Halloween Cupcakes | Recipe

To make the cupcakes, cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract. Coarsely chop the dark chocolate.

Preheat the oven to 180°C top/bottom heat.

Sieve the flour with cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and the Sweet Allrounder and whisk together, mixing thoroughly. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture with the milk and mix well. Fold in about two-thirds of the chopped chocolate.

Line the wells of a cupcake tin with paper cases. Using an ice cream scoop, divide the batter among the cases. Scatter the remaining chopped chocolate pieces on top of the cupcakes. Bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes.

For the sauce (the blood), mix the raspberries with the powdered sugar, water and lemon juice in a saucepan and simmer for about 10 minutes. Then pass everything through a sieve to remove the raspberry seeds. Cover and let the sauce cool.

To make the shards of glass, put the water and sugar in a saucepan, heat and stir constantly to dissolve the sugar in the water. Once the sugar has dissolved, simmer the mixture for 15–20 minutes until bubbling. Be careful! The mixture will be extremely hot! Keep children and pets away.

To test if the mixture is at the right temperature, use a small spoon to remove some of the sugar solution and dip the spoon into a bowl of cold water. If the mixture hardens on the spoon, it is ready; if it remains sticky and stretches, it needs to be cooked longer.

Carefully pour the hot sugar solution onto a tray with baking paper and quickly spread over a large area. It will set hard after a few minutes and can be broken into shards.

For the frosting, add the butter and salt to a mixing bowl and beat with the paddle attachment until smooth. Then beat on high speed until fluffy. When the butter has lightened in colour, gradually add the icing sugar through a sieve and continue beating. Then stir in the cream cheese. Pour the frosting into a piping bag fitted with a large-hole nozzle and refrigerate until ready to decorate.

When the cupcakes have cooled, pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes. Add the sauce to the cupcakes just before serving and garnish with the sugar glass shards.