Get into the Halloween spirit with our easy Frankenstein-inspired chocolate cupcakes - perfect for any parties you might be hosting or attending this year.
They look really impressive, and are a great baking project to get even the little ones involved in.
We've started with our classic chocolate cupcake recipes, which are rich and moist, and topped with a smooth and creamy buttercream icing - some coloured black and green to add Frankenstein's flair.
If you want to achieve the jet-black icing (and darker cake), it’s worth getting your hands on black cocoa powder, which you can find here. Ordinary brown cocoa powder will turn the icing grey.
Step 1Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan) mark 4. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases. Put all the cake ingredients into a large bowl. Add 4tbsp just-boiled water and beat using a handheld electric whisk until smooth and combined.
Step 2Divide batter evenly between the cases. Bake for 20min, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of a cake comes out clean. Remove cakes (still in cases) to a wire rack to cool completely.
Step 3Make the buttercream icing. Using a handheld electric whisk, beat the butter and icing sugar until pale and fluffy. Measure 1/2 the buttercream into a separate bowl and beat in enough green food colouring paste to get your desired shade. Scrape the green buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm fluted nozzle.
Step 4When the cupcakes are completely cool, pipe a tall green swirl centrally on the top of 6 of the cakes. Wash the piping nozzle and transfer to a new piping bag.
Step 5Spread 1/2 the remaining plain buttercream in a vertical stripe up the side of the clean piping bag. Add the cocoa powder to the remaining plain buttercream and mix well. Transfer the black buttercream to the piping bag in a vertical stripe opposite the plain buttercream.
Step 6Pipe a tall swirl centrally on top of the bare cupcakes. Press 2 eyes on to the base of each black and white swirl. Press 2 mini marshmallow into either side of the green rosette to resemble Frankenstein’s bolts.
Step 7Using the red icing pen, pipe a scar on each green buttercream swirl, just below the bolts. Serve.
To Store:
Keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
