Halloween Cupcakes ( Chocolate Cupcakes with Orange Buttercream Frosting )

Halloween Cupcakes ( Chocolate Cupcakes with Orange Butter-cream Frosting ) ... How about making some simple, easy and fun ( not so scary ) cupcakes! All you need is some orange frosting, melted chocolate and sprinkles to decorate these cupcakes. I mixed and matched two recipes to make a small batch. They're not the best cupcakes but pretty good, soft and delicious!

Halloween Cupcakes
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Makes : 5

Ingredients :

For Cupcakes :

• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup castor sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/8 tsp.  vanilla essence
• 1/2 cup minus 1 tbsp.  plain flour
• 3/4 tsp.  baking powder
• 1 tbsp.  cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp.  milk, or as required

For Butter-cream / Frosting :

• 1/8 cup unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
• 1 cup Icing sugar, or more if required
• 1/2 to 1 tbsp.  orange juice
• Few drops yellow / orange food color

Method :

For Cupcakes :

• Preheat the oven to 180 C.  Lightly grease or line muffin cups with cupcake liners; set aside.
• Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
• Add the egg and beat well. Add the vanilla essence and beat again.
• In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and cocoa powder.
• Gently fold in the flour mixture into butter mixture ( or beat on low speed ) until well combined.
• Add milk, if the batter is very thick & mix well.  
• Divide batter in each liner ( I used 1/4 cup for each liner ) and bake for about 14 - 16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
• Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.

For Butter-cream / Frosting :

• Beat the butter in a large bowl until soft. Gradually add Icing sugar and continue beating until fluffy.
• Add orange juice; beat the mixture until creamy and smooth.
• Stir in the food coloring until well combined.
• If the mixture is too thick, add a little more juice. If it is too thin, add more Icing sugar.

Assemble :

• For Spiderweb : Melt chocolate in a double boiler or microwave until smooth. Place in a small resealable plastic bag; snip tip from one corner to make a very small hole. Spread 1 tbsp.  frosting on the cupcakes with a small spatula. Pipe 3 concentric circles of chocolate on top of frosted cupcake. Using a toothpick, immediately draw 6 to 8 lines from center to outside edges of cupcake to make spider web. Repeat with remaining cupcakes. Let stand until chocolate is firm.
• For piping : Use a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and filled with frosting, make stars, swirls or pipe diagonal strings in a crisscross pattern. Drizzle melted chocolate and top with sprinkles.

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Thank you for stopping by. Hope you enjoy the recipe!!!