Tricked-Out Cakes and Cupcakes

Believe it or not, these silhouettes were created with rubber stamps ($25 for two, Rubber Stamps, Inc.; 212-675-1180). Using a cookie cutter or a glass, cut fondant into circles and leave out overnight to stiffen. Paint a clean rubber stamp with black food coloring and press image onto the circles. If needed, fill in bare spots with a small paintbrush dipped in food coloring. Just before serving, place the circles on top of cupcakes with buttercream frosting.

Summon this nocturnal scene by first rolling out black and white fondant separately. Use cookie cutters ($1 for a 3-inch moon or 4 1/2-inch bat; randm.us) to create bat and moon shapes, then let fondant dry overnight to stiffen. Just before serving, perch atop buttercream-frosted cupcakes.

Bright Idea! Take cupcakes one step further with paper spiderweb wrappers ($13 for 12; cspost.com).

To create this fearsome flock, first measure the height and width of your cake (this one's composed of two layers, held together by buttercream frosting in the middle). Next, double the height and then add the width plus one extra inch to determine the diameter to which you should roll out your fondant (you'll get one big number). Center and drape the rolled-out fondant over the cake. Begin molding it to the sides, loosening any folds by gently lifting and tucking the fondant back down. Smooth with your hands. Trim away excess from the bottom with a pizza cutter. Then roll out black and orange fondant separately and use cookie cutters ($1 for a 1 3/4-inch or 4 1/2-inch bat; randm.us) to make bats. Dampen the backs of the bats with a clean, wet fingertip and press them onto the cake.

A touch of pumpkin gives this bewitching cake a look and taste that reflects the season.

Recipe: Chocolate Pumpkin Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

To make the glaze, place 4 ounces of chopped bittersweet chocolate, 1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter, and 3 tablespoons corn syrup in a medium heatproof bowl. Bring 1/2 cup heavy cream to a boil, pour it over the chocolate, and let sit for 3 minutes. Gently stir, using a whisk, until smooth. Let sit for 3 to 5 minutes, until the glaze thickens slightly. To achieve this cascading layer of glaze, gently spread it over the cake's edge with the back of a spoon or an offset spatula. If more glaze is needed, add only a little at a time.

To get the look of these single-serving pumpkin treats, trim the bottoms of cakes baked in mini Bundt pans (Available at nordicware.com) to create a flat surface. Join two cakes so that the fluted tops are at either end, then drizzle with Chocolate or Vanilla Glaze and sprinkle with coarse colored sugar or nonpareils before the glaze sets. Top with a marzipan stem. Read the marzipan instructions at Marzipan Pumpkin Stems.

Recipe: Classic Chocolate Cake

Although trick-or-treat candy may be the first sweet that comes to mind when we think of Halloween, cookies deserve an honorable mention, too. Choose your favorite shortbread or sugar-cookie recipe and bake a batch or two. After cookies have cooled, use a pastry bag to pipe trim around the edges and spell out "BOO" in the centers.

Recipe: Sugar Cookie Dough

A simple chocolate cake gets added snack appeal from bat-shaped sugar cookies.

Recipe: Over the Moon Cake

No one will guess these elegant cookies were made with refrigerated dough. Go ahead, let this simple shortcut remain your secret. To make this treat, knead extra flour and orange food coloring into refrigerated sugar-cookie dough. Use a triangle-shaped cutter; bake and let cool. Dip the wide base of each cookie into melted dark chocolate, then dip the tips into melted white chocolate. Set on a parchment-lined baking pan and chill in freezer for 5 minutes.

Orange food coloring, added one drop at a time, gives the cream that tops these bite-sized snacks its brilliant hue.

Recipes: Classic Chocolate Cake and Vanilla Cream Filling

Pumpkin-flavored chocolate cupcakes with orange cream cheese frosting make perfect Halloween treats. Finish with black and orange raffia ribbons and a sprinkle of candy corns.

Recipe: Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes

With its vanilla-sugar icing and marzipan stem, this cake is sure to earn Best in Show. The secret to its perfect form? A fluted, dome-shaped pan. The pumpkin shape is actually two dome cakes, fitted together; try the 3D Great Pumpkin Pan, available at World Market (worldmarket.com). Add stem and leaf after icing.

Recipe: Pumpkin Spice and Pecan Cake

To make pumpkins, divide marzipan into three batches. With food coloring, tint one green and one orange; leave one natural. For mottling, combine batches. Roll pumpkin spheres, scoring lobes with a skewer. Cut leaves with mini cutters.

Treat guests to their very own cakes with these bite-size, licorice-eared mice.

Recipe: Licorice-Eared Mice Mini-Cakes

Three different pans and one pumpkin-spice recipe yield a trio of tiny cakes. Wrapped in ribbon, the sugar frosted cake is made in a muffin tin. A mini Bundt cake is dressed in a citrus glaze. The little layer cake is baked in ramekins.

Recipe: Pumpkin-Spice Cake

For a wickedly good web, pour chocolate glaze over the top of an uniced layer cake. Spread the glaze over the cake's edges and smooth the sides. Fill a small piping bag with three to four tablespoons of melted white chocolate, then starting at the center of the top of the cake, pipe the white chocolate in a spiral. Drag a toothpick from the center of the spiral to the cake's edge. Repeat every 1.5 inches to create a web effect.

Recipe: Classic Chocolate Cake and Chocolate Glaze

Super-easy white-chocolate toppers appear to float, Houdini-like, over chocolate cupcakes.

Recipe: Itsy Bitsy Spiderwebs Cupcakes

Even the most superstitious guest will enjoy crossing paths with this black cat, crafted from sparkling sugar.

To assemble the stenciled layer cake, fill and frost two 8-inch-round layers with your favorite icing, leaving a smooth surface. Roll out black fondant, such as Wilton's precolored rolled fondant, into a 1/8-inch-thick sheet, and with a ruler as a guide, cut three strips long enough to wrap around the cake's circumference; adhere, using extra dabs of icing, if needed.

Re-create this black cat silhouette by downloading our super-simple stencil. Chill the cake, then immediately before serving, center the stencil on top. Fill in the stencil with black sanding sugar, leaving the edges a little messy for a spooky effect. Add a candy-coated sunflower seed (find a variety at sunflowerfoodcompany.com) or half a yellow M&M for the cat's eye.

All you need to create this dazzling cake is boxed cake mix, store-bought frosting, and black sanding sugar.

Recipe: Along Came a Spider Cake

Picking pumpkins has never been more pleasing. Nestled in luscious fields of honey buttercream, these marzipan marvels are sure to inspire furtive samplings. Plant a patch on a tiered cake before serving.

This towering pumpkin patch begins as three cakes in graduated sizes, with three generous layers of Honey and Spice Buttercream that escape temptingly toward the tiers' edges. The pumpkins and leaves, both made of tinted marzipan, needn't be perfect to be appreciated, so invite young helpers to assist.

Recipe: Pumpkin Spice and Pecan Cake and Honey & Spice Buttercream Frosting