Boo! It's officially spooky season, which means it's time to get creative and a wee bit scary too. These are very easy Halloween cupcakes you can whip up for a party or cosy movie night in. The cupcake mixture and decorations are fairly simple, so you can get children involved in the process too and have some Halloween fun together. They have a surprising, bloody (jammy) centre to delight and amaze any who dare eat. Most importantly, they taste phenomenal, satisfying those Halloween sweet-toothed cravings. I hope you have fun making these, please share your creations in the comments below and any funky or funny Halloween costumes!
Makes 12 Cupcakes | Total Time: 70 minutes | Medium
Ingredients: (for the cupcake)
100g caster sugar
100g soft brown sugar
100g unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla essence
75ml whole milk
1tsp espresso powder mixed with 4tbsp boing water
50g cocoa powder
150g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
Ingredients: (for the decoration)
1 packet of bourbon biscuits (any chocolate variety will do, but these have a buttercream filling which helps the crumbs stick)
100g jam (approximately, you may wish to keep more on hand)
80g royal icing
1/4 tsp black food colouring, plus extra for letter writing
Tooth pick to hep decorating
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a muffin tin with 12 cupcake cases.
In a medium bowl, beat the caster sugar, brown sugar and butter together until pale and creamy.
Next add the vanilla essence, egg and egg yolk and beat thoroughly.
Add the milk and espresso water and gently beat the wet ingredients together until combined.
In a large bowl, sift together the cocoa powder, self-raising flour and baking powder.
Slowly, begin to add the wet mixture into the dry ingredients a little at a time and fold.
When everything is combined, fill the cupcake cases until 3/4 full.
Bake in the preheated oven for 18-23 minutes. The top should be set and if you run a very sharp knife or toothpick into a cupcake it should come out clean.
Leave to cool completely before decorating
To make the decorations, firstly place the bourbon biscuits into a ziplock bag. Seal the bag tightly and gently crush the biscuits using a rolling pin until you have large crumbs.
Next, add a few drops of the black food colouring (approximately 1/4 tsp) onto the royal icing. Gently, using your fingertips, mix the colouring into the icing until it resembles a marbled, grey effect.
Roll out the icing until approximately 1-2cm thick. Cut out a tombstone head shape from the icing. Do not worry about them being all even, it looks spooky and realistic if they are all slightly different and unique.
Using a toothpick, draw some 'cracks' onto the tombstones. Then, carefully write a message on the icing tombstones using the black food colouring.
When the cupcakes are cool, cut a small cylinder out of the centre of each cupcake, making sure not to cut to the bottom. Remove the body of the cylinder keeping only the top as a 'lid' for later. (This can be a tasty treat for the baker!)
Fill the centre with jam and the cover again with the top 'lid' of the cylinder.
Add a thin coat of jam over the top of the cupcakes. Then cover with the bourbon crumbs. Gently press the crumbs onto the top to make sure they stick.
Add a blob of jam in the centre of the bourbon crumbed cupcakes and place a tombstone head on top of each cupcake. The extra jam not only keeps the tombstone in place but gives a fun oozing, bloody effect, perfect for Halloween.
You can add extra crumbs around the tombstone head and adjust as required.
Serve and enjoy this frightful delight!
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