Halloween Cracked Doll Cupcakes Recipe
Cupcake recipe adapted from Cupcake Project
Recipe Overview
Preparation time: 60 minutes, plus mould curing, cupcake cooling and chocolate setting time
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves: 12 Cupcakes
Ingredients Needed
Chocolate Cupcakes
- 150g/5.3oz cake flour
- 40g/1.4oz cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon bicarb
- 60g/2oz butter, softened
- 100g/3.5oz caster or superfine sugar
- 100g/3.5oz light brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 60g/2oz chocolate, melted and cooled for 10 mins
- 135ml/4.6 US fl oz oil
- 90g/3oz sour cream
- 90g/3oz coffee, cold
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
For Chocolate Buttercream
- 200g/7oz butter, softened
- 425g/15oz icing sugar mixture or powdered sugar, sifted
- 40g/1.4oz cocoa powder, sifted
- 2-3 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
For Cracked Doll Decoration
- 600g/21.2oz white chocolate
- 3 teaspoons coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1 PREP - Preheat oven to 180C/350F conventional or 160C/320F fan forced and line a muffin tray with 12 liners.
Step 2 BATTER - Sift the cake flour (150g/5.3oz) with the cocoa powder (40g/1.4oz), salt (1/2 teaspoon) and bicarb (1/2 teaspoon) and whisk to combine. Set aside. Then beat the butter (60g/2oz), caster sugar (100g/3.5oz) and light brown sugar (100g/3.5oz) together. It will look like wet sand. Add in the eggs (2 eggs) one at a time and then the egg yolks (2 egg yolks). Then add the melted chocolate (60g/2oz). You should have a smooth mixture.
Step 3 BAKE - In a jug whisk the oil (135ml/4.6 US fl oz), sour cream (90g/3oz), coffee (90g/3oz) and vanilla (2 teaspoons) together. Mix this into the chocolate mixture. Then fold in the flour mixture until no streaks remain but do not overmix. Scoop into the cupcake cases filling 3/4 of the way up. Bake for 18-20 minutes (check after 18 minutes). Cool completely.
Step 4 BUTTERCREAM- To make buttercream, add the butter (200g/7oz) to a mixer with a beater attachment and beat the butter on medium speed for 2 minutes. Whisk the icing sugar (425g/15oz) and cocoa powder (40g/1.4oz) together until evenly distributed and add this to the butter. Mix in on the lowest speed. Add milk (2-3 tablespoons) and vanilla (1 teaspoon) and once the sugar and cocoa is mixed in, increase speed to medium high and beat for 2 minutes until fluffy.
Step 5 PIPE - Place buttercream in a piping bag fitted with a fluted tip like the 6B or 865. Pipe swirls of buttercream on top of the cooled cupcakes.
Step 6 TOPPERS - Melt the white chocolate (600g/21.2oz) in a large bowl in the microwave on 50% power in 30 second increments. Mix in the coconut oil (3 teaspoons) well. Fill the mould with melted white chocolate (50g/1.8oz per face) and allow to set completely (I usually put it in the fridge). When completely set, remove from the mould and then with a small rolling pin, smash it once avoiding the nose area. Put the pieces back together on top of the cupcake. Brush the eye sockets, nostrils and mouth with a little cocoa powder (1 teaspoon across all 12 faces).
Personal Note
I love the changing of the seasons and while Halloween in the Northern Hemisphere is about Autumn/Fall and the chillier weather, sometimes September and October days here are on the chilly side too. Like when I made these the high was 19C/66F (feels like temp: 15C/59F). I decided to try something to make the house seem cosy that I had seen on social media.
It was an idea to make your house smell cosy and welcoming. You boil a pot of water and add lemon, cinnamon stick, rosemary and vanilla to it. I've definitely heard of the real estate trick of baking before an open house but I liked this much lower key version.
I sliced up a large lemon and added a cinnamon stick, lots of rosemary and a splash of vanilla essence to a pot of boiling water. I boiled it with the lid off for about 10 minutes. I couldn't smell much and I thought that it was one of those social media things that people just made up.
Then I did some work in my office and then came back to get a cup of tea and then walked into the most gorgeously perfumed kitchen! It was like an upmarket scent that you can't quite place. Like the kind of smell you expect to smell when you walk into an extravagant home!
So tell me Dear Reader, what do you do to make your house cosy? I'd love to know your tips! And have you ever made a silicone mould?