Halloween Marzipan Bites

Preparation

1. On a clean, dry surface knead two thirds of the White Marzipan until pliable. Add a small amount of orange food colouring and knead until combined. Repeat until desired colour is reached. Reserve a small amount of orange marzipan and colour it a deep orange.
2. Colour the remaining third of marzipan with cocoa powder to turn it brown in colour.
3. Take the orange coloured marzipan and roll it into evenly sized, smooth bite-sized balls.

For the pumpkins

1. Using the back of the knife, score lines across the middle of the ball, score another line across the ball to form a cross, then two more diagonal lines to form a pumpkin shape.
2. Once the pumpkins have set completely, draw eyes and a mouth using the black edible food pen. Roll a tiny sausage shape using the cocoa coloured marzipan and attach it to the top of the pumpkin with a small amount of water.

For the chicks

1. 1Roll the ball into a pear shape for the body. Take a small amount of orange marzipan and roll it into a cone shape, flatten and attach it to the side of the body using a little water if needed for the wings. Repeat for the other side.
2. Using the cocoa coloured marzipan, make a hat by forming a cone shape and flattening the base. Take a pinch of the deep coloured orange marzipan and roll a thin sausage, flatten the sausage with your fingers and attach it around the hat using a little water. 
3. Using the deeper coloured orange marzipan, roll a tiny ball and flatten for the beak, attach it to the centre of the body flattening it slightly.
4. For the eyes, roll two tiny balls out of the cocoa marzipan and attach above the beak using a little water.
5. Attach the hat onto the top of the body using a little water. Once the marzipan has dried completely, draw feet towards the bottom of the body and nostrils and a smile onto the beak.

For the spider web

1. Royal Icing preparation: make a piping bag containing a no.0 tube.
2. Let down a small amount of Royal Icing to a soft piping consistency by mixing in a couple of drops of water. Fill the piping bag no more than halfway and fold the top to secure.
3. Pipe four overlapping lines across the marzipan ball. Then pipe interconnecting lines to create a spider web effect.

Tip: If the Royal Icing creates a peak when piped, take a small paintbrush, slightly dampen with a wet cloth and gently pat down the peak.