| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 1 hr 15 min |
| Prep: | 20 min |
| Inactive: | 30 min |
| Cook: | 25 min |
| Yield: | 12 cupcakes |
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 1 hr 15 min |
| Prep: | 20 min |
| Inactive: | 30 min |
| Cook: | 25 min |
| Yield: | 12 cupcakes |
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- 1/2 cup root beer, flat
- 1/3 cup unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 8 large egg whites
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 pinch fine salt
- 1 teaspoon banana extract, or more to taste
- 1 to 2 drops pastel food coloring, optional
- Candied eyeballs
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line standard muffin tins with cupcake liners or spray footed cupcake holders with nonstick spray.
- Put the butter, root beer, and cocoa in a microwave-safe bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and microwave on HIGH until the butter melts, about 2 minutes. Whisk to combine.
- Meanwhile, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Whisk the sour cream, eggs, and vanilla together in a small bowl.
- Whisk the hot cocoa mixture into the dry ingredients. Stir in the sour cream mixture just to combine; take care not to overmix. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared muffin cups, filling each one about 3/4 of the way full, about 1/4 cup per cupcake. Bake cupcakes until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool the cupcakes completely in the tin on a rack. Remove from liners and return cakes to a rack.
- For Frosting: Bring a few inches of water to a boil in a saucepan that can hold a mixer’s bowl above the water. Whisk the egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar, and salt in the bowl by hand. Set the bowl above the boiling water and continue whisking until the mixture is hot to the touch and the sugar dissolves, about 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat at medium-high speed until eggs beat up into a cool stiff meringue, about 5 minutes. Add a few drops of desired extract and/or food coloring and lightly beat into the meringue.
- To decorate: Using a spoon, offset spatula or piping bag, dollop, spread or pipe about 1/2 cup meringue on top of each cupcake to make a ghost or monster of your choice. Decorate with candied eyeballs or other candies. These can be finished 2 to 3 hours in advance and held at room temperature.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 12 servings |
| Calories | 370 |
| Total Fat | 14 g |
| Saturated Fat | 8 g |
| Carbohydrates | 59 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Sugar | 47 g |
| Protein | 5 g |
| Cholesterol | 64 mg |
| Sodium | 157 mg |
| Serving Size | 1 of 12 servings |
| Calories | 370 |
| Total Fat | 14 g |
| Saturated Fat | 8 g |
| Carbohydrates | 59 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Sugar | 47 g |
| Protein | 5 g |
| Cholesterol | 64 mg |
| Sodium | 157 mg |
Reviews
This recipe was time consuming but yummy
I also used a box of cake mix for the cupcakes, but I did make the frosting which turned out perfectly! They were so cute, my family loved them!
Meringue frosting did not work. Proportions are definitely off. Food Network needs to think about the HOME COOK when coming up with these recipes. Needed triple the amount of cream of tartar, took about 30 minutes to stiffen and should be piped with a small tip. Also, frosting did NOT set at room temperature. The ghosts started to fall very quickly. This is NOT a recipe for the home cook with a hand mixer. Frosting was NOT worth the effort. Canned icing worked BETTER!!
Used box for the cupcakes but this topping was amazing. I had to use a hand mixer so it took like 15 minutes to beat the meringue and I had to sprinkle more cream of tartar in the last 5 mins but so worth the effort!!
We had a kids party and they loved these. We set them up on a haunted house cupcake tree and simply used black tube icing for eyes…
The ghost had so much personality.
The icing part was HORRIBLE. Didn’t work at all. ugh
I made these cupcakes for fun, and they looked amazing. The icing is delicious with the banana extract – I’d be interested in substituting the flavor with another just to try it out. The texture of my cupcakes were not as moist as I would have liked – but I think that it was my fault for mixing too much or something. By the way the meringue looked on top of the cupcakes, it was deceiving – but in a “good surprise” way. Definitely will use this recipe again!
I used a boxed cake mix for the cupcakes. I followed the frosting recipe, except used vanilla extract instead of the banana extract for the flavoring. I just dolloped the frosting on with a spoon. Just as the recipe says, about 1/2 cup per cupcake, frosted exactly 24 cupcakes. They were soooo CUTE! The frosting tastes great too, kind-of like a lighter version of marshmallow ‘Fluff’. The kids at our neighborhood Halloween party loved them. Spent lots of time on the internet looking for the eyeballs, finally found them at a local bakery supply. A friend suggested using mini chocolate chips, loved that idea, I still went and purchased the eyeballs. Anyone know where to purchase those cute orange legs/feet?!?!
Icing came out fine for me. I just put it in a plastic bag and cut the tip off to pipe. They came out great, everyone loved them! Oh and I left out the banana flavoring and just let the sugar take care of the taste. Didn’t make the cupcakes from scratch–went with a box to save time! Would definitely make again took about 5 min to make the icing and 10 min or so to frost the cupcakes. Had to buy the eyes online. Looked great!
I really love the idea of the decoration of these cupcakes. I made my own favorite chocolate cupcake recipe and just used the frosting from this recipe – which came out just fine, although with my hand mixer it took more like ten minutes to get to stiff peaks.
I couldn’t find any ready-made candy eyes other than gumball eyeballs, so I used white chocolate and black decorating icing to make my own, which turned out great.
They turned out just as cute as expected, and they tasted good, though not anything special. The meringue frosting is different and light, but also messy and sticky. After sitting for a while, the meringue seems to have set up to be a little firmer.
I couldn’t find any ready-made candy eyes other than gumball eyeballs, so I used white chocolate and black decorating icing to make my own, which turned out great.
They turned out just as cute as expected, and they tasted good, though not anything special. The meringue frosting is different and light, but also messy and sticky. After sitting for a while, the meringue seems to have set up to be a little firmer.
I was excited to make these when I saw them, but they did not turn out how I had planned. The cupcakes look great and taste good, not better than your average cupcake, but good. However, the meringue frosting was a disaster. I couldn’t get it to set up and it was runny and messy. Maybe it was me, because I see that others have had better luck, but I wouldn’t make these again…at least not with the recommended topping.