Halloween Bat Cupcakes - with Terry's Chocolate Orange Ears
Makes 12 large cupcakes or 18 standard bun sized ones
Equipment
- 12 hole bun tins lined with paper cases
Ingredients
For The Cupcake Bases
- 125 g butter unsalted
- 100 g dark chocolate broken into pieces
- 300 g marmalade shredless is best for children
- 150 g caster sugar
- pinch salt
- 2 large eggs beaten
- 150 g self-raising flour or gluten free flour
For The Orange Buttercream Icing
- 500 g icing sugar
- 150 g butter unsalted, softened
- 50-70 ml milk
- 1.5 tsp orange extract flavouring
- dab orange food colouring or red and yellow mixed
For The Halloween Bat Decoration
- 1 Terry's Chocolate Orange slices to be cut in half vertically (for the ears)
- 24 Mini Marshmallows cut in half horizontally (for the eyes)
- 1 tube chocolate icing ready made in small plastic tube - or black colour icing (for the pupils)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 170c or gas mark 3. Line the bun tins with paper cases.
For The Cupcake Bases
- Using a double boiler, melt the butter over a low heat and then stir in the chocolate pieces until both combined and smooth.
- Turn off the heat and using a wooden spoon, stir in the marmalade, sugar, salt and eggs. When just about combined, beat in the flour a little at a time.
- Spoon the batter into the paper cases and bake for around 25 minutes. Normally I would say bake until a cocktail stick comes out clean but these bases are more brownie like and sponge so so long as the stick is not really wet after this time you should be ok. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes before lifting out onto a wire rack.
For The Buttercream
- Meanwhile, blend the softened butter and icing sugar in the food processor until it resembles sand. Pour the milk and flavouring through the funnel until it become soft icing.
- Using a cocktail stick, add spots of yellow and red gel colourings and pulse the food processor until a satisfactory orange colour is obtained.
- Spread the icing on the cake bases using either a small palette knife or pipe it on.
For The Decoration
- Cut the mini marshmallows in half so there are two halves per cupcake. Pipe tiny pupils onto the marshmallow pieces with the small tube of chocolate or black icing. Press carefully into the orange buttercream.
- Push each half of a chocolate orange segment into the buttercream to make bat's ears.
Notes
The cupcake sponges are based on Nigella Lawson's Store Cupboard Chocolate Orange Cake, How to Be a Domestic Goddess.
If you don't want to faff making bat ears and eyes, you can cover the chocolate orange cupcakes with some halloween sprinkles.