Long before trick or treating, people in the north of England went ‘guising’ from house to house dressed up as witches, wizards and ghosts. Their reward for doing a turn or saying a poem on the doorstep was often a Halloween cake. Try them out on your trick or treaters this year.
50g butter
50g sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp flavouring: try cocoa powder, essence of coffee or almond, caraway seeds or desiccated coconut
1 tsp nuts, raisins, currants, glace cherries or other dried fruit
50g self-raising flour
To decorate:
Whole dried apricots
Black icing pen
Pumpkin seeds
Heat the oven to 200 degrees C/Gas Mark 6.
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg with the essence (if using). Fold in the nuts or dried fruit and other flavourings (we used caraway seeds here) with the flour. Place in bun cases in a bun tray, and gently push a whole dried apricot into the top of each cake. Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.
To decorate, draw a face on the apricot in black icing, then add a pumpkin seed as a stalk.
