Who said Halloween baking had to be scary? These adorable Chocolate Cupcakes are a must bake for any Halloween party and children will have so much fun bringing them to life!
WAYS TO ADDING PERSONALITY TO YOUR HALLOWEEN BAKING
One of the main reasons I love baking to themes such as Halloween or Christmas, is the ability to bring a bake to life and add a little personality.
Edible eyes are the most immediate way to do this. Wilton do great packs of these which can be purchased from most online retailers such as Amazon, but you can also make your own homemade icing eyes using royal icing which is much easier to make than you might think.
Click below to find some of the other bakes I’ve brought to life.
Halloween Peanut Butter Spider Biscuits
THE BEST WAY TO COLOUR BUTTERCREAM
At this time of year our baking feeds are full of bright halloween inspired colours such as vivid pumpkin orange, Frankenstein green, blood red and witchy purple.
I love adding colour to bakes and have a cupboard full of different types of food colouring so I’m well prepared for any occasion.
When it comes to adding colour to buttercream I find using a gel or concentrated paste gives me the best results.
Sugarflair are my favourite concentrated sugar pastes. They’re specifically good in buttercream or any recipe that requires a lot of beating because they have a thick consistency. They also come in an incredible range of shades which add such vivid colours to every bake, plus a little goes such a long way so economically they’re brilliant too. I buy mine from Amazon or any local baking wholesalers.
My go to method for adding food colouring to buttercream and ensuring it’s thoroughly combined is to mix it together with the milk and vanilla to form a coloured liquid. This can then be added during the creaming method stage or at the end.
Cute Bat Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Cupcakes
- 180 g softened butter
- 180 g soft brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 150 g self-raising flour
- 40 g cocoa powder
- 2 tbsp espresso powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the decoration
- 200 g softened butter
- 400 g icing sugar
- 1-2 drops purple food colouring
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp semi-skimmed milk
- 18 Oreo biscuits
- 24 Candy Eyes
- Edible glitter optional
Instructions
For the chocolate cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 160c/320F and line a cupcake tray with cupcake cases.
- In a large mixing bowl or standing mixer add the softened butter and brown sugar and mix them together until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one by one, followed by the self-raising flour, cocoa powder and espresso powder then mix until just combined.
- If the mixture still like it needs a little more moisture, you could add a splash of milk to loosen. The perfect consistency is when it drops from the spoon.
- Using a tablespoon or icecream scoop, fill each cupcake case equally, then lightly tap the cupcake tray on the surface too remove any air bubbles and put into the oven to bake for 20-25 minutes.
- Remove from the oven once they are baked and springy to touch, leave the cupcakes in the tin for a few minutes, then remove them and leave to fully cool on a wire rack.
For the buttercream
- Add the butter and icing sugar into a large bowl or standing mixer and mix for 5 minutes until soft and fluffy.
- Add the vanilla extract, 2 tbsp milk and purple food colouring and mix together then add this to the buttercream to combine.
- Prepare a piping bag with a open tip nozzle and scoop the buttercream into the piping bag. Pipe swirls of buttercream on top of each cupcake
To Decorate
- To prepare for the bat decoration you will need to split 6 oreo cookies and cut each size in halve so you have 4 semi circles.
- To create the cute bats top each cupcake with a full oreo cookie and add two candy eyes for the face.
- For the bat wings take two of the halves and insert them behind the face for the wings
- Sprinkle the over the cupcakes with edible glitter and serve.
