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.
