Spooky Halloween Cupcakes

So we had a spooky Halloween party this weekend in the Murphy house, and of course, me, being me, HAD to bake some sort of sweet treat for our guests. Besides, what's a party without cake?! After much deliberation I decided to go for bite size Ghostly cupcakes which were seriously quick and easy to make. These are perfect for Halloween parties or even to hand out to trick-or-treat-ers for something that little bit different.

Ingredients

225g Butter (softened)

225g Caster Sugar 

225g Self Raising Flour (sieved)

4 large Eggs

2 tbsp Cocoa Powder (sieved)

Method

1) Preheat your oven to 180C/ 350F/ Gas Mark 5 and line a bun tray with mini muffin cases 

2) Cream the butter and sugar together until nice and creamy 

3) Add eggs one by one while the mixture is still beating 

4) Then add by the sieved flour, one spoonful at a time while mixing 

5) Finally add in the cocoa powder and when the mixture is light and fluffy fill each bun case with a tiny amount of the mixture 

6) Bake for approx 10 mins and leave to cool on a wire tray

While the cupcakes are in the oven you can make your butter cream by combining 200g of Icing Sugar, 100g of Butter and 1 tsp of Vanilla Extract until the mixture is light and fluffy.  

When the buns are fully cooled, you an pipe the buttercream. I used the open hole piping nozzle for the ghost effect. I then stuck on small decorative balls for the eyes and mouths.

 Here are a few pictures of myself and my spooooooky guests...

Vanilla & Chocolate Mousse Cupcakes

I've been so caught up with returning to college and continuing to work in The Coffee Shop that I haven't written a blog post in an entire month! So right now my main aim is to write as many posts as I can about all the baking bits 'n' bobs I've been getting up to over the past few weeks. I'm going to start off with these Vanilla & Chocolate Mousse Cupcakes which I baked last week for my boyfriend Dave who is a total chocolate monster. He absolutely LOVES these bad boys, so, seens as he hadn't been feeling the best I baked a batch for the patient to attempt to cheer him up :)

* PLACE A LARGE BOWL IN THE FRIDGE BEFORE DOING ANYTHING ELSE *

Ingredients

50g Butter (softened)

Half Cup Caster Sugar

2 Cups Self Raising Flour (sieved)

1 tsp Baking Powder (sieved)

1 Egg (beaten)

1 Cup Milk

80g Dark OR Milk Chocolate (broken into pieces)

80g White Chocolate (broken into pieces)

Drop of Vanilla Extract

1 tbsp Cocoa Powder

** TIP: You may not have taken your butter out early enough to soften, if this is the case, simply grate the butter into the mixing bowl so it softens much more quickly. **

Method

1) Preheat your oven to 190C/ 375F/ Gas Mark 5 and line a muffin tray with bun cases

2) Cream your butter and sugar together in a bowl until slightly fluffy in consistency

3) Add the beaten egg and milk into the mixing bowl and continue to beat

4) Add in the SIEVED flour and baking powder and continue to beat the batter.

5) When fully mixed, divide the batter in two.

6) To one half, add the cocoa powder and dark/milk chocolate chunks and mix

7) To the other half, add the white chocolate chunks and the vanilla extract

8) Half fill each bun case with the white mixture and then top with the brown

9) Bake the muffins for 20 mins and when done, leave to cool on a wore rack while you prepare the mousse topping...

For the Mousse Topping...

You will need...

700g Heavy Whipping Cream

350g Icing Sugar

180g Cocoa Powder

Pinch Salt

1) Place all your ingredients in your chilled bowl you placed in the fridge earlier and whip together until the mixture holds a peak

2) Put the mixture back in the fridge for a further 10 mins

3) Pipe the icing onto the cupcakes in whatever fashion you wish