READY FOR HALLOWEEN DAY 21: I'm Batty for These!

Use this excellent tutorial from Dill Pickle Picnic to make elegant Bat Cupcake Flags (or straw decor -- your choice).

:) Moderately time-consuming, but well worth the effort.

READY FOR HALLOWEEN DAY 16: Showing off the goodies

Make it now.

A Zombie Ate My Cupcake

Hello, Lily Vanilli. Thank you for writing a cupcake recipe book just for me.

I know the title of my blog can be a little misleading: I am not cupcake-centric, nor am I creepy-cupcake centric. In fact, you'll find very few cupcake customizations on this blog. Carrie Mae loves cupcakes, but she's got other interests too.

So if you came here for your creepy cupcake fix, I'm going to forward you on to this book from now on: A Zombie Ate My Cupcake. This is like a bible of delectable mini horror cakes!

Next time you're in your local book store, hunt it down and flip through. You'll find it is a must-have inspirational guide if you like your cupcakes on the macabre side.

Nom Skulls

This is a Nom Skull. The website describes them as follows (oh my goth! puns too fantastic not to quote!!):

"Knock ‘em dead with these four stylish silicone skulls. Nomskulls are ready to fill with your favorite grey batter and bake into perfect cupcake craniums. One bite and you’ll be head over heels, because there’s no doubt about it — this skull bone’s connected to the YUM bone! We’ve packed four silicone skull molds in each printed giftbox."

I. Want. One.

Seriously, I want to buy this. Why can't I figure out how to give them my money?

[edit to add: That looks to be a red velvet cupcake in there!!! Nom, indeed!]

Human Centipede Cupcakes

I stole my friend's picture, because you need to see her genius:

I'm sincerely happy that these were not my idea. I'm not watching that movie. But mad props to my homegirl!

One Cupcake is Poisoned

It's cupcake making day!! All day long, I'm making cupcakes.

It's fairly traditional in the south to have a groom's cake. But my groom isn't getting one cake, he's getting about 100 cup-sized cakes. Very, very, very chocolaty cupcakes!! And I made an adorable sign to go on the table:


Sliced my finger making it, but I'm happy with the results.

Now for that icing recipe -- makes an insane amount of icing. Probably twice as much as you need, but I think the original recipe claims 32 servings:

• 2 cups SOFTENED unsalted butter

WHIP IT. WHIP IT GOOD. (on a high setting, with a paddle attachment, until light and fluffy).

• 9 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 2 ^1/2 cups cocoa powder, unsweetened, sifted (I used about 3/4 cup dark cocoa powder from Hershey's -- yummy)
• 1 tsp (I used a tablespoon) vanilla extract

Beat this in with the butter. A little at a time, if you don't like cleaning cocoa powder off the ceiling.

• 1/2 cup to 1 cup whole milk (as needed for consistency)

The last step is to add the milk in, a little at time, still beating on high until it's the consistency you like. It will harden some in the fridge if you cool it for awhile.

This is an AMAZING recipe, both for taste and for getting good shapes with a piping bag (after cooling in the fridge).

Enjoy!! Happy (almost) Halloween.

Cake Pops

I might have posted before about Halloween cake pops from Bakerella; adorable, aren't they?

Well, here's an instructable on how to make somewhat generic Cake-pops. Between that and Bakerella's post on her own Halloween version, you should have plenty of ammo to try your hand at these incre-edible things:


Cake Pops - More DIY How To Projects

Cupcake Vertigo: Salted Caramel Chocolate Cupcakes

These are probably the best cupcakes I have ever made. People really seem to like the icing, which is fascinating since I f'd it up royally. Between the swirly decoration and the sugar buzz people are getting off of them, I'm calling them "Vertigo Cupcakes."

Here's the order I followed when making them:

1. START THE ICING FIRST - it has to cool. We'll get into this in further down the page.
2. Chocolate decorations - Sure, you could make them while waiting on your cakes to bake, thus feeling like you saved time -- but did I mention that the icing has to cool completely?
   
3. Make the Cake

BLACK MAGIC CUPCAKE RECIPE
I did not alter this recipe in any way other than bake times for the smaller cakes: Black Magic Cake.

It made a perfect 24 cupcakes. I baked at the recommended 350^oF, and they were done withing 14-15 minutes for me (as usual, they are done with a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs).

SALTED CARAMEL ICING RECIPE
The original recipe can be found here. I made several adjustments, and had issues, so I'm going to walk you through it.

• 1 pound light brown sugar
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• added: 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)
• added: 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• added: 1/2 tsp sea salt
  

1. In a medium, heavy saucepan, bring the sugar, cream, and vanilla to a rolling boil. Boil one minute.
2. Add soda, and boil one more minute.
3. Remove from heat. Add butter, but do not stir yet. Let the mixture cool. NOTE: Many commenters on this recipe had issues with the icing never taking shape -- I had this issue myself. I think this is the critical point where the problem arises - LET THIS STUFF COOL COMPLETELY. I hypothesize that letting it refrigerate overnight and possibly adding softened butter after this full cooling may help solve the problem. Haven't tried that, though.
4. Toss in the sea salt and beat well. If this mixture doesn't thicken, add in the confectioners' sugar a little bit at a time until it is a firmer consistency. Allowing it to cool completely will strengthen the icing, so don't feel the need to overdo it. Stir in pecans if desired.

People at my office loved the icing. Some loved it so much, in fact, that I may continue to make it the failure way - not letting it cool completely, adding the butter in while the caramel is still warm, putting a whole ton of extra sugar in, etc.

CHOCOLATE SWIRL DECORATION

• Prepare a cookie sheet with a sheet of wax paper
  
• Place chocolate chips in a little plastic bag
• Microwave for 30 sec - 1 minute, stir, then continue at 10 second intervals until fully melted
• Cut a little corner off the bag and squeeze chocolate spirals onto your wax paper - do this a little thick; they will be fragile regardless, but if they are thicker you have a better chance of them not breaking
• Refrigerate - once fully cooled and hardened (this takes minutes), use a thin metal spatula to gentle lift them off the plastic
• Garnish your cupcakes