Vampire cupcakes recipe

These spooky and impressive vampire cupcakes are sure to turn a few heads at your Halloween party this year. With a soft red velvet sponge, these Halloween cupcakes are perfect for Halloween - the kids will love them.

Ingredients

For the red velvet cupcakes

• 110g Trex or vegetable fat
• 300g golden caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 260g self-raising flour
• 10g cornflour
• 240ml buttermilk
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 1tbsp good quality cocoa powder
• ½tsp salt
• 2tbsp red food colouring
• 1tsp white wine vinegar
• 1tsp baking powder

For the buttercream:

• 60g unsalted butter
• 120g full-fat cream cheese
• 480g icing sugar
• 1tsp vanilla extract

For the vampire topper

• 400g white ready to roll fondant
• 150g black fondant
• 100g red fondant
• White sprinkles
• Red food colouring
• White alcohol for painting

You will also need:

• Circle cutters: 68mm & 58mm for the face. 13mm, 10mm and 7mm for the eyes
• Palette knife
• Water bush for sticking
• Bow mould (optional)
• Fondant smoother (optional)

Method

1. For the cakes:
   1. Preheat your oven to 160°C/325°F/Gas Mark 3 and line your tray with your cake cases.
   2. Cream the Trex and sugar until light and fluffy then add in the eggs and beat again.
   3. Sift the flours, cocoa and salt and add 1/3 into the mixture with 1/3 of the buttermilk and beat, repeat until all the flour and buttermilk has been added.
   4. Add the vanilla, red colouring, vinegar and baking powder and beat again.
   5. Fill the baking cases to 2/3 full and bake for 30 mins, they will be springy to the touch when ready. Leave in the tray for 10 mins before popping onto a cooling rack
   For the buttercream:
   1. All into a large mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Do not beat too much or the buttercream will become runny.
   For the vampire toppers:
   1. Ice the cupcakes using a small palette knife, making sure you don’t go right up to the paper cases
   2. For the face - Roll the white fondant out to 3mm thick and cut 14x 68mm sized circles and place over the icing, smoothing the edges with your fingers
   3. For the hair - Roll out the black fondant to 2mm thick and cut 14x 68mm sized circles. Using the 58mm cutter, cut out the hair in two sections to create a point in the centre ¾ of the way up the circle. Stick with a brush of water at the top of his head.
   4. For the eyes - Roll the leftover black fondant to 1mm thick and cut 28 x 13mm circles and 28 x 7mm circle for the eyes. Roll the red fondant to 1mm and cut 28x 10mm.  Roll out the white fondant ro 1mm and cut 28x 13mm white circles. Stick them on top of each other starting with the black and finishing off with a white sprinkle. Stick the eyes to the face with a brush of water.
   5. For the nose – Roll 14 little balls of white fondant and then shape into a petal shape, stick in the centre of his face with a brush of water.
   6. For the mouth – Using the leftover black fondant, roll long sausage type shapes, you can use a fondant smoother to get an even shape if you have one. Cut to size and stick on with a brush of water.
   7. For the teeth – Using the leftover white fondant, cut tiny triangles for the teeth and with a brush of water stick to the mouth. Paint the ends with red food colour and a touch of white alcohol to help it dry.
   8. For the ow tie - Using the red fondant, mould 14 bows or shape them by hand. Stick under the chin with a brush of water.

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