Halloween is my second favourite holiday in the world. As I have gotten older, the appeal of Halloween has changed. It has become less about dressing up and getting candy, and more about making delicious treats and watching horror movies. Well, at least the treats part hasn’t changed.
Every year I always make an effort to make Halloween cupcakes. There is something so appealing about eating orange frosting with black and orange sprinkles around this time of the year. I also like to decorate the outside of the house for the trick-or-treaters. Nothing extravagant. But I like to put a few things up to make the house look more spookily inviting. I don’t know about you but when I was younger, I loved walking to the houses that had decorations and jack-o-lanterns.
Speaking of which, do you know that I have never carved a pumpkin before? It wasn’t something that was important in my household growing up. On the flip side, I didn’t stop trick-or-treating till I was 18. Mind you, I looked 15 when I was 18. And I did dress up! I was a Greek goddess and my friend was a Mexican. Yes, I know how offensive that is. In hindsight, the outfit was in poor taste but we didn’t even know it at that time until much later. She just threw on a sombrero and off we went in search of candy. But hindsight is 20/20.
I plan to take it easy this Halloween. Have a nice dinner, bake some delicious Pilsbury crack cookies. You know the sugar cookie kind? They are like crack. Addictive and so so so worth it. I always want more than the allotted 3 I allow myself. But on Halloween… let’s just say I indulge 😉
But no Halloween is complete without binge-watching a bunch of horror movies, right? I love horror movies. I love being scared – momentarily. And I am so happy that Netflix has released a bunch of awesome horror movies this time around 🙂 so yeah, those are my plans this Halloween. Now let’s get on to the cupcakes!
BUBBLE, BUBBLE, TOIL, AND TROUBLE – OR SOMETHING ALONG THOSE LINES
So I ended up making these Halloween cupcakes a bit earlier than normal. Usually, I do it a few days before Halloween or on the day of. It’s just that I have been working on, and baking a bunch of other recipes (that I will have posted up soon!), so I’ve made the cupcakes now. I have a few more Halloween ideas I want to conjure (nice Halloween word 😉 ) but I don’t know if I will get the time to work on them. So in any case, I at least have one Halloween recipe for you guys.
Below are 2 recipes for Halloween cupcakes. One is a chocolate cupcake recipe and the other is a vanilla cupcake recipe. Then there is a recipe for vanilla buttercream, to which I have provided the potion to make the buttercream into a chocolate one. The cupcakes should yield about 12 each, but I do find that the chocolate ones usually have more (because of the addition of some extra liquid).
In all honesty, I find that making cupcakes are a hit or miss for me. On some days I am amazing and they turn out divine, and on other days nothing seems to work. I find that the key to excellent cupcakes (aside from a perfect recipe), is to take your time. Do not rush when making, baking and icing cupcakes. I find that for me, it never works out!
HALLOWEEN CUPCAKES
Chocolate Cupcakes
Serve up these boo-licious chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream at your next Halloween party!
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup cane sugar
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup coffee, cooled
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3/4 cup whole milk (regular milk or buttermilk will work too)
Instructions
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In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream the butter and sugars. About 5 minutes. Add in the eggs, one at a time mixing thoroughly after each addition. Scrape down the sides as needed.
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Whisk together the milk, vanilla, sour cream and cooled coffee and set aside. In a small bowl sift the dry ingredients together. Add in the dry ingredients and milk mixture in 3 additions, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Make sure to not over mix.
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Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 of the way full (make sure you do not go more than that). Bake the cupcakes at 350F for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool completely before icing.
Vanilla Cupcakes
Serve up these boo-licious vanilla cupcakes with chocolate buttercream at your next Halloween party!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup cane sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp almond essence
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
Instructions
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In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar, About 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides. Add the eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.
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Whisk together the milk, vanilla and almond essence. In a small bowl, sift the dry ingredients together. Add the dry ingredients and milk mixture in 3 additions, starting and ending with the dry ingredients.
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Spoon the cupcake mixture into the liners, filling it 3/4 cups of the way. Bake the cupcakes at 350F for 20 minutes or until cooked. Leave the cupcakes in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Wait till the cupcakes are completely cooled before icing.
Basic Buttercream Recipe
This buttercream is a basic vanilla frosting. Add your food colours or other flavours to make it your own!
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 3 cups icing sugar (more or less depending on your own taste)
- 1/4 cup full cream or milk
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- orange food colouring
Chocolate buttercream
- 1/2 the butter cream
- 2 ounces melted chocolate, cooled
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder (or more to taste)
- black food colouring
Instructions
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Beat the sugar until pale in colour. On low speed add the vanilla. Slowly add the icing sugar. If the mixture is too thick, add some of the full cream/milk. Make sure to scrape the sides as needed. Once all the ingredients are incorporated, beat the buttercream on high for 5-10 minutes, or until it looks nice and fluffy.
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To make the chocolate butter cream, add 1/2 the buttercream mixture into a separate bowl. Add the melted chocolate and cocoa powder.
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Add the food colouring to the respective frostings until you achieve your desired colour. Pipe away!
SO THERE YOU HAVE IT, THE SECRET POTION TO SOME DELICIOUS HALLOWEEN CUPCAKES! I LOVE HOW THEY TURNED OUT, AND I THINK THE ADDITION OF HALLOWEEN SPRINKLES MAKES THEM EVEN CUTER. FEEL FREE TO DECORATE AND COLOUR THESE CUPCAKES AS YOU PLEASE. FOR THOSE WHO MIGHT ASK, I GOT MY CUPCAKE LINERS FROM HOMESENSE AND I USE WILTON GEL FOOD COLOURING. LET ME KNOW WHAT YOUR PLANS ARE FOR HALLOWEEN! I HOPE YOU HAVE A SPOOK-TACULAR TIME!
