So, today we’re getting into the Halloween mood, and with a request to Bring and Bake goodies I thought I’d try my hand at some Halloween Cupcakes… I found a fairly straight forward recipe on the BBC Food website and managed to make them look fairly presentable and pretty tastey!
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| Halloween Cupcakes |
Preparation time – less than 30mins Cooking time – 30mins
Makes 12 in cup cake cases
Ingredients:
- 125g plain flour
- 25g cocoa powder (I used Green & Blacks)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 150g caster sugar
- 50g butter
- 1 egg
- 8 tbsp milk
For the cream icing:
- 50g cream cheese (I used Philadelphia Light)
- 25g butter
- 125g icing sugar – sifted
- 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
For the chocolate icing:
- 25g icing sugar
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder (Green & Blacks)
Method:
- Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Line a muffin tray with 12 paper cup cake cases.
- Sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder into a bowl. Add the sugar and butter and beat the mixture together until well combined – it works even better if you use your hands.
- Whisk in the egg and milk until the mixture is thick and smooth.
- Divide the mixture between the paper case and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until springy to the touch and the skewer inserted into the middle of one of the cakes comes out clean. Set aside on a wire wrack to cool.
- For the cream cheese icing I used Philadelphia Light, beat the cream cheese and butter together in a bowl until well combined. Beat in the icing sugar and vanilla essence.
- Spoon the icing on the cupcakes using a teaspoon, leaving a small border around the edge.
- For the chocolate icing, sift the icing sugar and cocoa powder into a bowl. Stir in 2 tablespoons of water to form a smooth, thick icing. Tip: if its too runny – add more icing sugar.
- Transfer the mixture to a piping bag with a fine nozzle or alternatively spoon the mixture into the corner of a sandwich bag and snip off the corner to form a small hole.
- Carefully pipe 2 or 3 circles onto each cupcake with a dot in the middle. Run a toothpick/cocktail stick from the centre to the edge of the cake through each circle of icing at 2cm intervals to create a cobweb effect.
- Set aside for 20 minutes to allow the icing to harden or pop in the fridge.
