Edible Cemetery

Ok, the title sounds disgusting, but it's really not. It's just a cake, people!

Here's the deal. My wife's birthday was yesterday. Because it's so close to Halloween, she tends to get more spooky themed birthdays than anything else. This year was no exception. I found a fun recipe for a "cemetery cake" over at the web site of the American chocolate god, 'Hershey' (does that make me a polytheist?) and made it for her.

It's more of a decoration idea than a recipe, but I had fun. Of course, I modified it to the local cookies and candies (more store brand, less brand name), but it was quite it hit with everyone. For example, I just used a regular cake mix, not the "brownie mix." I also used square iced-oatmeal cookies for the fence and stairs. In a fit of creativity (or maybe just so it would fit better on my cake platter) I cut out a section of the cake to put the stairs into, rather than leave them on the outside. I'm also lazy. I used milk-chocolate icing instead of combining the cocoa with vanilla icing.

I learned a few things too, and not about baking. Three-year-olds are a lot sneakier than they seem. Don't buy the innocent looks they give you. No, way. When it comes to candy and cake they'll sell you out to the first bidder. My three year old decided she should taste the cake before anyone else. She pulled most of the frosting and a bit of the cake, off the right hand side of it before I could even get a picture taken. She knew she shouldn't do it, either, or she would have gone for something a little more obvious, like the head stones.

Now you know why I had to photograph it at the angle I did.