Fun in the Kitchen - Halloween themed cupcake ideas...

It's officially half term holiday - hooray!
If you know me well, you'll understand why so many people would be shocked to hear I've been baking (and managed not to set the house of fire). However, with the kind assistance of my (not so) little sister and a kind gift of icing supplies, which I'll be reviewing from Baking Mad, I've taken my cooking experience a step further with some Halloween themed cupcakes!

Placing myself as head decorator, I let my sister work her magic with the cake mixture, using this recipe (part of which is below) from the Baking Mad website. It was easy to follow and definitely suitable for baking with younger children too. 

The website also had great inspiration for Halloween Baking Recipe's and designs, which were really helpful when deciding how to decorate our cupcakes. My favourite gift was the chocolate icing pen, as it had a number of different shaped funnels, which I enjoyed experimenting with. First there was a larger piping tube, which was effective in creating a base for decoration, a thin tube which added detail and a lined tube which created interesting patterns. The purple colour of colour creator particularly stood out as it worked really well in contrast with the chocolate icing. 

The Recipe we used:

150 grams - Butter
150 grams - Golden Caster Sugar
3 - Free Range Eggs
150 grams - Self Raising White Flour
0.50 tsp - Baking Powder + Lemon Zest

1. Heat the oven to 180°C, 160°C fan, gas 4. Line a cup cake tin with 12 paper cupcake cases.
2. Place the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat with a wooden spoon or electric mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs a little at a time until smooth, adding a little flour if the mixture curdles. 
3. Stir in the flour, baking powder and vanilla extract until smooth
4. Place heaped dessertspoon full in each cupcake case and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and just firm to the touch. 
5. Leave in the tins for 5 minutes, then place on a wire rack to cool

For the all important decoration, we decided to use the supplies of icing from Baking Mad, to add the Halloween touch to our cakes. This included two icing pens, that came with various sized ends for different areas of decoration, three colour creators used to add colour to icing, and almond flavouring, to add flavour to the cake.

I'm off now to demolish the lovely cupcakes that I hear calling my name. If you fancy making your own cakes, for Halloween or another occasion I definitely recommend taking a look at the Baking Mad website - I particularly like their cheesecake recipes.

 Get Baking!
Lots of Love...