Hope Your Day's A Scream

Listen, it was between that and some Munch pun, so give me a break already.
Anyway, for this All Hallows Eve, I was granted the dubious honor of creating a "Haunted Halloween Cake" in a client cooking contest. Nothing against making cakes mind you--I was nominated to create the frightful confection after winning a different cake competition at the aforementioned client workplace (marmalade sponge with ginger cream, thankyouverymuch).

So, once I took the prize (a lovely late harvest wine), I was volunteered to make a cake representing my department in the bigger, more "important" company-wide "Haunted Halloween Cake Contest". And while making cakes I don't mind, "haunted" ones seem to call for some "Good Housekeeping"-style monstrosity with pumpkins and spiders made of cheap day-glo icing. Of course I can't quite go *there* so I decided, in overly ambitious fashion, to recreate Munch's "The Scream" by handpainting a fondant canvass atop a gingerbread and buttercream cake. Ridiculous, I know. Not very folksy of me. But hey, that's what elite private girls school will do to you. Anyway, I think it turned out quite nicely, considering my complete lack of experience working with fondant, much less painting it with edible lustre dust. Here's hoping that if this image doesn't scare you, at least it gives you a chuckle.