Velvet Vampire Punch

As I mentioned earlier, I was in charge of making the punch for the Halloween Party at work. I guess I impressed them enough the first time I made a punch for a company party.

I found many recipes for Halloween punches, but it was hard to choose just one. There were some extremely gross ones, but since I would have a limited kitchen, I had to find something easier to make. I saw this recipe, but it didn’t include an image. It didn’t sound too gruesome looking but it was the right color and perfect for the occasion.

I left the lychee eyeballs on the side on a plate as an optional garnish for the punch. You can see mine floating in there.

Also, this recipe includes a crazy amount of alcohol, but the taste is masked by the juice. Don’t let the flavor fool you though, it’s some strong stuff!

Velvet Vampire Punch
adapted from: Devine Dinner Party
printable recipe

ingredients:
1 can (12 oz.) frozen cranberry juice concentrate, partially thawed
1 can (6 oz.) frozen orange juice concentrate , partially thawed
1 can (6 oz.) frozen pineapple juice concentrate (I couldn’t find this, so I used orange pineapple juice)
1 C. freshly squeezed lemon juice (I used bottled)
2 C. brandy
2 bottles (750 mL each) Champagne, chilled

directions:
Prepare (dilute) juice concentrates according to the package directions. Combine.

Add lemon juice and brandy. Chill until cold.

Pour chilled juice mixture into your serving bowl. Pour in the champagne. Serve.

I doubled this to make a little over 3 gallons of punch.

Lychee Blueberry Eyeballs

Need a fun sweet drink garnish? These eyeballs would be perfect! Although they look really gross, they’re rather tasty.

During my company Halloween party, I was in charge of making the punch. I chose a red velvet punch and decided to add these eyeballs as drink garnishes. They taste great even without a drink!

Some of my coworkers were hesitant to try them because they looked so gross! One of my coworkers added this to a shot of vodka. What a great idea!

I wasn’t able to get fresh blueberries, so I used frozen. I defrosted them enough so that it wasn’t mushy, but soft enough to pierce a toothpick through. At the end the blueberries got too mushy, so if you can get fresh, that would be better. The mushy blueberries ended up staining my fingers and under my nails.

Lychee Blueberry Eyeballs
adapted: from Squidoo
printable recipe

ingredients:
1 can lychees, drained and patted dry (a 20 oz can yields about 18 lychees)
red fruit preserves (strawberry, raspberry or cherry) I used strawberry
blueberries

directions:
Fill lychees with preserves, enough to fill half way. Add a blueberry.

Pierce with a toothpick to hold everything together.

Use to garnish your favorite sweet punch drink.

Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Adapted from: Little Corner of Mine
Inspired from: Kraft
Made by: Cathy
Edited: 11/20/08 to add baking soda

Happy Halloween. I wanted to make a themed cake for Halloween this year. I had the day off so I made a pumpkin shaped pumpkin cake. I've never used canned pumpkin in anything, so I used fresh pumpkin for this recipe.

Cake Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups fresh pumpkin puree (or 1 15oz can)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
green ice cream cone

Frosting Ingredients:
8 oz cream cheese
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
red & yellow food coloring (I used gel food coloring)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC).
2. In a medium bowl combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. Mix together eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugars.
4. Mix in dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
5. Pour batter into a greased bundt pan or fluted pan.




6. Bake for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before inverting into a wire pan.

Frosting/Decorating Instructions:
1. Allow cake to fully cool before frosting.
2. Combine cream cheese, butter, and sugar. Mix well.
3. Add 2 parts red food coloring and 6 parts yellow food coloring (or as directed on package instructions for orange).
4. Frost in an upward motion.
5. Pour extra frosting into the center of the cake. Place the ice cream cone on top for the stem.
I had fun decorating this cake. I don't have a cake stand, so I frosted this on my wire cooling rack, with a pan underneath to catch drips. Then I use to knives to transfer the cake onto a foil lined pan.

If you can't find the green ice cream cone (I just happened to have one on hand), you can always reserve some frosting for the stem and frost it green. There was extra frosting that I reserved and will probably use for something else.