Halloween Brain Cupcakes

Halloween is a time for goodies! I made some decaying brain cupcakes – for the zombie in us all! Try them yourself!

Here’s what you’ll need:

Cupcakes – Makes 12-16

• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 tbsp canola oil
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Red and black food colouring

Icing

• 1/2 cup butter
• 250 g cream cheese (1 package)
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• Purple and black food colouring

Here’s what you do:

Cupcakes

• Preheat oven to 350°F and line cupcake tin.
• Combine butter, canola oil, and sugar with an electric mixer. Mix on medium high speed for about 3 minutes, until light and fluffy.
• Add vanilla and eggs. Mix for about 1 more minute, until well incorporated.
• In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
• Add flour mixture to butter mixture. Mix well. (Best to add the flour mixture in portions, for easier stirring.)
• Scoop the batter into the cups, filling about 2/3 full.
• Now for the fun part! You want your cupcakes to look like they’re rotting from the inside out, so take a toothpick, dip it in the black food colouring, and mix up the center of each cupcake with the toothpick. Take another toothpick, dip that one into the red food colouring, and streak it through each cupcake, to make it look like there’s blood running through.

• Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

• Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to racks to finish cooling.

Icing

• Blend all ingredients together.
• Add a tiny bit of black food colouring. Mix until the colour is well incorporated. You want to aim for a greyish colour. Then add a small amount of purple food colouring and mix until well incorporated. When I think of decaying brains, I think grey with a purplish hue, so that’s what I went for, but feel free to make your brains whatever grotesque colour you want!
• To ice the cupcakes, fill a piping bag, and be sure to use a round tip. With the icing, draw a circle along the outer edge of the cupcake, then draw a line through the center. In the two halves that have now been created, draw a squiggly line to fill each space. See pictures for reference.

Enjoy your brains!

Now tell me, is this a trick or a treat? 😉