Spooky snacks for halloween

Suitable from one year
Makes 12 fairy cakes

Fairy Cakes
100g (4 oz) soft margarine
100g (4 oz) caster sugar
2 eggs
100g (4 oz) self-raising flour
(substitute 2tbsp cocoa powder for 2 tbsp of the flour for chocolate fairy cakes)
1 tsp pure vanilla essence

Spider Cakes
100g / 4 oz milk chocolate
Liquorice laces
12 chocolate marshmallow teacakes
Liquorice Allsorts
Mini M&M's or mini coloured candy cake decorations
Coloured writing icing tubes (available in supermarkets)

Bat Cakes
100g (4 oz) softened butter
175g (6 oz) icing sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp milk
1 tube black writing icing
Black Liquorice Allsorts
Edible silver balls

To make the fairy cakes
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 (Fan oven 160C).

Cream the margarine and sugar together until light and fluffy and then beat in the eggs one at a time together with 1 tablespoon of the flour. Add the vanilla and fold in the remaining flour.

Line a bun tin with 12 paper cases, and fill each case about two-thirds full with the mixture.

Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes. Remove and put on a wire rack to cool before decorating.

To make the spider cakes
Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water.

Using a palette knife, cover each cake with some of the melted chocolate. Arrange eight liquorice strips for the spider's legs and stick a teacake in the centre.

Finish with sliced Liquorice Allsorts and mini-coloured candy as eyes. You can stick the candy on to the Liquorice Allsorts using a small blob of writing icing.

To make the bat cakes
To make the chocolate frosting, beat the butter until creamy. Sieve together the icing sugar and cocoa and gradually beat into the butter, together with the milk, using a wooden spoon.

When the cakes have cooled, cut off the tops of the cakes and cut into three sections. Use the two curved ends to make the wings (reserve the middle section). Draw a V with black writing icing on the wings.

Spread a thick layer of chocolate frosting over the surface of the cake, position the wings so that they stand up: you will need to cut small squares of cake from the middle section to position under the wings to prop them up.

Stick edible silver balls on top of black liquorice sweets for the bat's eyes.

Note: You could make six of each cake by simply substituting 1 tbsp cocoa powder for 1 tbsp flour for half of the mixture.