Monstrously Good Cupcakes

A boy and his KitchenAid.

 Since, as I've mentioned before, MiniChef loves monsters more than anything else in the world, it wasn't hard to convince him to pick out a recipe for Halloween week, even if today's isn't based on one specific book. But who am I to say no?

Our district doesn't have school on Halloween for some reason, so we had plenty of time to make sort-of-complicated cupcakes for post-trick-or-treating. If we hadn't had the weekday to bake, we would have made them over the weekend and stuck them in the fridge. The ones we didn't eat on Monday lasted for two more days in the fridge; we took them out an hour or so before eating to let everything come to room temperature. The very last cupcake made an excellent lunchbox dessert on Wednesday.

MiniChef's idea was monster heads that bleed when you bite into them. So, the obvious choice was to make a jam-filled cupcake. When I looked for recipes to adapt, I wanted one with a yellow cupcake that could stand up to raspberry jam. Because I love cream cheese and jam together, I thought a cream cheese frosting would make the perfect pairing. And I was right! These two recipes are perfect together; the tang of the cream cheese nicely offsets the sweetness of the jam.

This recipe makes twelve cupcakes. Since we're a small family and we didn't want to have lots of cupcakes tempting us in addition to Halloween candy, I froze six of them after baking by putting them on a sheet pan and sticking them in the freezer overnight. Then I bagged and tagged them. When we want to eat them (within a few months), I'll put them in the fridge to thaw overnight, and then will proceed with the recipe as written. Or don't fill them and use another frosting! The sky is the limit.

MiniChef chose Twizzlers, Tootsie Rolls, and Jumbo Confetti Sprinkles to create the monstrous faces. Actually, his first choice was candy eyeballs, but go figure, the store was sold out by the day before Halloween. So we drew eyeballs on the sprinkles with food markers. We used piping bags and decorating tips to make "fur": MiniChef used a star tip, and I used a grass tip. Spreading the frosting on with a knife would also be a good choice. Go wild with your decorations; I think candy corn would be an excellent--and seasonally-appropriate--choice, too.

Monstrous Cupcakes
(adapted from Martha Stewart)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
6-12 tsp jam (we used raspberry)

I did:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

MiniChef did:
Put liners into a 12-cup cupcake tin. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and 3/4 teaspoon salt. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer or a stand mixer, beat granulated sugar and butter together until light and fluffy, about five minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat in vanilla. Turn mixer to low. Add flour mixture in two parts, alternating with milk.

Divide batter among prepared muffin cups.

Licking the batter is a very important part of baking.
(I get to lick the bowl.)

I did:
Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool in the pan for five minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. (You can freeze any cupcakes you don't want to frost at this point.)

Using a small knife, cut a 1-inch-deep cone-shaped piece from the top of each cupcake. Do not throw it away.

MiniChef did:
Fill each hole with 1 teaspoon jam and replace cutout pieces.

Hairy-Scary Frosting*
(Adapted from Martha Stewart)

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, room temperature
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Gel food coloring
Candies of your choice

MiniChef did:
Place cream cheese in a stand mixer**. Turn the mixer on low and soften cream cheese. Add butter one piece at a time, and continue beating until smooth and well blended. Sift confectioners' sugar in, using a sifter or a mesh strainer, and continue beating until smooth. Add vanilla, and stir to combine.

We did together:
Add the food coloring of your choice to create your monstrous colors. We divided our frosting in half, and tinted one bowl green and one bowl purple.

Transfer your frosting to pastry bags and pipe "fur" onto your cupcakes, or apply the frosting with an offset spatula. Decorate with candy to your heart's desire.

*Note: we filled and frosted six cupcakes and put the other six in the freezer. I halved the frosting recipe, and it made the perfect amount for six cupcakes.
** You can do this by hand, using a rubber spatula to soften the cream cheese and a wooden spoon to incorporate the rest of the ingredients. We just love our KitchenAid, and it makes things go so much quicker.