clever at cake icing? I need help please

[sommewhereelse]

I'm not into creative cakes but DCs have just sprung on me that they want a Hallowe'en cake tomorrow so I am going to try to turn a round flat choc cake into a pumpkin with orange icing (made with icing sugar and orange juice)
I'd like holes in the icing for the pumpkin's features and don't know whether to do this by icing the whole cake and then trying to cut them out or by sticking cardboard shapes on the cake and icing around them (sort of reverse stencil)
Would either of these work if not what will, bearing in mind I have no special equipment....

How about making some icing fairly thick, then make a piping bag , snip the end off it and pipe the features on the cake. Let the icing set, then fill in the rest of it with more icing.

Or using chocolate icing (or chocolate shapes?) over the orange after it's set to do the features

Thanks. Do you mean melt chocolate, spread flat and then cut out shapes.

I just googled chocolate icing and you need cocoa powder which I won't be able to get hold of in time.

don't know if these would help - but some of them are lovely to look at!
www.google.co.uk/search?q=halloween+cake&hl=en&biw=1263&bih=867&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=6HetTrOfGISl8QOJ54idCw&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&sqi=2&ved=0CCMQ_AUoAQ#hl=en&tbm=isch&q=halloween+pumpkin+cake&revid=1347437475&sa=X&ei=73etTobFO4LH8gOdrvyfCw&ved=0CD0Q1QIoAg&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=c9975a9517ec5040&biw=1263&bih=867

It would be a lot easier to cover the entire cake then squirt something like Dr Oetker chocolate icing in the little tubes in whatever design you like?

Yes or just dribble melted chocolate in roughly the right direction or dribble it onto greaseproof paper to get a better shape?

I don't think I'd cut out shapes from the chocolate - I'd be too shaky

I think I'll try the dribbling the chocolate onto greaseproof paper. Thanks.

Just had a look at the Dr Oetker web site. They have an amazing range of stuff but a lot of it isn't for sale here (France)

Too late now but for future reference you can buy a small pouch of black icing in a box of mixed colours. Ice the cake in orange then cut out the shapes you want from the orange icing so you can see the cake through it. Then cut out the same shapes again from the rolled-out black icing and just put them in the holes. Hey presto!

Oops, just seen you can't buy Dr Oetker there! Sorry!

It worked out just icing it all orange then adding chocolate shapes that I'd made on greaseproof paper. Looked pretty scary!
Thanks all.