Black Cat Cupcakes
Chocolate cupcakes with orange buttercream and a black cat face made from a chocolate sandwich cookie.
Recipe in testing: I'm cooking it in my TM7™ and will update the steps and the photo with my own.
Black cats are a Halloween classic, and these ones are all sweetness: a chocolate cupcake, a big swirl of orange buttercream and a cat face made from a chocolate sandwich cookie, with pointy cookie ears and bright green candy eyes. Set them on a white platter and they look like a row of kittens peeking over a pumpkin patch.
The Thermomix® TM7™ mixes the chocolate batter and whips the orange buttercream with the butterfly whisk. The cat faces come together while the cupcakes cool: a little melted chocolate glues the ears and eyes in place. You can make the faces up to a day ahead and keep them in a closed container until you decorate.
Made in the Thermomix® TM7™
Black Cat Cupcakes
Makes: 12 cupcakes
- Prep45 min
- Cook20 min
- Total2 h 5 min
- Serves12
Ingredients
Chocolate cupcakes
Orange buttercream
Cat faces
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a 12-cup muffin pan with dark brown or black paper liners.
- Place the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt in the mixing bowl and mix 10 sec/speed 4. Add the egg, milk, oil and vanilla and mix 15 sec/speed 4. Add the hot water and mix 10 sec/speed 3, then scrape the bottom with the spatula; the batter is thin.
- Divide the batter among the liners, about 2/3 full, and bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool 5 minutes in the pan, then completely on a rack, about 1 hour.
- For the ears, twist 6 cookies apart and scrape off the cream. With a sharp knife, cut each plain cookie half into 4 wedges, like a small pizza. You need 24 ears; the extras cover any that break.
- Melt the chocolate chips in a small bowl in the microwave in 20-second bursts, stirring each time. With a dab of melted chocolate, glue 2 ears, points up, to the back of each whole cookie and 2 green candies on the front for eyes. Draw a black pupil on each eye and refrigerate 10 minutes to set.
- Wash and dry the mixing bowl. Insert the butterfly whisk, add the butter and whip 2 min/speed 3.5, until pale. Add the powdered sugar, milk, vanilla and salt, put the measuring cup in place and whip 1 min/speed 3, then whip 2 min/speed 3.5, scraping down halfway. Add orange gel color and whip 20 sec/speed 3.5, until bright orange.
- Spoon the buttercream into a piping bag with a large open star tip and pipe a generous swirl on each cupcake.
- Press a cat face upright into the front of each swirl, so it peeks out of the orange frosting.
- Serve, or keep the cupcakes in a closed container in the refrigerator and take them out 20 minutes before serving.
Tips
- Cookie halves cut more cleanly with a serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion. Cookies straight from the refrigerator break less.
- No green candies? Pipe the eyes with a little buttercream tinted green, or use yellow candy-coated chocolates for golden cat eyes.
- Use any leftover cookie pieces and cream: crush them and sprinkle over ice cream.
- Florida heat softens buttercream fast. Decorated cupcakes keep 2 days in the refrigerator; the cookies soften a little after that.
