spoonfuls of goodness: BEWARE! Halloween Cupcakes

I know this post is a few days late, and Halloween is over, but for anyone who needs some ideas for next year, details are now here to read and see! =D. Halloween is slowly becoming a popular celebration in Australia (mainly due to American TV show influences), but it is definitely a fun new way to creatively bake. Last year my sister hosted a Halloween Party, but this year with no party, I still wanted to experiment with some Halloween themed cupcakes.

The Halloween cupcakes were inspired by one of my new favourite YouTube channels; MyCupcakeaddiction. The best thing about this channel is that it is Australian based, so all the products she uses in her tutorials are generally available at a local Woolworths or Coles. She posted up a few Halloween themed desserts, but I chose the cupcakes.

Jack-o-Lantern cupcakes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSx1cRQLI74&feature=BFa&list=PLQ27MnDUZPYbtxS67cKLcnk7BeTtLD2NK

Ghost Cupcakes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5vP4bP1IT4&feature=BFa&list=PLQ27MnDUZPYbtxS67cKLcnk7BeTtLD2NK

Buttercream Recipe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_xqvYCfrpU

The tutorials were simple and straight forward. I did slightly alter what she did by using black fondant for the pumpkins facial features instead of black liquorice. Furthermore, I used a WHITE writing fudge tube instead of chocolate to stick on the ghostly eyes (aka mini m&ms). To colour the buttercream I used orange, and a bit of red colour paste to get a lovely pumpkin/blood orange colour.

For the cupcake recipe, I used my NEW go to Vanilla Cupcake Recipe. The recipe makes 24 large cupcakes, so you have to tweak it a little. I made 36 standard cupcakes which was 1.25 of the recipe. If you make one batch of the batter, you get roughly 30 standard cupcakes.

Vanilla Cupcake Recipe
Guided by (http://magdelinelum.com/i-like-to-bake/)

Ingredients
4 eggs
200g softened butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups of self raising flour (sifted)
1 1/2 cups of caster sugar (2 cups MAX)
250ml full cream milk

Method:
1. Preheat over to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Using an electric mixer (or hand held mixer) cream the butter and sugar together until dissolved.
3. Add the eggs in one at a time, ensuring each egg is fully combined before adding in the next.
4. Add the flour and milk alternately and gently fold into the batter using a spatula.
5. Divide the mixture between the cupcake liners (filling each about half - 2/3 of the way)
6. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.