Halloween – is there a more fun excuse for food? Seriously, when else do you get to use the food colour with such reckless abandon? After all, the kids are already hopped up on the free lollies that are thrown at them, so what harm can a teensy little bit more do? Go crazy, let your inner child out and see how happy you can make the little ones.
I long ago realized that the kids only really care how it looks, but the recipe below is a ridiculously easy and tasty vehicle for all the good stuff – the icing and the lollies, of course.
Cupcake recipe
250g butter at room temperature
1 ½ cups sugar
1 ½ cups self-raising flour
½ cup plain flour
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
60 mls of milk
Put everything except the milk in the food processor and blitz until smooth. Add enough milk for consistency – it should scrape easily off a spoon. Bake in a 180° oven for 15-20 minutes until golden.
Tip: ovens vary and if you find these don’t rise enough, substitute more self-raising for the plain flour. You don’t want them to rise too much or it makes them difficult to ice and you have to cut the tops off.
Easy Buttercream
125g butter
500g icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Boiling water
Blitz all ingredients apart from water in the food processor. Add enough boiling water while the food processor is running so that the icing is smooth and spreadable consistency. No sifting required!
Once the cupcakes are cooled, try out some decorations. Here are our ideas:
Colour some of the buttercream black and pipe alternate circles of black and white on top of the cupcake. Drag a skewer from the centre out to create a web.
Roll 2 balls of black fondant to make the head and abdomen and thin strips for legs. Add a small stripe of red on the back of the larger ball.
Slice the top off a cupcake and cover the inside of both sides with buttercream and a circle of red fondant.
Placing the cut top in your hand fondant side down, ice the top with blue buttercream and then dip in blue crystals (bought from the supermarket in a four pack of colours). Flatten a ball of purple fondant to make a tongue shape and stick with a bit of water to the circle on the base of the cupcake. Put a little bit more water on top of the tongue and stick down the top of the cupcake.
Roll a ball of white fondant for the eye and flatten a smaller ball of green for the iris. Flatten an even smaller ball of black for the pupil then using a skewer dipped in red food colour, paint on the blood vessels. Finally roll two small balls of white into cone shapes and stick on for fangs.
Colour some of the buttercream green and use a Wilton 234 nozzle to make the grass.
Sprinkle cocoa pops for the rocks. Cover a plain biscuit in royal icing coloured grey and let dry before piping RIP in darker grey or black royal icing. Form a zombie hand out of grey fondant and let dry before pressing into the “grass” and “soil”.
Use some of the green buttercream and ice the cupcake before dipping into a bowl of green coloured crystals (again from the supermarket).
Cut out a circle from black fondant and create a rough cone shape for the top of the hat. Wet the circle slightly and press the cone on top to stick together. Cut a long rectangle of orange or red and stick around the base to form the band. Cut out a small rectangle of yellow for the buckle. Roll two white balls of fondant for the eyes. Roll two smaller yellow balls and press to flatten and stick to the white balls. Use tiny dots of black for pupils or an edible marker.
Cut a semi-circle of purple for the hair. Assemble by placing the eyes first, then the hair and then the hat. An Allen’s lolly mouth completes the witch.
About Us
Piece of Cake is two mums who love creating yummy treats and have spent a lot of time experimenting with designs for birthday cakes over the years. Family and friends have been willing victims for our innovative and delicious cakes and always said we should go into business.
So the perfect storm was brewing: expensive cakes in Sydney, which are often a letdown, and two mums wanting to share their passion and creativity. And at that 3pm pick-up one day, “Piece of Cake” was born…
Check out our facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pieceofcakeroseville to see more examples of our cakes and our contact details.
We are available for the outsourcing of any of your baking needs and can make any of our goodies as professional or as “rustic” as you require. Discretion is assured… no one will know you didn’t make it yourself!
