You can call these witches clumsy for not yet mastering their landings, but crashing into these decadent chocolate cupcakes seems like a sweet plan!
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 2 hr 30 min |
| Active: | 1 hr |
| Yield: | 12 cupcakes |
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (see Cook’s Note)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 6 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 1 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
- Purple, orange, neon green and blue gel food coloring, for coloring the frosting
- 24 chewy chocolate candies, such as Tootsie Rolls
- 6 chocolate sandwich cookies, such as Oreos
- 12 milk chocolate candies, such as Hershey’s Kisses
- 1/4 cup shredded wheat cereal
Instructions
- For the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with black cupcake liners.
- Mix the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl; set aside. Put the milk in a large microwave-safe bowl and microwave until bubbling, about 1 minute. Whisk in the cocoa powder until dissolved. Whisk in the granulated sugar, oil, vanilla and egg until smooth. Fold in the flour mixture until combined.
- Divide the batter among the cupcake liners (about 1/4 cup per liner). Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 15 to 18 minutes. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely, about 1 hour.
- For the frosting. Beat the butter in an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium-high speed until light, fluffy and almost double in size, 4 to 5 minutes. Turn the mixer to low, add the confectioners’ sugar, milk and vanilla and beat until just combined, about 1 minute.
- Divide the frosting into 4 separate bowls. Color one bowl with purple gel food coloring, one bowl with orange gel food coloring, one bowl with neon green gel food coloring and one bowl with blue gel food coloring. Spoon into 4 separate piping bags fitted with a large round tip (we used an 808 tip).
- For the decorations: To make the witches’ legs and boots, cut 2 purple and white striped paper straws, 2 green and white striped paper straws and 2 red and white striped paper straws into 4 pieces each (24 pieces total); these will be the legs. Form the chocolate chewy candies into boot shapes (microwave them for 10 seconds if they are too hard to form) and mold them over the straws.
- To make the witches’ hats: Twist open the chocolate sandwich cookies so you have 12 circles. Scrape away the white frosting and save for another use. Spread a small amount of colored frosting into the center of each cookie and top with a milk chocolate candy.
- To decorate the cupcakes: Pipe purple frosting onto 3 cupcakes, orange frosting onto 3 cupcakes, green frosting onto 3 cupcakes and blue frosting onto the remaining 3 cupcakes. Place a hat offset on top of the frosting of each cupcake. Arrange some shredded wheat underneath each hat to mimic hair. Stick 2 legs into each cupcake opposite the hat so they are slightly slanted upward.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 12 servings |
| Calories | 757 |
| Total Fat | 40 g |
| Saturated Fat | 17 g |
| Carbohydrates | 101 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Sugar | 85 g |
| Protein | 4 g |
| Cholesterol | 79 mg |
| Sodium | 161 mg |
Reviews
My 3 yr old and I had a blast doing these! We used pretzels for the legs instead of straws, and made a cream cheese frosting. So good, so fun! It took us all morning, but that was the plan. Make sure to have extra tootsies, cookies, and kisses for little chefs to snack on!
These are so much fun! Lots of work, though. The Tootsie Roll shoes get sticky over time; not sure if there is a fix for that. Found the straws at Target. They turned out just like the photos – no Pinterest fails!