Vanilla Halloween Cupcakes
This year we’re bringing some Halloween vibes with our spooktacular cupcakes. If you’re making the edible ‘blood’ you’ll also want to buy a few small syringes from your local pharmacy – then simply draw up some ‘blood’ and squirt a bit into the cupcake. For the mummies, you will need to buy edible eyes from a specialty food store (I got mine from Milly’s), then glue them on with a dab of icing.
INGREDIENTS
2 cups plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup caster sugar
2 large eggs
⅓ cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Vanilla Buttercream Icing
100 grams butter, at room temperature
2 cups icing sugar
1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
Edible ‘Blood’
½ cup plum or seedless raspberry jam
1 teaspoon cornflour
a few drops red food colouring
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 180°C regular bake
Line a standard 12-hole muffin tin with cupcake liners.
Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a bowl. In a separate jug, whisk the sugar, eggs, oil, buttermilk, and vanilla until smooth. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix just until smooth. Spoon the batter into the cases so each one is about ⅔ full.
I use a ‘clicky’ ice cream scoop to do this. Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until the cupcakes spring back gently in the middle. Remove from oven and cool completely before icing.
For the icing, beat the butter until it is pale and fluffy. Add the icing sugar in two lots, with the vanilla extract and milk and beat until smooth and pale.
For the ‘blood’ heat the jam in a small saucepan until warm. Whisk the cornflour with 1 tablespoon of water and add to the jam with a few drops of red food colouring. Bring to a simmer and stir until thickened. Chill before using.
To decorate – put the icing in a piping bag with a thick nozzle for the syringe cupcakes, and a thin nozzle for the mummies. Trim the peak of the cupcakes to make them easier to work with. Decorate as desired with a swirl of icing and a plunged syringe, or lines of ‘bandage’ and some purchased edible eyes.
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127
In Dream Escape, we journey from Japan and Morocco to Italy, India and beyond, sharing recipes inspired by travel, heritage and comfort. We celebrate the champions of the Outstanding Food Producer Awards, explore the stories and recipes of chefs shaped by their cultural roots, and warm up with everything from West African soups and slow-braised lamb to porchetta, butter chicken and beef noodle soup. Alongside destination menus, Scandinavian sweets and cosy pub classics, Chrisanne Terblanche shares her favourite street-side dining spots in Bangkok, while Yvonne Lorkin explores red wine varietals. This issue, we invite you to slow down, turn the pages and escape through food.