Witch Cakes and Goblin Sandwiches.

Well, there is no escaping it - the excitement is building to a very important event on the last day of this month. It will be, as I am sure you are aware, the seventh anniversary of this blog. Almost two thousand posts, and not a single Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday has been missed in all that time. Nay! - not even on Christmas Day or any other public holiday that happened to fall on a weekday.  Who would have thought The Old Foodie would still be here after all this time? Not me, that’s for sure.

Oh! - and it is also Hallowe’en, on the same date, as I am sure you are also aware. I think that this week, while I decide how to celebrate The Old Foodie’s seventh birthday, I will give you some Hallowe’en menus and recipes gleaned from a variety of sources.

Firstly, from an old newspaper from my home town (The Queenslander ) of Thursday 29 October, 1936, some fun ideas for the big scary night coming up.

Witch's Brew and Devil's Food For Gay Celebration

Spooky Recipes in Reach Of Every Purse

Hallowe’en lends itself marvellously to weird and wonderful table decoration, and, if you

wish, you can extend the spooky effect to the refreshments. There is hardly a girl who wouldn't thrill to the thought of learning her fate on Hallowe'en from a witch - and this can be done with Witch cakes.

There is no need for the menu to be elaborate; on the contrary, it can even be plain, as an ingenious cook will not find it difficult to give a festive, yet eerie, touch to familiar recipes. Wicked old witches in pointed white hats are only our old friends, Queen cakes, in masquerade. Goblin faces marked on with olives and cucumber pickle add an eerie note to an ordinary sandwich cut round; and Witchs' brew is not half as terrifying as it sounds.

Use streamers of orange and black crepe paper and cut-outs of bats, cats, and dishes of orange Jack-o-Lanterns here and there to give the needed orange accent.

Goblin Sandwiches

Minced ham, Cheese, Stuffed olives, Cucumber pickle.

Put together a slice of white bread spread with minced ham and a slice of brown bread spread with yellow cheese. Make eyes of crosswise slices of stuffed olives, and nose and mouth with pieces of cucumber pickle.

Witch Cakes.

8 oz. flour, 4 oz. butter, 4 oz. castor sugar, half a teacup of cream, 4 oz. currants, 2 eggs, Milk, half a teaspoon of baking powder, essence of lemon to taste, or vanilla, chocolate icing, orang icing, ice-cream cones.

Sieve together the flour and baking powder. Put the butter, sugar, and cream in a basin and beat them to a light cream. Add the eggs one at a time, beating them well in. Then add the flour and fruit, and stir them in quickly and lightly. Moisten the mixture with a little milk, and add a few drops of flavouring. Have ready some small buttered tins, fill them with the mixture, and bake in a moderate oven for about a quarter of an hour, till the cakes are firm and spongy and delicately browned. Cut off one side to flatten the cakes and cover with chocolate icing. Use an Ice cream cone for a hat. Make features on the flattened side of each cake with orange icing. Place an amusing fortune inside each hat before putting it in position.

Witches Brew.

Cocoa, Milk, Marshmallows.

Make the required amount of cocoa with cocoa, milk and sugar. Have ready marshmallow marked with witches' features put on with a toothpick dipped in melted chocolate. Drop one marshmallow into each cup. As the marshmallow melts, the features spread into fantastic grins. Appleade .

1 lb. apples, 2 or 3 cloves, sugar to taste, one orange, one lemon, 2 tablespoons pearl barley, pinch cinnamon.

Wash the apples, removing the stalks and any bruised parts, then cut up into small pieces, without paring or coring, and cover with water. Add the cloves, a pinch of cinnamon, and. if liked, pearl barley. Simmer gently until soft. Strain on to sugar, according to taste. adding the juice and rind of a lemon and an orange. Dilute with soda water.

Walnut Cake.

6 oz. shelled walnuts, 2 oz. citron peel, 3 eggs, 10 oz. flour, ½ lb. butter, 6 oz. castor sugar, 1 teaspoon baking powder.

Almond Icing: 6 oz. ground almonds, 6 oz. icing sugar, 1 egg yolk, lemon juice to taste.

Coarsely chop the walnuts. Beat butter and sugar to a cream, then beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add flour sifted with baking powder and a pinch of salt, chopped peel and half the walnuts. Turn the mixture into a cake tin greased and lined with buttered paper, and bake in a moderate oven (350 degrees Fah) for about 1 ¼ hours. Cool on a cake rack.

Make some almond paste with ground almonds, icing sugar, yolk of egg and lemon juice. Knead mixture till smooth and form into a round to fit top of cake. Brush sides with melted jam and sprinkle with remainder of walnuts, pressing them on to sides. Cover almond paste with icing sugar, moistened with tepid water or milk until spreadable, and decorate with a few halved walnuts.

Fortune Cake.

½ lb. flour, 3 teaspoons baking powder,  1¼ oz. butter, 6 oz. butter, 3 egg yolks well beaten, 1¼ gills of milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 2 egg whites well beaten.

Sift flour with the baking powder. Beat the butter and sugar to a cream, and mix thoroughly until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks. Mix in the sifted flour alternately with the milk, a little at a time. Beat again after each addition till smooth. Add vanilla. Fold in egg whites. Divide the mixture evenly between two greased sandwich tins. Bake in a fairly hot oven (400 deg. F.) for 90 minutes. When cool, put together with walnut butter icing flavoured to taste. If liked, spread with orange icing, made by mixing 2 tablespoons orange juice and 1 teaspoon lemon juice with 5 oz. icing sugar and the grated rind of half a lemon. While still moist, sprinkle with grated orange rind and shaved chocolate in hit and miss fashion over the top to give a yellow and brown effect.

Almond Biscuits.

10 oz. flour, 3 oz. castor sugar, 1 large egg, ½ lb. butter, 3 oz. brown sugar, 2 oz. blanched almonds, 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon baking soda.

Beat butter and sugar to a cream. Stir in egg, sliced almonds, and flour sifted with soda and spice. Turn on to a floured pastry board. Make into a roll two inches thick, then stand in a cool spot or refrigerator till firm. Cut into thin slices crosswise. Bake in greased tins in a moderate oven until crisp. Dust with castor sugar and cool on a cake rack. Store in a tightly closed tin.

For the occasion Americans call dark, rich cakes "Devil's Food."