Jack-o'-Lantern Cupcakes
Chocolate cupcakes with bright orange pumpkin swirls, happy black faces and a little green stem.
Recipe in testing: I'm cooking it in my TM7™ and will update the steps and the photo with my own.
These little pumpkins are a Halloween party favorite: a moist chocolate cupcake under a round swirl of bright orange buttercream, with a happy jack-o'-lantern face and a tiny green stem. They are cute rather than scary, so they work for a school party, a trunk-or-treat or a family movie night.
The Thermomix® TM7™ mixes the chocolate batter in under a minute and whips the buttercream with the butterfly whisk. Before you tint it orange, you take out a little for the black faces and the green stems, so one batch of frosting does it all. Kids love helping with the faces: give each one a small piping bag and let them choose the expression.
Made in the Thermomix® TM7™
Jack-o'-Lantern Cupcakes
Makes: 12 cupcakes
- Prep45 min
- Cook20 min
- Total2 h 5 min
- Serves12
Ingredients
Chocolate cupcakes
Buttercream
To decorate
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a 12-cup muffin pan with 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.
- 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, until light and fluffy.
- Take out 60 g (1/4 cup) of buttercream into a small bowl and stir in the cocoa and black gel color until very dark. Take out 20 g (1 1/2 tbsp) more into another small bowl and tint it green. Add orange gel color to the buttercream in the mixing bowl and whip 20 sec/speed 3.5, adding more color if needed, until bright orange.
- Spoon the orange buttercream into a piping bag with a large open star tip. Pipe a round swirl on each cupcake, starting at the edge and finishing in a rounded top, like a little pumpkin.
- Spoon the black buttercream into a small piping bag or zip-top bag and snip a tiny opening. Pipe two eyes, a small nose and a wide smile on each pumpkin.
- Put the green buttercream into another small bag, snip a tiny opening and pipe a short stem on top of each pumpkin.
- Refrigerate the cupcakes for 15 minutes so the decorations set, then serve.
Tips
- Black buttercream gets darker as it rests. Mix it first, cover it and let it sit while you pipe the orange swirls.
- Florida heat softens buttercream fast. If your kitchen is warm, keep the cupcakes in the refrigerator and take them out 20 minutes before serving.
- No star tip? Fill a zip-top bag, snip a 1.5 cm (1/2 in) corner and pipe a smooth round dome instead.
- Unfrosted cupcakes freeze well for 1 month. Decorated, they keep 3 days in a closed container in the refrigerator.
