Graveyard trick or treat cake

Preheat the oven to 175ºC. Line a 34 x 24cm rectangle cake tin with baking paper.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium-sized bowl.

Beat together the sugar and eggs in another medium bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Then stir together the melted butter, liquid glucose, food colouring and vanilla. Gradually pour into the whipped eggs.

Using a spatula, fold in half the dry ingredients and then all of the buttermilk. Follow with the rest of the dry ingredients, taking care not to over mix.

Evenly fill the prepared cake tin and bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a tester inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Cool for 10 minutes before turning the cake onto a wire rack to cool completely.

To make butter cream icing, beat the unsalted butter and salt in a large bowl until light in colour. Gradually mix in the icing sugar until smooth and fluffy. Then beat in the cream cheese 1 tablespoon at a time until the icing is soft and spreadable.

Place the cake onto a large serving plate or cake board. Coat the cake with butter cream, sprinkle with the chocolate hail (to create dirt) and popping candy. Place jelly beans all the way around the edges.

Place a toothpick into the base of each ghost and skewer the ghosts on top.

Tombstones: Use the black decorating icing and a small round tip to write “RIP” or other one-word epitaphs on the top half of the oval shaped biscuits and stick into the cake.

Pumpkins: Roll the coloured marzipan into 6 to 8 small balls. Use a skewer to make pumpkin-like lines from the top to the bottom. Use the black icing to pipe a small stem. Then, pipe small blobs for the leaves with green icing. Finally, dot bits of green grass poking through the chocolate hail dirt around the graveyard and pumpkins.