The Easiest, Yummiest Halloween Cupcakes EVER!

Halloween has to be one of my favourite holidays – it’s basically just an excuse to eat sweets and watch cool movies, right? What’s not to like!

I also just love baking at this time of year; the rain and chilly evenings seem made for gorgeous cooking smells and warm goodies fresh from the oven.

I wanted this recipe to be SUPER simple, because, let’s face it, with pumpkin carving and toffee apples and apple bobbing and trick or treating, there’s enough to try to fit in to your Halloween preparations without adding a complicated cake recipe into the equation.

Now, I am not a fan of food colourings generally, I’ve known some additives do TERRIBLE things to otherwise charming children, but if there’s one time of year when brightly coloured icing is obligatory, surely it’s Halloween?

For the colour, I used Dr Oetker’s Extra Strong green gel, orange would be super fun as well though! I found one 15ml tube split gave plenty of colour for both cake and icing. It can be ordered on Amazon if your local shops don’t stock it:

https://amzn.to/37ZjsHM

Don’t be tempted to use colour from a bottle – they’re nowhere near as strong and don’t give such a consistant colour.

The eyes were from Poundland and have been stuck in my baking cupboard for ages. Another fun idea would be to use some strawberry lips with the eyes to create faces on the cupcakes.

The Stawberry Zombie Mummy Eyeballs (which look SUPERBLY disgusting) were from our local Cooperative supermarket.

I piped my icing using a set from Lakeland because I’m fancy, but you could just use a strong plastic food bag with a little bit snipped off a corner.

Make sure the cakes are completely cool before adding the icing!

The cakes are just my basic vanilla cupcake recipe with half a tube of colouring added, topped with green vanilla icing.

Let’s get down to the recipe!

Makes 12
Ingredients

For the cakes

Half a tube of Dr Oetker’s Extra Strong green gel

125g butter (soft, I usually pop it on low in the microwave for a few seconds)

125g caster sugar

125g self raising flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 large free-range eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

a dash of milk

For The Icing

Half a tube of Dr Oetker’s Extra Strong green gel

80g softened butter

Half a teaspoon of vanilla extract

250g icing sugar

A couple of tablesoons of milk

Method

1: Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius and put 12 cupcake cases ready in a cupcake tin.

2: Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy.

3: Sift in the flour and baking powder. Add the vanilla essence and mix together.

4: Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix in before adding the milk and food colouring. Continue mixing until all combined.

5: Divide the mixture equally between the 12 cases and put in the oven for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.

6: Leave to cool for 10 minutes and then remove from tin and put on a cooling rack.

7: Make the icing by beating the butter and sugar together with an electric hand whisk or a good old wooden spoon and some elbow grease! Next, add the vanilla extract and milk and mix for at least 5 minutes. The longer you mix it for, the softer and fluffier it will be. Add the colouring and mix until combined.

8: Ice your cakes with the aid of a a piping bag or just plop a good old dollop on each cake! Add googly eyes and any other decorations and you’re done! See, I said they were easy!

Variations:

To make these gluten free, just substitute in gluten free self-raising flour for the regular self-raising flour. Oh, and don’t forget to check your baking powder is gluten free!

Fruit loaf

This is lovely toasted for breakfast, or great just sliced and buttered for an afternoon snack. It’s so simple, remembering to put the fruit to soak is probably the hardest bit!

For Picky Pickers who are a bit funny about dried fruit, make it plain first, then perhaps with just raisins and gradually introduce the mixed fruit.

Ingredients:

225g dried mixed fruit

225g self-raising flour

1 teaspoon mixed spice

120g caster sugar

250ml cold black tea

2 tablespoons orange marmalade

1 egg

Method:

1: Measure the dried fruit into a bowl, pour in the tea and leave to soak for at least a couple of hours. I tend to leave it in the fridge overnight.

2: Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius and grease a loaf tin.

3: Measure all the other ingredients into a large bowl, add the soaked fruit and remaining liquid and stir gently until combined.

4: Pop in the oven for about an hour until the top has browned and a skewer comes out clean when you stick it in the cake.

5: Leave to stand for 15 mins and then turn out of the tin and onto a wire rack to cool.

Henry’s Ice Cream Cake

I decided to do something a little different when our youngest had his last birthday. He much prefers ice cream to cake so this is what I came up with…
Ingredients:
250g of digestives
100g melted butter
1 litre vanilla ice cream
Extras such as Malteasers, Smarties, chocolate chips, raspberries, strawberries, chocolate buttons and chocolate fingers
Method:
1: Put the digestives in a large bowl and mash them with the end of a rolling pin until they’re just crumbs (a great job for toddlers!).
2: Add the butter and mix well.
3: Put the mixture in a loose bottomed cake tin, pressing it down really well.
4: Place the tin in the fridge for a couple of hours.
5: Put the ice cream into another large bowl and add any extra ingredients you fancy. We kept the ice cream plain for our ‘cake’ and just put the extras on the outside, but I think some smashed up Malteasers would work very well inside. Mix in.
6: Take the tin out of the fridge and put the ice cream mixture on top of the biscuit mixture.
7: Put the tin in the freezer for at least an hour so the ice cream refreezes completely again.
8: Remove the tin from the freezer and take the ‘cake’ out of the tin.
9: Let your Picky Pickers help decorate with whatever ‘extras’ you fancy, let your imagination run wild! But remember to work quickly as the ice cream will start to melt.
10: Serve immediately.

Lemon Drizzle Cake

This is pretty lemony, 2 of my boys love it, 2 of them can’t stand it to be honest, but it’s one of my favourites and it’s really quick to whip up!

Ingredients:

150g softened butter

150g caster sugar

150g self-raising flour

2 eggs

4 tablespoons milk

grated zest of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons icing sugar

juice of 1 lemon

Method:

1: Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.

2: Beat the butter and caster sugar together until creamy.

3: Add the beaten eggs to the mixture gradually.

4: Add the lemon zest and sift in the flour. Mix in the milk.

5: Put the mixture into a greased loaf tin. Use a knife to spread it flat.

6: Bake for 40 minutes until the cake is light brown and the top is springy to the touch.

7: Mix together the icing sugar and lemon juice. Using a fork, prick the top of the cake all over and pour the lemony mixture over the warm cake.

8: Leave the cake to cool for 20 minutes, and then turn out onto a wire rack.

Rock Cakes

These are seriously scrummy and can be ready to eat in 30 minutes! Little hands will have great fun rubbing in butter, splodging mixture and sprinking sugar!

Makes about 12.

Ingredients:

225g self raising flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
100g butter
50g granulated sugar
100g raisins
1 egg
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 tablespoon milk
Demerera sugar for sprinkling!

Method:

1: Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees celsius and lightly grease 2 baking trays.
2: Measure flour and baking powder into a large bowl, add the butter and rub in with your fingertips until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.
3: Stir in the sugar, mixed spice and fruit. Add the egg and the milk and mix to a stiff mixture. If a bit dry add a little more milk.
4: Using 2 tablespoons, shape the mixture into about 12 rough mounds on the prepared baking trays.

5: Sprinkle each cake with demerara sugar.
6: Pop in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown at the edges. Cool on a wire rack before tucking in!