Pull Apart Graveyard Halloween Cupcakes
Ingredients:
For the cupcakes
- 1 tbsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 400g plain flour
- 225g granulated sugar
- 340g unsalted butter, melted
- 230 ml milk
- 170g grape jelly
- 4 large eggs at room temperature
- 2 tbsps. pure vanilla extract
For the frosting
- 780g icing sugar
- 280g unsalted butter at room temperature
- 3 tbsps. milk
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 10 chocolate biscuits, coarsely crushed
For the decorations
- 3 chocolate biscuits, coarsely crushed
- 15 large white marshmallows
- 1 tbsp. black or dark green sugar
- 50g orange sugar
- 1 tube of green icing
- 1 tube of black icing
- 230g marzipan
- 5 ovate shaped biscuits
- 7 lengths black licorice (approx. 20cm each)
- 3 round lollipops, wrapped
Directions:
For the cupcakes:
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line 2, 12 cup cookie tins with paper cupcake liners.
Whisk together the baking powder, flour, and salt in some bowl. Then, warm the grape jelly for around 20 – 30 seconds in the microwave until loosened. Whisk until smooth and set aside.
Beat together the eggs and sugar in another medium bowl with a mixer until foamy and light, around 2 minutes. Gradually pour in the butter and the vanilla, while beating.
While mixing slowly, add 1/2 the dry ingredients and then the milk. After that, place the rest of the dry ingredients carefully – so you won’t over mix the batter.
Remove about 500g of the batter and then, stir in the grape jelly. Next, evenly fill the liners around 2/3 full, alternating the grape butter and plain batter.
Bake till the tops spring back lightly to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cookies comes out clean, 20-22 minutes. Put the pan on a rack to cool for around ten minutes, and after that remove the cookies to the rack to cool completely, near 1 hour.
For the frosting:
Beat the salt and butter in a large bowl until combined and fluffy. Then, gradually beat in the icing sugar until fluffy and smooth. Beat in the milk 1 tablespoon at a time till the frosting has a smooth, spreadable consistency. Next, add the crushed cookies and remain beating until any large chunks are crushed to small bits and the frosting has a grayish and speckled look.
For the decoration:
Take a cutting board or a large serving plate and arrange the cupcakes in four rows. Between each cupcake, fit a marshmallow – 5 marshmallows per row, in order to fill in the gaps between the cupcakes. Then, spread the frosting over the plate/board so it looks like one cake. In the end, sprinkle with some black decorating sugar and the cookie crumbs.
In order to make the tombstones, you can use the black icing and some little round tip so you can inscribe “RIP” or something else by your choice.
To make the ghosts, use 2/3 of the marzipan and put it between two sheets of parchment or wax paper. Roll around 1/8-inch thick and then cut into 3 rounds with a 4-inch biscuit cutter.
To make the leaves and pumpkins, divide the rest of the marzipan into four small pieces and roll into a ball. Then, roll in the orange sugar till coated and put around the graveyard. You can use the black icing in order to pipe a small stem. Nest, fit the pipe of green decorating icing with a ribbon tip or leaf, to make bits of grass poking through the dirt around the pumpkins and graveyard.
To make a border, you can use 6 pieces of the licorice, garnish to fit, to create a border around the cake. Bend the 7th piece into an upturned “U” and dig into two cupcakes in the front to create an arched gateway.
