Melted Witch Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes over the weekend. People still watch the old "Wizard of Oz" movie, right? Because what with the "Wicked" musical being so popular, the kids these days might not want to eat a melted Elphaba cupcake (she being merely misunderstood rather than truly wicked).

I wanted to make these gluten-free so I ended up using a mix (Betty Crocker - it was pretty good, not dry like some gf mixes I've tried). I used my easy chocolate buttercream recipe for the frosting  - cream together two sticks of butter, 2-3 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 cup melted chocolate, a tablespoon of cocoa powder and a pinch of salt).

The witch cupcakes I've seen have used a Fudge Stripe cookie for the brim of the witches hat, but the scale wouldn't have been right for these cookies. I didn't have a smaller cookie (you'd need one that's slightly bigger than a quarter) so decided to just put the Hershey's kisses in for the hat, with no brim.

I wanted the witch to look truly "melted" so made a flat icing (whisk together a cup of powdered sugar, 2-3 tablespoons of cream or half and half and vanilla extract to taste. Add food coloring.)  I smoothed out the top of each cupcake a little and poured a little puddle of witch on each one.

The broom is made of a pretzel for the broom handle and some edible grass I got at Easter. I realize that not everyone has the forethought to get candy at Easter to use for Halloween (Ha! Just kidding - I bought it thinking that I could do something with it but not having any idea what) so you could use fruit roll-ups cut into strips or licorice. The "broom bristles" are attached with melted chocolate. I set them on wax paper until the chocolate was set.

Halloween Links!

Here's a photo of the ghost cupcakes I made last year. These are pretty easy - a dollop of frosting with chocolate chip eyes. I sprinkled some sugar on them for sparkle but it ended up looking weird. I don't recommend it.

 Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been having technical (and other) difficulties. I WILL post thirteen Halloween posts but they may not be on thirteen different days. Here are some pics of my cupcakes I made last year, with some tips for making them. Also, some great Halloween links:

•  An extremely cool Day of the Dead felt piece: http://vitaminihandmade.blogspot.com/2011/11/dia-de-los-muertos.html
• The best pumpkin carver ever! http://villafanestudios.com/
• An elegantly scary cake (that's easier than it looks) http://www.ledelicieux.com/2011/10/19/black-forest-cake/

These are pretty easy. Frost the cupcakes as you normally would (I just put a big dollop of frosting on). Pour orange sprinkles in a bowl or on a sheet of wax paper and press the cupcake into the sprinkles. The faces are made with melted chocolate and the stems are just more buttercream.

For these festive swirls, I just put three different colors of frosting in my piping bag, trying to "stripe" them in but it doesn't really matter. You could also paint stripes on the inside of your bag with gel food coloring, which would give you a similar look.

Gingerbread Cupcakes

I've seen this cute decorating idea on several blogs lately. It turns out this upside-down witch cupcake is easy to make. You need paper straws, black construction paper and your favorite cupcake. Cut the straw in half (or thirds) and attach a black construction paper witch shoe to each half. You will need to make two slits in the "shoe" so that the middle part is about as wide as the inside of your straw. That way you can just pop the shoes on and stick your straw "legs" into your cupcake.

 Gingerbread Cupcakes Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cloves
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp cocoa (dutch-processed preferred)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup butter, melted and cooled
• 3/4 cup molasses
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 large egg

To Make:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Sift/mix dry ingredients (except salt) in a mixing bowl. Set aside.
3. Mix last six ingredients together until well-combined.
4. Add dry ingredients to wet, a third at a time and mix on low speed until just mixed (no dry spots but it may be somewhat lumpy - that's okay).
5. Fill cupcake cups about half full. Bake 15-25 minutes or  until toothpick comes out clean.

Easy Orange Frosting

3 cups powdered sugar
2 sticks of butter, softened
1 tsp orange extract or orange zest
pinch of salt

To Make:

1. Cream Butter and 1/3 of powdered sugar until very fluffy.
2. Add salt and orange extract
3. Add remaining sugar or until you get the consistency and flavor that you want. If it gets too thick, add a teaspoon of milk or cream.