A-Z Challenge: N is for...Nomskulls

N is for...Nomskulls

Nomskulls, made by Fred, are "kooky creepy" skull-shaped silicone cupcake molds and just happen to be the focus of today's A-Z post! My sister gave me a set of these last September, but I only got around to using them last night. According to the box you can:

"Knock 'em dead with these four stylish silicone skulls. Nomskulls are ready to fill with your favorite grey batter and bake into perfect cupcake craniums. One bite and you'll be head over heels, because there's no doubt about it - this skull bone's connected to the YUM bone!"

For some reason known only to my brain, I forgot that I was making skull-cakes and decided to make the mixture red. The molds are fairly huge but don't make too much batter, as they will overflow if you don't leave the top inch or so free. Of course, it depends entirely on what kind of mix you make and how much you expect it to rise though. 

So that's 3 brain-spills and 1 fancy hairstyle at the back...

However, despite the overflow setbacks, the good thing about the molds being silicone is that any spills come off really easily and the contained cupcake slides out equally as well when you're done.

Unfortunately, the inside of the mold is completely smooth (see photo above) except for the eye imprints, which means that the cakes will come out looking like zombies and aliens unless you decorate them. 

I'm fairly sure that they were intended to be served only inside the molds rather than out of them. It doesn't matter that much though, as the flat tops are there to be adorned with iced brains! 

If you do decide to take them out of the mold, you could try sugar skull-themed icing, zombies with eyeballs popping out, gas maks, Frankenstein's Monster...the list goes on. I think I'll experiment a little and make another post about the decoration when A-Z is over. (It might seem like I've caught up here, but the truth is I'm still missing J, K, L, and M.)

To be continued....in May

This post is part of the A-Z Blogging Challenge.

Food and Drink: Spooky Chocolate Molds

This delightful spooky chocolate mold was bought as a present for me from the "home and creative kitchenware" shop Lakeland. I assume it was produced for Halloween and so I'm not sure if they still make it or not, but there are many other places, such as FRED, that sell themed chocolate/ice cube molds that could be used instead.

It's made of ridgid but bendable rubber, which means that although it will keep the shape of the chocolate well, it's also very easy to pop out each one when you're done. The rubber material also helps to ensure that they don't stick to the mold. There are shaped ridges and raised areas in each section, meaning that it is really simple to add cute details just by filling them in with a different colour chocolate. I used a small paintbrush to do the details in dark chocolate and then, after leaving it to set for a few minutes, poured in the white chocolate to fill up the rest of the mold.

Make sure the chocolate is completely melted and smooth before you start, as this will give a better outcome. The finished products below might look a little messy, but that was because I used a paint brush that was a little too large for the gaps, not because of the mold itself.

Quick, simple, delicious fun!