Halloween doesn't get much more spooky than these Devil Cupcakes. With an oozing red sugar middle, your guests will get a scary surprise when they bite into these red velvet cakes.
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Yields:
12 serving(s)
Prep Time:
30 mins
Cook Time:
20 mins
Total Time:
50 mins
Cal/Serv:
345
Ingredients
For the cupcakes
150ml
buttermilk
Red food colouring paste, we used Sugarflair
100g
unsalted butter, softened
150g
caster sugar
2
medium eggs, lightly beaten
1tsp.
vanilla extract
150g
plain flour
11/2Tbsp.
cocoa powder
11/2tsp.
bicarbonate of soda
1/2tsp.
white wine vinegar
For the icing
100g
unsalted butter, softened
150g
full-fat cream cheese
60g
icing sugar
Red food colouring paste
For the horns
25g
black fondant icing
For the filling
100g
icing sugar, sifted
2Tbsp.
golden syrup
Red food colouring paste
Directions
Step 1Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan) mark 4 and line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper muffin cases. For the cupcakes, in a small jug, mix together the buttermilk and enough red food colouring paste to achieve your desired shade and set aside.
Step 2In a large bowl, with a handheld electric whisk, beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, about 5min. Add eggs and vanilla and beat again. Sift over the flour and cocoa powder and fold in with a large metal spoon. Add the buttermilk mixture and fold together.
Step 3In a small bowl, quickly combine the bicarbonate of soda and vinegar, then mix into the cake mixture. Divide batter between the cases and bake for 20min, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cakes comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Step 4Make the icing. In a large bowl with a handheld electric whisk beat the butter until smooth. Add the cream cheese and icing sugar and beat until combined. Add enough food colouring to achieve your desired shade and mix again. Transfer icing to a piping bag fitted with a 1cm fluted piping nozzle. Chill until needed.
Step 5To make the horns, divide the black fondant into 24 even pieces and mould each piece into a small horn shape. Set aside.
Step 6 For the filling, mix the icing sugar and golden syrup with 1tbsp cold water, until smooth, then add enough food colouring to achieve your desired shade. Using a small sharp knife or apple corer, carve a deep hole into the centre of the top of each cake and discard the middle. Divide filling between the holes.
Step 7Pipe icing in a swirl on top of each cupcake and stick 2 horns on either side of the icing. Serve.
To store:
Once decorated the cakes are best eaten the same day. The uniced cupcakes can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 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”!).
