Jack o' Lantern

Today I have more of a story to tell. It's about Stingy Jack.

Stingy Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him. Since he was stingy and didn't want to pay for his drink, he told the Devil to turn himself into a coin so Jack can pay for the drinks. The Devil obeyed, and Jack decided to keep the money. Jack put the coin in his pocket, next to a silver cross, so the Devil couldn't change back to his original form. Eventually Jack freed the Devil, under the condition that he wouldn't bother him for a whole year, and if he died, the Devil wouldn't claim his soul.

The next year, Jack tricked the Devil (...again!) to climb a tree to pick some fruit. While the Devil was up there, Jack carved a Cross on the bark of the tree so that the Devil couldn't come down. This time, Jack had a plan. In order to free the Devil, he would have to promise him not to bother him for another 10 years, and if he died, the Devil wouldn't claim his soul.

Well, Jack died before the 10 years were up! But God couldn't allow such a person to enter Heaven. The Devil on the other hand, kept his promise not to take his soul (he was upset with Jack for tricking him-it's unlike the Devil to keep his word!). What the Devil did instead, he sent Jack into the dark night, with only a burning coal to light his way. Jack put the coal in a carved out turnip (he didn't want to burn his hands I guess) and has been roaming the Earth ever since. See, turnips, beets and potatoes were carved waaaay before pumpkins. The Irish were refering to this as "The Jack of the Lantern" and as we know it today, "Jack O' Lantern."

People in Ireland and Scotland started to make their own versions of Jack-o'-Lanterns and put them near windows or doors to scare Stingy Jack and other evil spirits away. In England, they carved beets.
When people immigrated to the Americas they found pumpkins more easily, and the tradition was kept as we know it today.

This is the story of the Jack-o'-Lantern. And that's how I came up with these:

Jack-o-Lantern Cookies

I decided to make these 6 designs as 1 vote since they are technically the same cookie :) I want to make these Pumpkin Spice Cookies, but that's only if I can find pumpkins to make pumpkin Puree. If not, these are going to be either Sugar Cookies, or something else I might find more interesting. The top is going to be frosting and the decorations most likely Chocolate Candy Melt.

Wacky Jack-o-Lantern Cupcakes

Same concept as the cookies. I am probably going to use sugar paste with these and use the smoother to make them even instead of 3D. I might even add some sparkles on the black part to make it more interesting. Chocolate Cupcake base.

Pumpkin Cupcakes

Yes, these are 2 different ones. On the first one you can see the half top of the pumpkin and on the other one wou can see the whole pumpkin. The first one will have a domed top whereas the other one will only have frosting to make the design. The darker orange area I think I will score and add orange sparkles to make it look interesting.

P.S. I decided that I have to add the entries more frequently so I can be done a week before Halloween. The reason is that I'm going to hold a Bake Sale on the 30th of October with the 10 most voted ideas. So I want to be able to get my supplies on time :)

I took my information from here.

Where did Halloween come from? Part 2

As I promised, today I am posting all the things I came up with for Candy Corn.

Candy Corn Chocolate Cake

This will be a Chocolate Cake with  Frosting in 3 colors: The original (white), Yellow and Orange.

Candy Corn Chocolate Cookie

This is a chocolate cookie, and I'm debating if I should use royal icing to cover it, ot sugar paste. Maybe add some sparkles to it ? If this one gets voted, I'll ask what everyone wants.

Candy Corn Meringue

This will be a Double Vanilla Bean Meringue in the original color (white), Yellow and Orange. I think that I'll have to use 3 piping bags for this and do each meringue, 1 by 1. We'll see.

Candy Corn Truffles

I would love to make these. One of those "looks so simple, tastes delicious." Or at least I think so :) Dark Chocolate with Orange (I love the combo) with a Candy Corn on top. The thing is, in Cyprus where I live, we don't have candy corn. So I either have to make it with a recipe I have, or pretend it with some sugar paste.

Candy Corn Ghost

This I took from the SugarBaby. She posted this on the post of her book, and the acrual recipe for the candy corn is in the book. Inside hides a chocolate cupcake. BOO! I think people will vote for this one since it has a wow factor to it (even though my drawing doesn't do it justice!)

Next set of drawings: Tuesday, Oct 4th.