)
Black gel food coloring

Add sugar and meringue power into a bowl and add 1 T of water and black food coloring and mix until you reach a stiff consistency that remains fluid enough to pipe but not drip. Add additional water and/or food coloring until desired results. If too thin add more sugar. Spoon icing into a piping bag or bottle with piping tip.

Begin assembling your cookie cutter gingerbread houses with royal icing and letting the royal icing dry completely.
I used Betty Crocker® cookie icing in black to color the roof and then sprinkled it black sugar while still wet and let it dry to a hard icing. Use your imagination to attach Halloween sprinkles to decorate each house.

Grape Stem Trees
For the trees, I cut off small branches of grape stems and coated them in melted chocolate and sprinkled with micro mini fall leaves while the chocolate was still wet.

Candy Full Moon
The full moon is made by tracing around a large round cookie cutter on parchment paper to use as a guide when pouring your melted yellow candy melts to create your moon. Spread candy melts over the parchment circle overlapping the line just a bit. While the chocolate is cooled, but not yet hardened, use the same cookie cutter to cut a clean edged circle of yellow candy melts. Leave candy moon on the parchment to cool completely. Use royal icing to attach small bat sprinkles to the full moon. Set aside.

Prepare Cake
Prepare box cake batter according to box instructions or make your favorite homemade cake. Pour 3/4 cup of batter into a prepared mini loaf pan. This small loaf will be used to make a raised tier for the two houses in the background. Pour the remaining cake batter into two prepared 8" cake rounds and bake the rounds according to package directions using the lower time in the range given on the instructions. Check for doneness, bake longer as needed. Bake the loaf pan for about 10-15 minutes, keeping an eye on it so it doesn't burn. Let cool completely.
Frost two layers of the cake and then add the mini loaf to the back half of the top of the cake. Test placement of the two background houses. If placement looks good. Frost rest of the cake. Crumble about 6 chocolate sandwich cookies in a food processor and sprinkle cake with cookie crumbles.

Assemble your Haunted Hamlet
Add three houses to the foreground and two the the background. Use royal icing to attach the full moon to the backs of the two background houses for stability Add grape stem trees and tombstones and sprinkle micro leaves under trees until you reach your desired look. I added black chocolate rocks to the base of the cake but if you can't find them, use your crushed cookies instead.