Recipe: Skeleton Brownies

 

🎶 Skeleton Jack might catch you in the back 🎶 Sorry I couldn’t resist but that particular lyric is perfect for todays recipe. I’m going to hold my hands up and say that these aren’t perfect, they are nothing like the ones on Pinterest that I took my inspiration from but I’m happy that I actually managed to complete this from start to end and have something edible and somewhat cute at the end. This skeleton brownies are a bit of fun, they’re not a serious bake but would look perfect on a Halloween party spread and as I said I’m just happy they turned out edible. 

Ingredient 

For The Brownies

• 200g Dark Chocolate
• 200g Unsalted Butter
• 275g Caster Sugar
• 90g Plain Flour 
• 35g Cocoa Powder
• 3 Eggs
• 33g Dark Choc Chips, 33g Milk Choc Chips and 33g White Choc Chips

For The Decorations

• White Chocolate Pretzels
• White Normal Sized Marshmallows
• White Mini Marshmallows
• Edible Writing Pen
• Toothpicks

Method 

1. Pre heat oven to 180C. Line a 12inch rectangular tin with greaseproof paper.
2. In a Bain Marie melt your unsalted butter and chocolate together. It’ll take a while but it gives a smoother finish to the mixture which essentially gives a fudgier texture to the overall brownie. 
3. Once your chocolate and butter have melted together place to one side to cool. Into a clean bowl place your eggs and sugar and beat until double in size, pale in colour and mousse like in texture. It takes a while to get there but it’s worth it. 
4. By now you’re chocolate mix should be cool and you can now fold it through your egg mixture. You need to fold it through so you don’t beat out the air you’ve just spent time beating in otherwise it’ll give you more of a bread like brownie once it’s cooked. 
5. Fold in your flour, cocoa powder and chocolate chips. This is where you’ll need to scrape the edges and the sides so that everything is incorporated and you don’t have pockets of unmixed flour baking in your brownies. 
6. Spoon your mixture into your waiting tin and cook for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool completely in the tin. 
7. Now it’s time for some marshmallow art. Grab yourself nine normal sized marshmallows and your edible writing pen. Then all you have to do is have fun and let your creative side show. I’m the worst artist but think my marshmallow skulls came out quite well.
8. By the time you’ve finished your marshmallow art your brownies should be cool and you can start creating your skeletons. To start off with gently score your brownies into nine pieces as a guide to place your toothpicks. 
9. Once you’ve placed your toothpicks in the centre of each brownie chunk, place a pretzel on top of the brownie making sure the toothpick goes through one of the holes. Repeat until you have the base of your skeletons rib cage on each brownie chunk. 
10. Then take a mini marshmallow and gently squish and roll it between your fingers until it’s a bit mishaped but still edible. Slide it down the toothpick until it hits the pretzel and then place another pretzel on top of the marshmallow. 
11. When you have your second rib in place, slide another mini marshmallow down the toothpick to create a neck for the head. Slide the head into place, don’t worry if the marshmallow cracks a little it just adds to the effect. 
12. Repeat until you have nine skeletons erupting from their graves. I advise leaving them to cool completely in the tin and then cutting when it’s sufficiently cooled. 
13. Then all that’s left is to enjoy them. I took mine into work and my colleagues loved them. Imperfect but perfect for spooky season. 

Recipe: Ghoulish Marbled Halloween Cupcakes

 

I love baking for Halloween, it allows me to be a bit more adventurous, so many ghouls and monsters that can easily be incorporated into bakes but sometimes its also nice to strip it back and keep it simple. And that’s what I’m sharing with you today. A simple cupcake recipe with a surprise centre all topped off with a graveyard grey buttercream that has just the hint of glitter in it. 

Ingredients 

For The Cupcakes

- 150g Stork

- 150g Caster Sugar

- 150g Self Raising Flour

- 2 Tsps Vanilla Extract

- 3 Eggs

- Orange Food Colouring

- Green Food Colouring

For The Buttercream

- 200g Butter, softened 

- 320g Icing Sugar

- 2 Tsps Vanilla Extract

- Black Food Colouring

- Jam, flavour of your choice

Method

1. Pre heat oven to 180C. Line a twelve hole cupcake tin with paper cases. 
2. Into a bowl place your caster sugar and stork. Cream together either by hand, electric mixer or stand mixer until it’s pale and fluffy in colour. 
3. Add one egg and a tablespoon of flour. Beat until well combined and then repeat with your remaining eggs. 
4. Fold in your flour and vanilla extract, taking time to slowly fold it through and keep all the air you’ve just beat into the mixture. 
5. Now comes the fun part. Divide your mixture between two bowls. Into one bowl add your orange food colouring and mix until you’ve reached your desired colour. I used quite a lot of orange colouring as I wanted it to be quite bright. 
6. In your second bowl add your green food colouring and again mix until you reach your desired colour. I had to mix two different greens for this recipe as the lighter green on it’s own had too much of a yellow undertone that the darker green turned slime coloured when added. 
7. To marble the two together just alternate spooning the mixture into the waiting paper cases and pop in the oven for 20-22 minutes or until the top springs back when pressed. You could take a toothpick and marble them together before cooking but they automatically and organically do it when they bake so I always like to leave it to the oven to create my pattern. 
8. Leave to cool in the tin for five minutes and then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely. 
9. Now its time to make your buttercream. Pop your softened butter into a clean bowl and beat until soft and pale in colour. I highly advise using a hand mixer or a stand mixer for this part as doing this by hand can be a killer. 
10. Sift in half of your icing sugar and beat until fully incorporated. I tend to start off by folding my icing sugar in so it doesn’t fly out of the bowl and you’re don’t get that dreaded icing sugar cloud. 
11. Sift in the remaining half of your icing sugar and vanilla extract and beat again. Take this time to really scrape the edges and the bottom of the bowl so there aren’t pockets of icing sugar left unmixed in your buttercream. 
12. This is where it gets difficult. Adding food colouring to buttercream isn’t difficult but trying to create that perfect midnight black is. I used the Sugarflair Midnight Black food colouring to start with and it’s what’s given it that lovely metallic sheen but you may need to combine two shades of black to get there or even somewhere close. I also used the Dr Oetker Black Gel Food Colouring to achieve this colour which wasn’t what I was going for but still turned out well in the end. 
13. Once you’ve gotten your desired colour, set your now prepared buttercream to one side. It’s time to add your secret centre. Take your now cooled cupcakes and using a knife or a corer cut out the centre. You could keep them to place on top once you’ve filled them or you could eat them as I did. 
14. Take your jam and spoon a small amount into the middle of your cupcake. Using the back of your spoon gently press down so that your filling lies flat against the top of your cupcake. 
15. Fit a piping bag with a nozzle of your choice and then fill it with your buttercream. Pipe your desired design onto your cupcakes. Don’t worry about your buttercream mixing with your jam, it’s all going to smush together when you bite it anyways.
16. Then all that’s left is to enjoy. I love the metallic sheen these have and when you bit into them you get that delicious sweet vanilla alongside the sharp, tart taste of the jam. Trust me whoever you bake these for is going to love them. 

Recipe: Halloween Shortbread

 

“This is Halloween, This is Halloween” Sorry couldn’t resist it. October is finally here which means Spooky Season is finally upon us. And what a way to kick off the month than with a simple yet punchy recipe that’s absolutely adorable to look at and taste delicious with a cup of coffee. For this recipe I once again played with my flavour combinations, opting for ginger and dark chocolate so it’s got a bit of a kick to it but isn’t too overpowering or bitter. The dark chocolate adds a nice little bit of sweetness whilst not making it overly sweet. 

Ingredients     

- 115g Butter

- 55g Caster Sugar

- 175g Plain Flour

- A Pinch Of Salt

- 100g Dark Chocolate Chips

- 1 Tsp Ground Ginger

Method

1. Pre heat oven to 180C. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. 
2. Into a bowl place the salt, sugar and flour.
3. Add your butter and rub between your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs. 
4. Add your ground ginger and dark chocolate chips. Keep rubbing the mixture together until it starts to come together and form a dough. You may need a little water to help bind it together but it should come together quite easily on it’s own. 
5. Place your dough on a lightly floured surface and roll until about an inch thick. Make sure your flour your rolling pin as well as the chocolate chips are likely to stick to it after a couple of rolls. 
6. Using Halloween shaped cutters of your choice cut out as many shapes as possible, rerolling the dough until you have none left. I got my cutters from Shein and really love the plunger on the top to help get them easily out of the mould. 
7. Place on your prepared baking tray/s and bake for 10-15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Don’t worry if the middles still feel a little soft, they firm up as they cool on the tray. 
8. Leave to cool completely on the tray and then all that’s left to do is enjoy them. I recommend them with a good cup of coffee or a nice hot cuppa. 

Recipe: Easy Peasy Sugar Skull Cupcakes

Spooky Season is upon us! Yes it's finally October which means Halloween one of my favourite times of the year is drawing near. Which means not only do I get to decorate my room all spooky and cute but I get to bake as many Halloween bakes as I like and nobody can stop me.

Today we're starting with the simple, perfect for starter bakers cupcake recipe. I picked up these Sugar Skull decorations up from The Range in the Summer and have kept them safely tucked away until now. From the beginning of brainstorming what I wanted to do with these, I knew I wanted to do matching icings for each of the designs. However I originally planned to just make them all one flavour until I was sat pulling out the relevant colours and flavourings. And then I found myself picking out four different flavourings that work wonderfully with the simple but delicious vanilla sponge that sits underneath them. You don't have to do four different colours or flavourings but I love to play with colour and flavour when I'm baking so these seemed like the perfect excuse to let my creative side out a little more.

Ingredients
For The Cupcakes
- 100g Stork/Margarine
- 100g Caster Sugar
- 100g Self Raising Flour
- 2 Eggs
- 2 Tsp Vanilla Extract

For The Buttercream
- 200g Butter, softened
- 320g Icing Sugar
- Two Teaspoons Of Your Chosen Flavouring/ Flavourings
- Purple, Green, Pink And Yellow Gel or Paste Food Colouring
- A Pack Of Sugar Skull Decorations

Method
1- Pre heat oven to 180C. Line a twelve hole muffin tin with paper cases.
2- Into a bowl place your stock and caster sugar. Using a spatula, wooden spoon or stand mixer cream together until it's pale in colour and fluffy in texture.
3- Add one egg followed by a tablespoon of flour. Beat until combined.
4- Repeat with the other egg and another tablespoon of flour. Beat until well combined, scraping the edges of the bowl so nothing is left sitting on the sides.
5- Fold in the rest of your flour and the two teaspoons of vanilla extract. Take care when folding in your flour as you don't want to knock the air you've just built up out the mixture.
6- Spoon into your paper cases and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for five minutes and then transfer onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
7- Now it's time for the buttercream. Place your softened butter into a bowl and beat until smooth and soft in texture. I highly recommend using a hand mixer or stand mixer for this bit as it does have a tendency to take a while.
8- Once your butter is the right consistency, add half of your icing sugar and mix again. If you're using a hand or stand mixer be sure to start slow and build up the speed otherwise you'll be covered in icing sugar.
9- When you see buttercream starting to form, add the other half of your icing sugar and beat until fully combined. I always take time to scrape around the sides of the bowl so nothing is left sitting on the sides. And if your buttercream seems a little stiff, mix in a splash of milk and you'll have the perfect piping consistency.
10-  Now comes the fun part. As evenly as possible, split the buttercream between four separate bowls. Into each one add your different flavouring/colour combination you've chosen. I chose to flavour the pink cupcakes raspberry ripple, the purple vanilla custard, the yellow were lemon and the green were strawberry. But you can easily flavour them however you like or you can leave it as plain vanilla buttercream.
11- Once you've created your colourful masterpieces, spoon each buttercream into separate piping bags and ice your now cooled cakes. I used a variety of piping nozzles but my favourite is the Wilton 2D Flower nozzle. You'll notice that two of the colours have the same style piping as I just happen to have two of those nozzles.
12- Once you're happy with your piping, gently place a sugar skull decoration on top and leave to set.
13- Then all that's left to do once you've tackled that mountain of washing up this recipe has created is to enjoy them. These are perfect to make with the kids, for the kids or as an easy yet fun recipe if you're an amateur baker.

Recipe: Simple Halloween Cupcakes

Welcome back to another Halloween inspired recipe. Today's post was supposed to be a Frankenstein inspired cupcake recipe but several factors didn't turn out the way I had hoped they would and instead of wasting all my work and the ingredients I'd put together I changed it to a simple Halloween themed cupcake that any novice or amateur baker could put together.

Ingredients
For The Cake
100g Caster Sugar
100g Stork, softened
100g Self Raising Flour
2 Eggs
200g Nutella, melted

For The Buttercream
140g Butter, softened
280g Icing Sugar
1 Tblsp Milk
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
Several Drops Of Food Colouring
Rice Paper Spiderwebs

Method 
1- Pre heat the oven to 180C. Line a twelve hole muffin tin with paper cases.
2- Place the nutella in a bain marie and melt gently over a low heat. It may be tempting to crank the heat up but slow and steady is the best way to melt it to the right consistency. Once it's melted, place to one side and allow to cool to room temperature.
3- In a bowl place the softened stork and caster sugar. Beat until pale and creamy, taking time to scrape the edges of the bowl to make sure nothing is missed and everything is fully incorporated.
4- Add one egg and a tablespoon of flour to the mixture and then beat again. Once it's combined, repeat with a second egg and second spoon of flour. Beat until everything is combined, taking care to scrape the edges of the bowl repeatedly.
5- Fold in the rest of the flour, taking care to be gentle so you don't knock out any air that your mixture may have. I advise either doing this by hand or on a very slow setting on a stand mixer.
6- By now the nutella should have cooled to room temperature. Fold gently in the mixture, again using a slow speed to combine the two. It's tempting to just up the speed but it'll knock out any air in your mixture and will leave you with a flat, heavy cake.
7- Spoon the mixture evenly into the paper cases and bake for 15-20mins or until a cake tester comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for five minutes then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
8- Now it's time for the buttercream. Place the softened butter into a bowl and beat until soft, pale and creamy in texture.
9- Add half the icing sugar and beat until everything is smooth and completely combined. A lot of people say that you should sieve the icing sugar but I find just adding it in as it is works just fine.
10- Add the other half the icing sugar, alongside the tablespoon of milk and a teaspoon of vanilla extract then beat until everything is fully incorporated. The milk helps create the perfect piping consistency whilst the vanilla extract gives it a slightly sweeter taste without being too sickly.
11- Add in your colouring of choice. I used a green colouring as these were originally designed to be Frankenstein inspired but this turned out more yellow toned than I liked. However you can use any colour you like to give them a spooky theme.
12- Pipe your completed icing onto your now cooled cupcakes, mine came out messier than I'd have liked which is why I haven't photographed the whole batch but it's not always appearence that matters, especially in baking.
13- Once all your cakes are iced, add the cobweb rice wafer and leave to set. Or if your family is like mine, finish decorating your cupcakes and then share them around for everyone to enjoy. 

Recipe: Monster Cupcakes

Way back in the Summer I brought a couple of packs of edible eye cake decorations and initially I didn't know what to do with them but then one day as I was scrolling through Pinterest I was found the perfect use for them. Monster Cupcakes were not only the best way to use my edible eyes but were a great excuse to play with different coloured and flavoured icings and make a great Halloween treat.

Ingredients 
For The Cake
100g Caster Sugar
100g Stork, softened
100g Self Raising Flour
2 Eggs
2 Tsp Vanilla Extract

For The Buttercream
200g Butter, softened
320g Icing Sugar
1 Tblsp Milk
3 Food Colourings Of Your Choice
3 Flavourings Of Your Choice
1 Pack Of Edible Eye Decorations

Method 
1- Pre heat oven to 180C. Line a twelve hole muffin tin with paper cases.
2- In a bowl place the caster sugar and softened stork. Beat until creamy, pale and light in texture.
3- Add one egg in at a time followed by a tablespoon of flour. Beat until everything is combined, making sure to scrape repeatedly around the sides to make sure everything gets included in the mixture.
4- Once both eggs have been added, gently fold in the rest of the flour alongside the two teaspoons of vanilla extract. I used to add the vanilla extract after I;d folded the flour in but found that continously mixing the batter caused it to lose any air the folding of the flour had built.
5- Once everything is combined, spoon into the paper cases and bake in the oven for 15-20mins or until a skewer/cake tester comes out clean. Leave to cool for five minutes in the tin then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
6- As the cakes are cooling, place the softened butter into a bowl and beat until creamy. I find this does take a while but patience certainly pays off once it's complete.
7- Add half the icing sugar and a tablespoon of milk, then beat until smooth. I used to think that icing sugar had to be sieved to make a good consistency buttercream but it actually doesn't. I just throw it in and let my mixer work it's magic.
8- Once the mixture is smooth, add the rest of your icing sugar and beat again until everything is completely smooth. You can also add another spoonful of milk if you feel that your buttercream isn't the right piping consistency.
9- Seperate the buttercream between three small bowls. Into each bowl add each of your desired flavourings and colourings. For mine I went with Orange, Coconut and Lemon flavourings and I chose blue, purple and yellow for my colourings. The blue is coconut, the purple is orange and the yellow is lemon. I haven't given a measurement for how much you need to add to the buttercream as it's all about the way you want it to taste and the colour you wanted it to be.
10- When your happy with the colour and flavour of each buttercream, spoon each one into a piping bag with a nozzle of your choice and decorate your cakes. I thought that the blue monsters were going to be the best but the purple actually turned out to be my favourite with it's unique and intricate pattern.
11- Once all your cakes are iced, take your edible eyes and place them however you want on your cakes. I liked the idea of having a cyclops as well as a multi-eyed monster but you can do whatever you want and could even add more decorations to them if that's what you felt they needed.
12- Now all that's left for you to do is store them in an a airtight container and enjoy whenever you want.