Halloween Chocolate Cola Cupcakes

The cupcakes are from Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess. I'm not going to win over any foodies by saying that I'm not a big fan of Nigella. That part at the end of every episode where she goes down to the 'larder' in her dressing gown and starts eating like she's in a Snoop Dog video is just too cheesy for my tastes. But I won't fault her on these cupcakes! The batter is very light (so much so I was sure I had added too much liquid) and this gives a lovely moist cupcake. The cola flavour is subtle, but a nice additional to the traditional chocolate cupcake. She makes a glaze but I didn't bother and just served with a traditional buttercream coloured black and my halloween decorations that I've been blogging about the last few days. Pretty cute I think!

For the cupcakes
125g unsalted butter
250g golden caster sugar
2tbsp cocoa
175ml coca cola
200g plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg lightly beaten
125ml buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:
1. Heat the butter gently until almost melted. Add the cocoa powder and cola and warm gently until all the butter is melted. Whisk quite rigorously until combined, the cocoa powder especially will take some whisking to incorporate.
2. Sieve the flour and baking powder into a large bowl and add the salt. Mix to combine.
3. In a jug mix the buttermilk, egg and vanilla extract together.
4. Add both sets of wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Make sure all the flour is incorporated but don't overbeat.
5. Pour into cupcake cases and bake for 15 minutes at 190oC fan oven or until a skewer comes out clean.

Buttercream
40g butter softened
200g icing sugar sieved
1 tbsp coca cola
Blob of black food colouring

Method:

Beat all the ingredients together with an electric whisk until the icing is creamy and there are no lumps of butter (about 3-4 minutes, you really cannot overbeat). You may need to add a tbsp more of cola if there is still dry icing sugar inthe bowl but beat well before you make any additions. The icing may seem too dry but after beating it may be the right consistency.

Bones

Roll icing into two thin sausage shapes using a small glass (this gives nice flat edges where your hands won't). Using a cocktail stick push two incisions into the icing at either end to give that two ended bone shape. Using one finger roll the bone so it is thinner in the centre.

Zombie hands

Shaun of the Dead is a great movie, the best of silly British comedy. These decorations are zombies crawling out of the ground (if you use your imagination!) Colour a weird green for that extra effect.

Dip one end of a cocktail stick in green food colouring (I just used the cheap liquid variety). Rub the end of the cocktail stick in a ball of white ready roll icing and knead until the colour is fairly evenly distributed.

Roll into small balls on a piece of clingfilm and flatten into discs. Cut fingers out with a sharp knife, placing the disc flat on the clingfilm. Remember to leave a gap between the thumb and the next finger. Round the fingers out fingers by squeezing them gently.

Cut a piece of a drinking straw about 2cm long. Push 1cm into the zombie hand very gently leaving 1cm out for pushing into the cupcake so the hand 'stands up'.

Mask from the Movie Scream/Skeleton

Roll the icing into white balls. Flatten the balls with your thumb into thick discs. Squeez the bottom the disc gently to give the 'chin'. Use a cocktail stick to carve out empty eyeball sockets, two small lines for the nose and a horizontal line for the mouth.

Easy Halloween Decorations -The bloody eyeball!

I have hazy childhood memories of Halloween, it was never really a big event. We bought pound-shop gaudy masks and cut eye holes out of black plastic bags and white sheets. There was no fancy dress shops or elaborate costumes. I remember one year going around the village with my best friend. We went into the pubs (it was more innocent times) and were rewarded with a bag of King crisps each  (you may need to be Irish to get this reference- they are the best cheese and onion crisps ever!).

In the in-between years dressing up was unfashionable and childish and it wasn't really until last year when Mr Mushroom Hater had a fancy dress 21st party that I embraced the holiday. Over the next few days I hope to put up some ideas up for using ready roll icing to create easy cupcake decorations.

The Bloody Eye Ball 

1. Dye a small ball of icing green or blue. Dye a very small ball of icing black.

2. Roll a ball of white ready to roll icing and flatten under about 1cm thick. Roll the blue or green icing into smaller balls and squash on top of the white discs. Finally squash the small black balls onto the discs for pupils.

3. Using a cocktail stick dip the stick into the colour and drag across the white disc to make bloody eyeballs.

 

Book Review- Planet Cake

Cake decorating books are my current craze. This book is a true beauty from the world famous bakery Planet Cake, the Elle magazine of cake decorating books. The pages are thick and glossy with exquisite pictures. However I am highly skeptical of the claim on the blurb that this book appeals to beginners. I'm no beginner but I wouldn't be able to attempt some of the cakes or cupcakes in this book. Some of the creations require more artistic than cookery skills.

The beginning of the book is useful. It has step by step pictures of basic techniques using fondant and ganache, e.g. covering a cake, making bows.

And it also features a good troubleshooting page, e.g. how to deal with stains and air bubbles. For me though it is more of a feast for the eyes than a practical book.

Princess Cake

Leopard Print Boot

Handbag

I mean, amazing right? No doubt, but not very do-able at home. Unless you are really artistic and have a heck of a lot of time and patience. In the book's defence they don't skimp on detail and have plenty of step by step sketches but I still don't think that would get me through.

I did find a few decorations I thought I would attempt:

Monster Cupcakes

The instruction page for monster cupcakes

Bow Cupcakes

Spanish minestrone

I am DYING..... with a cold. Its very unpleasant, not to mention unattractive, sniffling into nasty tissues and wheezing like an old man. The weather in Ireland today was rainy but even for rainy weather it was particularly horrible. I had to turn the light on in the kitchen because it was so dark and coupled with my cold, the low grey skies made me gloomy. I needed something comforting, something to chilli-away my bad mood. There wasn't much chance I was going outside and chancing the rain so I made this soup from what was in the house. It is like a minestrone, in fact you could just take out the chorizo, add bacon and pasta instead and you would have a lovely minestrone.

700g chorizo very thinly sliced
1/2 tsp chilli powder (optional)
3 carrots, peeled and diced
2 red onions peeled and thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
2 sticks of celery
450g tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 bay leaf
few sprigs of thyme
550ml veg/chicken stock
450 tin cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

Fry the chorizo in a tsp of oil. The chorizo will create its own oil so there is no need to add much.  Add the onions, carrots and celery and fry for about 4 minutes until soft but not browned.

Add the garlic and chilli powder if using. I used extra spicy chorizo so I didn't add chilli powder but if you are using ordinary chorizo and you like a kick add the chilli powder. Even ordinary chorizo will infuse the soup with it's spicy flavours anyway so if you want to play it safe, leave out the chilli powder.

Add the tin of tomatoes, stock, bay leaf, thyme and tomato puree and simmer for about 15 or until the carrots are soft. Add the cannellini beans for the last five minutes of cooking, you don't want them mushy.

Serve with crusty bread.