How To Make Chocolate And Orange Halloween Cupcakes

What you will need: For the cakes -

6 oz caster/superfine sugar

6 oz organic butter, softened

10 oz self raising flour

3 large free range eggs

1 tbsp organic milk

2 tbsp cocoa

1/2 cup Cointreau

1 large orange

150g bar of good quality dark organic chocolate

26 cupcake cases

2 baking trays

For the topping -

30 oz icing/confectioners sugar

20 oz organic butter, softened

10 tbsp cocoa

5 tbsp water

Orange sugar paste (for the decorative pumpkins)

Black sugar paste (for the decorative pumpkins)

A small round cookie cutter around 1 inch wide (or anything else you can find that's small and round and will do the job!)

Rolling pin

Flour for dusting

Chocolate And Orange Halloween Cakes

WARNING: DO NOT MAKE THESE CAKES IF YOU ARE TRYING TO LOSE WEIGHT, FEELING A LITTLE SAD AND NEED A CHOCOLATY PICK ME UP, ARE TRYING TO FIT INTO SKINNY JEANS FOR ANY CHRISTMAS PARTIES YOU ARE PLANNING TO ATTEND, DON’T LIKE CELLULITE, DON’T LIKE CHOCOLATE FILLED CAKES OF SHEER CHOCOLATE INDULGENCE TYPE STUFF. OK?

Of course you could always make a batch and have just one because all things in moderation is a nice way to live but DO NOT write to me when you have had LOADS because they are SOOOOOO good and complain because you can see the start of a muffin top. I don’t want to know……….I’m feeling bad enough about eating eight of them myself!!!!!!!

These are definitely not for the children, just us grown-ups. These rich and oh so decadent seasonal cupcakes will go down very well at any adult Halloween party. But if you are thinking “what about some cakes for my children’s Halloween party?” do not fear we have an equally delicious recipe (minus the alcohol) coming later this month for the kiddies. But first… it’s the recipe for these little beauties.

Please Click Here For A Simple Weight Conversion Chart

Makes 26 cup-cakes

Preheat oven to 190c / 375 f

Put your chocolate bar in the freezer for 5 minutes or so before you start making this recipe; the harder the chocolate the easier it is to bash up.

I used a food mixer for these cupcakes but you could also mix them up by hand.

Cream together the butter and sugar
Sift the flour and cocoa into the bowl
Crack the eggs into the bowl and add the milk
Mix all the ingredients together until smooth
Zest your orange until you have one tablespoon
Using the same orange cut it in half and juice it until you have three tablespoons of juice
Add the orange zest, orange juice and Cointreau to the bowl of ingredients, mix well
Take your chocolate from the freezer, making sure you leave it in its wrapper
On a wooden block (or anywhere you don’t mind hitting with the end of a rolling pin!) bash the chocolate with a rolling pin (still in its wrapper) until you can feel that the bar has broken into many small pieces (these pieces will become the devilish (spooky woohaha!) chocolate chips)
Carefully remove the chocolate from its wrapper and add the pieces to the bowl, mix well
Lay your cupcake cases onto the baking trays
Fill them half full with the cake mixture
Pop into the oven and bake for around 15mins (a good way of testing if the cake is done is to stick a knife into the middle and if it comes out dry it’s baked, if the knife comes out wet, leave it to bake for a couple of minutes longer)

Allow the cakes to cool on a rack.

For the decorative pumpkins -

Roll out a small amount of the orange sugar paste until it is around 2 millimeters thick, dusting with a little flour if it becomes too sticky to roll
Using a small round cutter, around 1 inch wide, cut a circle. This will become one of your pumpkins

Tip: If you do not have a small round cutter, why not improvise and use a bottle top!

Roll a small amount of the black sugar paste out, also around 2 millimeters thick, and with a sharp knife cut out three small triangles, two for the eyes and one for the mouth (you can of course get really creative and give each of your pumpkins a different face if you wish)
Add the triangles to the round orange pumpkin and using the back of the knife, gently secure them in place
Continue making your pumpkins until you have 26 in total

Tip: The sugar paste dries very quickly so try and make each complete pumpkin as you go, as opposed to making all the circles (pumpkins) first then adding all the eyes and mouths later; you run the risk of the icing drying and then not being able to attach the eyes or mouths.

For the butter icing -

Add the icing/confectioners sugar to the food mixer along with the softened butter, cocoa and start mixing
Add the water spoonful by spoonful until the icing is your desired consistency
The icing should be thick, creamy and almost stiff, NOT runny
Using a pallet knife spread the creamed icing over the tops of the cupcakes, being very generous with the icing when doing so (TOLD YOU!!!)
Add one of the decorative pumpkins you have made to each of the cakes, pressing down very gently to secure in place, as the icing dries and stiffens the pumpkins will set into it

Serve the cupcakes at your Halloween party and let your guests enjoy their spooky delight. Woohaha!