My six-year old daughter, Moozles, is beyond excited at the prospect of Halloween. So this weekend we put up some decorations and did some baking. I have recently renewed my relationship with Pinterest. And after a browse, Moozles decided that these Jack Skellington cupcakes were what she wanted. There is obviously not much instruction there, so I thought I would share what we did.
Whenever I ask what kind of cake we should make, everyone asks for chocolate. So, I make my Husband’s favourite chocolate cake recipe (if I make chocolate cake for kids, I use a more kid-friendly recipe). Since my family members are chocoholics, they can handle this fudgey cake. This cake is easy to make, and easier to decorate – perfect for baking with kids.
Chocolatey Fudge Cake 175g self-raising flour 280g caster sugar 100g butter (room temperature) 3 large free-range eggs 50ml whole milk (I use Lactofree) 40g cocoa powder 6 tbsp boiling water 1 tsp baking powder Preheat oven 160C (fan-assisted)/190C. Mix all the ingredients, apart from the last three. In a separate bowl, blend the cocoa powder and the boiling water, then add to the rest of the mixture. Add the baking powder and mix. This can be baked as 12-15 cupcakes or in two 8-inch cake pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Leave to cool in the pan before icing. Buttercream Icing 180 icing sugar 90g butter 1/2 tsp vanilla extract Mix half the icing sugar with the rest of the ingredients. Once that is blended, add the rest of the icing sugar. I use a hand blender for icing. I use a tea towel to cover the bowl so that my kitchen isn't covered in icing sugar. Spread the icing onto the cupcakes. To decorate the cupcakes: You could use black gel food colouring to make the eyes, nose and mouth. I happened to have leftover Renshaw ready to roll icing, from Lakeland. I cut it up into bits and let Moozles add them to her cupcakes. The beauty of these cupcakes is that they do not need to look perfect.
