I had no idea Daniel would love to bake! Last time I attempted it, he showed no interest whatsoever. He generally finds it quite hard to concentrate on anything much for any period of time.
Since discovering the Pagan path several years ago, I have been trying to establish family traditions around the Pagan "Wheel of the Year" holidays, none more so than Hallowe'en, or in Pagan terms, Samhain. We do pumpkin carving and accommodate trick-or-treaters - Daniel even went trick-or-treating for the first time himself this year albeit briefly - but I really liked the idea of baking something special for each holiday, and as synchronicity would have it, an article on Justmommies.com inspired me to bake chocolate cupcakes decorated as spiders. The original article is still available here.
I adapted this somewhat and you can find our recipe at the bottom. I asked Daniel to help with the mixing of the cake, which he did with some fervour! In fact, he liked doing it so much we struggled to get the mixture off him to bake it in the oven...
One of the great things is that Daniel has a fear of mess, which makes it difficult to do any sort of craft with him, and he really didn't seem to mind on this occasion, as you can see! Once the cakes were baked, I asked Daniel to help with the decorating. My mum (pictured above) and I had made white chocolate buttons into spider eyes by dripping melted Galaxy chocolate on them, and Daniel stuck on most of the eyes himself, and also liberally applied chocolate "sparkles" (chocolate sprinkles of course!) to the melted chocolate on top of the cakes.
He had so much fun! I really didn't expect that, and will definitely be doing more baking with Daniel in future. It's not only something creative we can share together, it's helping with his motor control and to get over some of the funny fears his autism brings, and it's allowing him to share in traditions I want to teach him about, though he is of course free to choose his own spiritual path when he is older. Here is the finished product!
When we went out trick-or-treating, just to the people we know in our street, Daniel proudly took a container of chocolate spider cakes as a Hallowe'en gift, and everyone concurs that they were rather delicious!
Here is our adapted recipe for these very yummy but very naughty cakes.
For 18 cakes you need:
300g self-raising flour
300g caster sugar
300g margarine, melted
4 eggs, beaten
2.5ml vinegar
150g cocoa powder
300g milk chocolate
Milk as needed
Cake cases
Chocolate sprinkles or vermicelli
White chocolate drops/buttons (about 3 standard packets)
Matchmakers, or chocolate sticks of some sort (1 box)
Preheat oven to 150C / Gas mark 2.
Mix margarine and sugar together in a large bowl. Stir in eggs and vinegar. Sift in flour and cocoa and fold. Stir in a few drops of milk.
Pour into cases and bake for 20-25 minutes. They are ready when a skewer can be inserted and emerge clean.
Melt the chocolate and allow to cool slightly before spooning on top of cakes to decorate.
While the chocolate is still sticky, break Matchmakers (or chocolate sticks) into pieces of suitable size and insert 2 each side representing spider legs. Stick two white chocolate buttons to the chocolate at the front of the cake for spider eyes, and make a brown chocolate dot on each one with spare melted chocolate. Sprinkle chocolate sprinkles (or vermicelli) on top to give a hairy effect. Place in fridge for around 15 minutes to avoid the chocolate decorations melting into one another before setting, then store in tins.
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