Celebrate a devilishly delicious Halloween with these Halloween Skeleton Cupcakes from cupcakerecipes.com (click on title to go to site).
◦Active Time: 45 minutes
◦Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
INGREDIENTS◦
•1 box (18.25 oz) devil’s food cake mix
•1 1/2 cups lowfat buttermilk
•3 large eggs
•1/4 cup canola oil
•2 cans (16 oz each) dark chocolate frosting
Decoration: black gel or paste food color, 24 marshmallows, 24 (4-in.) thin breadsticks (grissini) or lollipop sticks, a clean artist’s brush, 24 grape fruit leather snacks (like FruitaBu), black decorating sugar, red nonpareil candies.
PREPARATION
- Heat oven to 350°F. You’ll need 24 regular-size muffin cups lined with paper, foil or Halloween-themed liners.
- Beat cake mix, buttermilk, eggs and oil in large bowl with mixer on medium speed 2 minutes or until just blended. Divide batter between muffin cups (1/4 cup batter per cup).
- Bake 24 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack 15 minutes before removing cupcakes to rack to cool completely.
- Tint chocolate frosting black with food color; frost cupcakes.
- To decorate: Slightly flatten marshmallows with palm of your hand. Insert a broken length of breadstick or lollipop stick into each marshmallow. Place some black frosting in a microwave-safe custard cup and microwave about 5 seconds, until thin and runny. Paint skeleton faces onto marshmallows with a fine paintbrush.
- Using the photo as a guide, cut fruit leather into bat wings with scissors; press in decorating sugar to coat. Roll fruit leather scraps into small balls, then shape into bat heads with ears; coat heads in sugar. Attach 2 nonpareil candies for eyes with a dab of frosting.
- To assemble: Using photo as guide, stand bat wings upright in frosting on top of cupcakes. Insert a skeleton head behind wings into middle of cupcake. Attach a bat head in middle of wings with frosting.Plan Ahead: You can bake cupcakes 2 weeks ahead and freeze. Frost and decorate up to 1 day ahead, cover and keep at room temperature.
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2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour*
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 oz. red food coloring (two bottles)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers.
Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl; set aside. In a small bowl, mix food coloring and cocoa powder to form a thin paste without lumps; set aside.
In a large bowl, using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla and the red cocoa paste, scraping down the bowl with a spatula as you go. Add one third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, beat well, then beat in half of the buttermilk. Beat in another third of flour mixture, then second half of buttermilk. End with the last third of the flour mixture, beat until well combined, making sure to scrape down the bowl with a spatula.
In a small bowl, mix vinegar and baking soda. Yes, it will fizz! Add vinegar mixture to the cake batter and stir well to combine. Using an ice cream scoop, fill cupcake cups with cake batter (they should be 2/3 – 3/4 full). You may not fill all the cups, I ended up with 20 cupcakes. Place muffin tins on the middle rack of a preheated 350 degree oven. Bake for approximately 20-22 minutes, rotating pans halfway through. Cupcakes are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Check early and don’t overbake!
Cool the cupcakes in their tins on a wire rack for 10 minutes then remove and allow to cool completely before frosting. Frost cupcakes with cream cheese icing (recipe below) and decorate with red sprinkles if desired. The cupcakes above were decorated using the Wilton Cupcake Decorating Kit and Valentine’s Sprinkles. They can usually be found at craft stores like Michaels or Joann.
Enjoy the cupcakes with those you love!
Recipe Notes: *Sift cake flour once before measuring, then sift again with the other dry ingredients per recipe instructions. Wear an apron and be careful with the red food coloring–no matter how hard I try, I always end up staining something! As you’re mixing the cake batter, use a spatula to scrape down the bowl frequently throughout the entire process. Since the batter is fairly thick, I have found that an old-fashioned ice cream scoop works best for filling the cupcake wells (also great for muffin batter!). Since all ovens are different, make sure you check the cupcakes a little early. Mine were ready in just over 20 minutes, yours may be done sooner, or they may take a minute or two longer.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 16 oz. cream cheese (2 packages), softened
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (one stick), softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- pinch of salt
Recipe Notes: If you prefer a sweeter and/or stiffer frosting, more powdered sugar can be added (up to four cups). But remember, the more sugar you add, the less you’ll be able to taste the tangy cream cheese!
*Recipe obtained at the link on the title for this cupcake
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Not a Recipe but GORGEOUS!!!
Kitchen Kraft has great looking wrappers for your cupcakes.
Martha Stewart's Candied-Hazelnut Cupcakes
Ingredients
Makes 16
- 1/2 cup whole unblanched almonds, toasted
- 1/2 cup hazelnuts, toasted and skinned
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup cake flour (not self-rising), sifted
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup firmly packed dark-brown sugar
- 3/4 cup milk
- 4 large egg whites
- Dark Chocolate Frosting
- Caramel-Dipped Hazelnuts
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. In a food processor, pulse together almonds and hazelnuts until finely ground (do not overprocess, or the nuts will turn into a paste). Into a mixing bowl, sift together both flours, baking powder, and salt. Whisk in the ground nuts.
- With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and both sugars until smooth. Beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk, and beating well after each.
- In another mixing bowl, with electric mixer on medium speed, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form. In two additions, gently fold the egg whites into the batter.
- Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored up to 3 days at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.
- Using an offset spatula, spread frosting over each cupcake. Cupcakes can be refrigerated up to 3 days in airtight containers; bring to room temperature and top with caramel-dipped hazelnuts just before serving.
For more on Martha Stewart's recipes, visit her at marthastewart.com.
