Yay! It’s Halloween! And have I got a sinfully delicious spooky treat for you – Graveyard Cupcakes! Lurking below the haunting graveyard scenes on these little dickens, you will uncover decadent moist and rich malted chocolate cupcakes, adorned with smooth, silky Swiss meringue buttercream frosting. Without a doubt they are sinfully delicious!
Halloween has always been my favorite holiday. I mean, think about it…You get to dress weird, drink booze and eat candy for dinner. In fact, all of that fun stuff is encouraged. How could you go wrong on such a day!
Our modern holiday of Halloween, actually has Irish origins. Today’s celebrations are derived from the Celtic holiday of Samhain. Samhain was Celtic New Year. It was a harvest festival which marked the dying of the sun-god and a turning to the colder, dormant half of the year. On this night, the Celts believed the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead was at its lowest point. The dead could more easily travel back over to our side, and if we weren’t careful, we could accidentally wander over in to their world and be trapped-a good reason to stay close to home and bonfires, no doubt! This belief likely gave rise to our Halloween legends of ghosts, ghouls and witches wandering about on this night in particular. I’ve posted some great Halloween recipes in past years ranging from the historically based traditional recipes such as:
Soul Cakes (Traditional Halloween/ Samhain)
Yeasted Irish Barmbrack Bread (traditional Halloween/Samhain)
Irish Tea Barmbrack with a Whiskey Honey Glaze (traditional Halloween/Samhain)
To the more whimsical offerings such as:
White Chocolate Mummy Pretzels
Halloween Cookies & Cream Owl Cupcakes
Mini Mummy Brownie Bite Cupcakes
As well as some wonderful boozy libations to kick your celebrations into high gear:
A few year’s ago I managed to combined whimsical and boozy altogether in my Halloween treats with these adorable – I mean terribly frightening Itsy-Bitsy Tipsy Spider Cupcakes.
Then there were these Black Velvet Frankenstein Cupcakes.
I had a howling good time making these little rascals:
I loved making these boo-tiful Spooky Ghost Cupcakes!
And don’t forget these diabolically delicious Malted Chocolate Devil Cupcakes
Last year I took a wee break from my Halloween cupcake streak to bring you these divinely spooky, yet sweet Chocolate Black Cat Macarons!
But let me get back to this years scary offering! These malted chocolate cupcakes are a favorite of mine. They are so delicious and pretty easy to prepare. The frosting is my favorite, Swiss Meringue Buttercream. Decorating them into an eerie graveyard scene was definitely fun. Let your imagination run wild here. I ground up dark chocolate Oreo Thins for the dirt. You could use any chocolate cookie that you desire. The tombstones are Pepperidge Farms Milano cookies dipped in dark chocolate. You just melt some dark chocolate chips, dip the cookies into the chocolate so that half the cookie is coated. Let the excess chocolate drip off and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet to harden. Once the chocolate has set, you can melt white chocolate. Let it cool slightly and load it into a piping bag fitted with a small round tip. Pipe messages onto the tombstones. The rest of my items are store bought candies, which should be easy to find in your local store.
There’s still time to whip up a batch of the naughty little indulgences before the sun goes down on this Halloween. And of course, there’s always next year. So what are you waiting for? Get baking! Happy Halloween!!!
Spooky Graveyard Cupcakes
recipe from: Pastry Love by Joanne Chang
Ingredients:
For the Cupcakes:
- 210 grams (1 1/2 cups) malted milk powder
- 175 grams (1 1/4 cups) all purpose flour
- 60 grams (1/2 cup) Dutch-processed cocoa powder, sifted after measuring
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 200 grams ( 1 cup) sugar
- 2 large eggs ( about 100 grams) at room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk (about 20 grams) at room temperature
- 110 grams (1/2 cup) vegetable oil (such as canola)
- 240 grams (1 cup) whole milk
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- Malted Milk Frosting (recipe noted below)
- Vanilla Syrup (recipe noted below)
For the decorations:
- Milano cookies – dipped in melted chocolate for the tombstones
- Oreo thin cookies – crushed up to look like dirt
- Candy corn Pumpkins
- Gummy Worms
- Dark Chocolate chips – melted, for dipping tombstones
- White Chocolate chips- melted, for writing on tombstones
- Wilton icing decoration bones and axes
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325° F and place a rack in the center of the oven. Line the bottoms of two regular cupcake pans with cupcake liners. Spray the sides lightly with pan spray or very lightly brush with vegetable oil. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, stir together the malted milk powder, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the sugar, whole eggs and egg yolk on medium hight speed until the mixture falls back onto itself in ribbons when you lift the whisk up. Turn the mixer to low and slowly drizzle in the oil. Turn off the mixer and add about one third of the flour mixture. Turn the mixer on to the lowest speed and mix just until most of the flour mixture has been incorporated into the eggs, about 10 seconds. Stop the mixer and use a rubber spatula to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and the whisk. Add about half the milk along with the vanilla and turn the mixer back onto the lowest speed. Gently combine until most of the milk is mixed into the batter. stop the mixer and again scrape the bowl and the whisk. Add half the remaining flour mixture; mix on low until it’s mostly mixed in, then stop and scrape. Add the rest of the milk and mix again on low util it is mostly mixed in. Remove the bowl from the mixer , add the last of the flour mixture, and gently fold by hand with a rubber spatula until all of it is incorporated into the batter. Divide the batter between the prepared cupcake tins.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, rotating the pans midway through the baking time, until the cupcakes spring back when you poke them in the middle and a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean when you insert it into the middle of the cake. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and let cool in the baking pans on a wire rack.
While the cupcakes are baking and cooling, make the frosting and vanilla syrup and set them aside.
Once the cupcakes are completely cool, remove them from the tins. Using a pastry brush, paint and soak the tops of the cupcakes with the vanilla syrup.
Fit a pastry bag with a large round tip and fill it with the frosting. Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes and then smooth flat with an offset spatula. Now you can decorate as you see fit to create your spooky graveyard scene. I dipped Milano cookies in dark chocolate for the tombstones and then melted a little white chocolate and piped it onto the tombstones for the RIP’s etc. Crushed thin Oreos are my dirt. I’ve got some gummy worms and candy corn pumpkins making an appearance as well. The candy bones and scary hands are from Wilton.
The frosted cupcakes can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.
Vanilla Syrup
Ingredients:
- 120 grams (1/2 cup) water
- 100 grams (1/2 cup) sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Directions:
In a small saucepan, combine the sugar with the water and bring to a boil and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Let cool before using.
The syrup can be made in advance and stored in an airtight container in the fridge indefinitely.
Malted Milk Frosting
Ingredients:
- 135 grams (2/3 cup) superfine sugar
- 2 large egg whites ( about 1/4 cup or 60 grams) at room temperature
- 455 grams (2 cups or 4 sticks) unsalted butter
- 420 grams(3 1/2 cups) confectioners sugar
- 105 grams (3/4 cup) malted milk powder
- 75 grams (3/4 cup) sifted dutch process cocoa powder
- 2 Tablespoons whole milk
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- pinch of kosher salt
Directions:
In a medium metal of heatproof glass bowl, whisk together the superfine sugar and egg whites to make a thick slurry. Place the bowl over a small pot of simmering water, make sure the pot is small enough the the bowl sits above the water and not directly touching it, or you may end up with scrambled egg whites. Cook, whisking occasionally, until the mixture is hot to the touch, 6 to 8 minutes.
Pour the sugar-egg white mixture into a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip on medium high for 4 to 6 minutes, until the mixture cools. Add the butter bit by bit and whip on medium until the butter is thoroughly incorporated. Add the confectioners’ sugar, malted milk powder, cocoa powder, milk, vanilla, and salt and whip on medium until the frosting is smooth and satiny.
The frosting can be store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Before using, let it sit out at room temperature for at least 6 hours or ideally overnight. Place the frosting in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix until it smooths out again. It will look broken (curdled and very lumpy, possibly even separated with some liquid seeping out) for a while until it warms up, but don’t panic – just keep beating it and be patient.
Enjoy!
Links for helpful Kitchen Tools & Ingredients for Spooky Graveyard Cupcakes:
Kitchen Aid Artisan Stand Mixer
Oxo Good Grips Stainless Steel Food Scale
King Arthur Bensdorp Dutch Process Cocoa Powder
Carnation Malted Milk Powder or King Arthur Malted Milk Powder
Pastry Love by Joanne Chang – LOVE this cookbook!
Posted by liadh1 
Lea & Jay 