Spooky snacks for halloween

Makes 12 ghoulish ghost cakes

175g / 6 oz butter
175g / 6 oz caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 eggs
175g / 6 oz self-raising flour
900g / 2 lb ready-to-roll white icing
pink food colouring
tube of black writing icing

Beat together the caster sugar, butter and vanilla essence until light and fluffy. Add one egg at a time with a tablespoon of flour for each egg. Beat well, then fold in the remaining flour.

Spoon into 12 greased and floured dariole moulds, place on a baking tray and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180C / 350F / Gas mark 4 for 20 minutes (160C for fan oven). Remove from the oven and leave to cool. Cut the top of the cakes off to form a flat surface and then turn out on to a board or plate. Leave until completely cold.

Colour 75g / 2 1/2 oz of the icing pink using the food colouring. Roll out the remaining white icing on a surface dusted with cornflour and cut out 12 15cm / 6 inch circles (you can use a saucer as a guide). Drape these over the sponge cakes to form ghost figures. Cut out oval shapes from the pink icing (you can use a squashed piping nozzle for this) and dampen the pink icing shapes with a little water to attach them to the ghost. Use a blob of black Writing Icing for the pupils and draw a zigzag for the ghost's mouth.

Pumpkin oranges
These are like mini versions of a carved pumpkin. You could add some fruit to the jelly. Mandarin oranges or chopped tinned peaches are good

Suitable from one year
Preparation time 50 minutes

Makes 6 portions
6 large oranges
2 135g packets of jelly

Prepare the jelly according to the packet instructions and put in the fridge to set. Cut a slice from the stalk end of each orange.

Cut out eyes, nose and mouth shape from the orange using a sharp pointed knife.

Hollow out the oranges using a small sharp knife and spoon so that you are left with just a shell. Fill with chopped jelly.