Blood Clot and Brain Cupcakes
An original recipe by Not Quite Nigella adapted from an idea by Claire Crespo
Makes 8
Ingredients
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300g (2 cups) self-raising flour
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2/3 cup caster sugar
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80ml (1/3 cup) vegetable oil
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1 large egg
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175ml/6 fl oz buttermilk
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1 tsp vanilla extract
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8 teaspoons good-quality strawberry jam mixed with some red food colouring to make it as bloody looking as possible
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 180°C and line a cupcake tray.
Step 2 - Sift the flour into a medium bowl, then add a pinch of salt and the caster sugar. In a jug, combine the vegetable oil, egg, buttermilk and vanilla extract. Add to the dry mixture and stir to only just combine. It will be thick and puffy. Place 1/2 tablespoonful of the mixture in each muffin hole and make an indent in the centre. Fill each indent with a heaped tablespoon of the strawberry jam.
Step 3 - Cover the jam with the remaining cupcake batter. Bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool slightly.
Brain buttercream
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250grams butter softened
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4 cups icing sugar
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2 tablespoons milk
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Red and Brown or Black food colouring
Beat butter in a small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy, beat in sifted icing sugar and milk in two batches until fluffy. Add in a couple of drops of red and brown or black food colouring until a grey pink shade is reached. My black powder has a very green tinge so I used red and brown and a small amount of black at the end. Gels are better as you don't need very much and I find that it's easier to accidentally use more liquid colour.
To decorate
Step 1 - Fit a piping bag with a plain 8mm nozzle and fill bag with brain shaded buttercream.
Step 2 - Visually divide the cupcake in two to represent each hemisphere of the brain and pipe squiggly lines on top. You can't really go wrong as the brain matter squiggles go in all sorts of directions. Fill in any gaps with a dot of buttercream.