If you’ve been paying close attention, then you probably already know where I derived the inspiration for these ghostly goodies. Remember these cloud parfaits? As soon as I saw them I knew I wanted to put my own spin on them and try to make Halloween ghosts.
The problem was the photo, like too many Pinterest finds, was a dead end (looks like it was originally pinned from a password protected site). The description on the pin said something along the lines of “Jell-O + whipped cream” and from what I could see that sounded about right. But that’s all I had to go on.
Which meant that after making some orange jello and leaving it to set in a few half-filled jars and cups, I had to come up with my own ridiculous way of injecting the whipped cream. The first thing I did was enlist my husband’s help. He came up with the crazy (or was it brilliant?) idea of duct taping a crinkly straw to the whipped cream nozzle. I should have guessed that’s where his mind would go. What is with guys and duct tape? Click through for the rest of the DIY.
From there we basically shook, inserted, and squeezed. This was our first attempt. As you can see, we didn’t get the straw deep enough and the whipped cream erupted out the top. Lesson #1: go to nearly the bottom of the cup with your straw.
Our next attempt worked out much better. You can see we achieved a nice layer of Jell-O above the ghost so it looks like he’s floating around in the Jell-O.
Once the ghost body was in place, it was time for the mouth and eyes. I took a few very small pieces of Tootsie Roll, made little balls, and pressed them against the glass with a wooden skewer.
I’ll be honest, it wasn’t super easy but with a little perseverance I got all three ghosts’ faces to appear and I was pretty happy with the effect. My favorite was the guy on the right. To me it looks like he’s got a wiggly little arm coming out of his body near the top.
I could have (and probably should have) stopped there. But I really wanted all the ghosts to look like they were floating so I made more Jell-O and poured it on top when it was about half way set. It really finished off the ghost in the jar nicely but his two friends disintegrated quite a bit. The look was actually kinda creepy-cool, but not exactly what I was shooting for. Lesson #2: For a seamless effect you must get the whip cream fully submerged in the first round of Jell-O. If you don’t, let the second round of Jell-O fully set up and then fill up your cups with it. You’ll just have to deal with the fact that it’s not perfectly smooth.
I also could have just shown you the photo of the one that turned out really well but I wanted you to see that even in my world things sometimes go array. It’s cool, my kids loved the Jell-O just the same and if I’d been making these for a party or something I would have had my technique down cold by the third one. Hope you’ll try it – let me know if you do!
Similar Stuff: All of MPMK’s Handmade Halloween
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These are so cool. What fun. You did a great job!
These are awesome – it might be easier to use a jumbo marshmallow cut into a ghosty shape, like those polka dot milkshakes they did in Sweet Paul a while back…http://sweetpaul.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/07/re.html
That’s a great idea Robin, I loved those polka dot milkshakes (Featured them in this round up of fun stuff to do with marshmallows way back when: http://www.modernparentsmessykids.com/2011/03/five-fun-ways-to-play-with-marshmallows.html)
The original author of the the sky parfait but a different blog. http://nomnomcravings.blogspot.com/2011/04/sky-jello.html
Found your site from where else…PINTEREST. I made the blue sky and clouds dessert and it was so easy and so good. I’m going to have to try your ghostly jello ghosts now. Thanks for the idea and all of the tips!
I was gonna suggest the marshmallows too – maybe use three in different sizes and make snowmen for Xmas?
Blue Skies,
Charlotte xo
these are so cute…what about the marshmallow ghost peeps? the face is on them already i think.
Gave it a go. It is harder than it looks! Have a peek. http://2flowerslearn.com/2011/10/30/halloween-party-madness/
So cute! thanks for sharing.
I like it, You did a great job
has anybody tried freezing the whipped cream and then just sliding it into the slighty cooled jello liquid? Did it work?
If you didn’t completely submerge the ghost, then as you said you could pour a cup of set jello on top, but here’s another idea: if you wanted that to be smooth you could pour yet more cooled liquid jello on top of that: the pre-set jello will stop the new liquid jello reaching the ghost, and you’ll have a smooth finish! Ok, I haven’t tried this, but it sounds like it will work…
Lol, it said mine posted at 5am: but I’m in the UK so it’s actually 10am. (Just random!
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Could u use Peeps?
This totally didn’t work for me, I tried many times. I could not get the whipped cream to come out the top of the straw: http://suziethefoodie.blogspot.ca/2012/10/halloween-floating-ghost-suspended-in.html So I used a marshmallow man instead!
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