Student Author: Erica H.
Graveyard Cupcakes
What You’ll Need:
cupcakes
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup grape jelly
1 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs, set at room temperature
12 ounces (3 sticks) of unsalted butter melted
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
⅔ cup of milk
Let’s get to baking!
The first step is to preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two 12 cup muffin tins with cupcake liners. Next, you can whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium sized bowl.
Warm grape jelly in the microwave until loosened and whisk until smooth. Beat together the sugar and eggs in another bowl until light and foamy. While beating, you should gradually pour in the butter and vanilla. As you’re mixing slowly, add half of the dry ingredients and then the milk. Follow then with the dry ingredients. Make sure not to overmix the batter.
Remove 2 cups of the batter and stir in grape jelly. Evenly fill the liners with about ⅔ full, alternating with yellow and grape batter. Bake until a tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean and the tops spring back slightly to the touch (20 to 22 minutes). Place the pan on a rack to cool for 10 minutes and then remove the cupcakes to a rack to cool completely.
What you’ll need:
frosting
10 ounces ( 2 ½ sticks) of unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
3 ½ cups confectioners sugar, spooned and leveled out
3 tablespoons milk
10 chocolate cookies, crushed
For the frosting, beat the butter and salt together in a large bowl until its constancy is fluffy and completely combined. Gradually combine in confectioner's sugar until smooth and fluffy once again. Continue to beat as you insert the milk one tablespoon at a time until the frosting has a nice spreadable consistency. Add in the crushed cookies and continue to beat until any larger chunks are crushed into smaller bits and the frosting has a speckled, greyish look.
Once both the frosting and cupcakes are done, arrange them into 4 rows on a large serving plate. Finally, fit a marshmallow between each cupcake to fill in the gaps between and spread the frosting over the entire rectangle so it looks like a cake. On top, sprinkle with the cookie crumbs and black decorating sugar.
What you’ll need:
decorations
15 large white marshmallows
¼ cup finely crushed chocolate sandwich cookies (about 3 cookies)
1 tablespoon black or dark green decorating sugar
One 6.4 ounce tube black decorating icing, with tips
5 oval-shaped vanilla and chocolate sandwich cookies
One 7 ounce tube marzipan
3 round lollipops, wrapped
¼ cup orange decorating sugar
One 6.4 ounce tube green decorating icing, with tips
Seven 8 inch pieces black licorice
To make the tombstones, use the black decorating icing and a small round tip to write RIP on the top half of the oval sandwich cookie and stick into the cupcakes randomly around the “graveyard”.
To make the ghosts, remove 2⁄3 of the tube of marzipan and place between 2 sheets of wax paper. Drape over the wrapped lollipops and stick into the cupcakes around the tombstones.
To make the pumpkins and leaves, divide the remaining marzipan into 4 small pieces and roll each into a ball. Roll in the orange sugar until coated and place around the graveyard. Use the black icing to pipe a small stem. Fit the tube of green decorating icing and dot bits of green grass poking through the dirt. For the final step, making a border, use 6 pieces of licorice to make a border leaving the middle of the front side open. Bend the 7th piece into an upside down U and stick into 2 cupcakes in the front to make an arched gateway.
There you have it! Your very own graveyard cupcakes. Have a great Halloween and enjoy these spooky treats!
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