Halloween Kitty Cat Cupcakes

If you follow me on Pinterest then you've probably seen the hundreds of Halloween things I've been pinning the last few weeks. I finally had some free time yesterday morning (and we happened to be celebrating my sister's birthday today) so I got to try out some new treats!

In case you aren't aware (which I'm not sure how you couldn't be), I'm a self proclaimed cat lady, as is my mother...and my middle sister...and my younger sister. I guess you could say it runs in the family. Of course when I saw these Black Cat Cupcakes from Better Homes and Gardens I knew I had to recreate them. Side note - if you don't get the daily emails from BHG sign up now. Seriously. What are you waiting for?! They're great.

I did a lot of baking on Thursday night so I took the easy route and opted for boxed chocolate cake mix and store bought chocolate frosting for these cupcakes. After all, the pizazz is in the decorating. Here is what you'll need if you want to make these cute cats:

• Chocolate Jimmies
• Milk chocolate candy melts (I got mine at Hobby Lobby)
• Dots
• Peanut butter chips
• Black Pull n' Peel Licorice or black frosting

After you've frosted your cupcake, start by applying a generous amount of chocolate sprinkles to the top of the cupcake (enough so that it resembles fur). I found the best method was to pour the sprinkles in a bowl and gently dip/roll the cupcake

Next it's time to give this little kitty cat some ears. Cut milk chocolate candy melts into triangles so they resemble ears, and gently press into cupcake.

Bonus! Look at all these chocolate scraps you can munch on :)

For the eyes I used yellow and green Dots, but any gumdrop will do. Unfortunately the box of Dots I happened to pick up was severely lacking in the yellow and green department so I had to make each Dot into three individual eyes which made some of them a little smaller and rounder than others, but I think that gave the cats character. For the pupils, I alternated between using chocolate sprinkles and piping round pupils with black frosting. I think the cats with sprinkles for eyes looked a little evil so the piped eyes were much friendlier looking. Make sure to put a dab of chocolate frosting on the back of the eye so that it actually sticks to the cupcake.

For the little kitty nose I used peanut butter chips. If PB isn't your thing, butterscotch chips would also work. Again, attach to cupcake with a little dab of chocolate frosting. Next pipe on whiskers with black frosting or attach black licorice. Good luck with the licorice. I went to three different stores and couldn't find it anywhere. Oh well. Frosting tastes better anyways. :)

And there you have it - cute black cat cupcakes. Easy enough right? Enjoy!

Creepy Crawly Halloween Cupcakes

I really, really love holidays. I've probably said it before, but Halloween to New Year's is my most favorite time of the year. There are so many fun things to look forward to during this time period, and more importantly - so many excuses to bake!

With Halloween just around the corner, today I'm going to show you how to make some fun, creepy, crawly cupcakes. You don't have to be a baking expert to whip these up, and they definitely have a wow factor. Whenever I make chocolate cake I always use the recipe I've listed below, but if you are rushed for time (or baking just isn't your thing) I would suggest using Pillsbury Moist Supreme Devil's Food cake mix. It's the next best thing and basically fool proof.

Best Chocolate Cake Ever

2 cups of flour
2 cups of sugar
3/4 cup of cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Place all of the dry ingredients (except cocoa) into a large bowl and combine. Add the eggs, buttermilk, and vegetable oil to the dry ingredients. Add the cocoa and vanilla extract to the boiling water. Slowly combine with other mixture at medium speed until everything is combined. Line a cupcake tin with silver baking cups and fill 2/3 of the way full. Bake until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean (approx. 15-20 min).

While your cupcakes are cooling, it's time to make the frosting. Here is where I'll tell you not to skimp out and buy store bought frosting. It just isn't the same. Trust me. Whip up some buttercream frosting (it's easy I promise), and tint to your desired shade of orange. I'm partial to Hobby Lobby's AmeriColor gel food coloring, but any brand will work.. In order to get a pretty swirl effect with your frosting, attach a Wilton 1M decorating tip to your decorating bag, and fill with orange buttercream. Frost in a circular motion (step by step instructions are in the previous link), and sprinkle with orange sanding sugar. Place plastic spiders sporadically on the cupcakes. I probably went a little bit overboard with mine so they are extra festive. Lastly, in order to jazz up these cupcakes a little bit, I made the silver baking cups look more like spider webs by using these cupcake wraps. And that's it! These are cute Halloween cupcakes that anyone can master! :)