I had the best time making these cupcakes today.
This post should have appeared on Tuesday, but I hadn't planned to participate this week. And then I was reminded that Clara of I*Heart*Food4Thought had suggested decorating the Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes for Halloween. Well, HECK! Now I HAVE to participate! (And by the way, you can find the recipe on Clara's site or in Dorie Greenspan's book Baking: From My Home to Yours.
So I sent my husband off to work and brought my kids to school and turned the kitchen into my own creepy "laBORat'ry."
First, I assembled the ingredients. Here they are:
Then I made the batter. Here it is:
After dividing the batter among my 12 muffin cups…
I, um, cleaned up the mess.
Then I baked my cupcakes for 24 minutes.
And set them in the dining room to cool.
And while they cooled, I made a filling. I started with some marshmallow fluff…
and added strawberry jam…
and the last of my red food coloring.
Unfortunately, there really wasn't enough red to achieve the effect I was hoping for….
Oh well. Julia would probably approve.
I filled each cupcake with pink "blood" filling.
And then I went to the other room in search of…parts….mwahahahahahahaha! (Sorry, Beth!)
I whipped up a batch of royal icing and started off with the whites of the eyes…
Cute, huh?
I seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee you!
Sorry.
Next, in order to make them as realistic as possible (hahahaha, yeah, right) I had to make the upper and lower lid.
In the interest of authenticity, I went into the bathroom and took a good long look at my own eyes. Well, just one of them. I only needed one.
They were definitely starting to develop individual personalities. I began to feel mildly maternal.
I also started adding eyelashes. The first one came out horrible, but I was rushing, and I shouldn't have been. Oh well. I did better on the others.
She's got nice eyes. She was crying a few moments ago. She wouldn't say why.
He is rather easily startled. Perhaps he should cut back on caffeine.
I also thought maybe there might be non-human eyes in the group.
Hmmm…feline? Canine? Or…something…else?
They all got along just fine.
Until…
Oh, and by the way? They're pretty yummy.
Those are terrific–very creative! I particularly like the pictures of Julia’s third eye. =)
These look fantastic! Such detail it was so worth the wait!
So gross and creepy… well done. The picture of your kids with the eyeballs stuck on their faces is just priceless!
Love the eyeballs! The pictures of your kids are so funny. Now I wanna make eyeball cupcakes just so I can put it on my forehead. HAHA. Thanks for baking with me this week!
Clara @ iheartfood4thought
Love the eyeballs! The pictures of your kids are so funny. Now I wanna make eyeball cupcakes just so I can put it on my forehead. HAHA. Thanks for baking with me this week!
Clara @ iheartfood4thought
You have such patience to create such beautiful cupcakes. Happy Halloween! I added you as a link to my blog, I hope you will add me too…
Wonderful.
Just what I had hoped to see.
Now go get you some more red food coloring.
Wow, I think the werewolf eyes came out looking really good!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE you feline/canine eyes!
So, totally awesome.
These are awesome! The pics of the kids enjoying them and playing with their food is THE BEST PART!! Thank you!
i absolutely love em! i cant wait to make them for my auntie’s pumpkin party! this oughta be great! thanks!
Where did you find your eyes? the actual iris part?
Hi Jenny, I checked the package (because of course I have more this year) – Frankford Candy Company makes them. Last year I bought them in a bag of body parts (I snagged the eyes and left the other parts to be handed out on Halloween) – you can see the bags if you scroll down on this page: http://frankfordcandy.com/license_products.aspx?lic=frankford. I just got them at our local Stop Shop grocery store.
The eyeballs can be found at Walmart right now! I went out and bought some today to make the cupcakes while watching ghostbusters. Mine didn’t turn out quite as pretty as yours, I’m not as artistic. But they get the point across! http://tinypic.com/r/213rzvl/4
Those look great!!! I’m so glad you were able to find the eyeballs!
I made them and they looked great! I’m not a baker and certainly have never decorated anything and yet these were party-worthy. Thanks so much for sharing!
I especially like the non-human eyes. Really cool! I think I’ll add some red eyes and make mocha cupcakes for these..for some caffeine addiction in play. ^^
how did u make the lashes? Is there a special tip to make all those little strokes?! got any tips?
if its seriously one by one, those hairy eyes must have taken forever!! props, they look really cool… I think i’ll give them a try!!!
Jessica,
Hate to tell you, but I piped the eyelashes individually. It really doesnt take long once you get a rhythm going, and if your icing is soft enough. For the eyebrows and anything thicker, I used Wilton decorating tip #233 (you can see it among the other tips here – http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?id=3E30DD64-475A-BAC0-5FBA791BBD7A052Bkillnav=1.
I like to use that one for hair or fur. Or grass. Or eyebrows.
Have fun!
Ha ha what a great post. I love the play on words. You really got into the HAlloween theme. These are such fun cupcakes.
I cannot find the recipe for the eyeball cupcakes anywhere. could you tell me what website I can find this recipe at? thank you. kim
these are really cute and you are very funny 😀 !!
What ingredients did you use for the frosting and what did you use for the eyes?
I used royal icing for the frosting and the eyeballs were gummy candies I found at a store.